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Easily create surveys and polls to collect customer feedback, measure employee satisfaction, and organize team events.

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Written by Bronwyn Milgate, Maree Marceau & Trisha Templeton, Teacher Librarians, Daramalan College
Bronwyn, Maree & Trisha are presenting at the Capacity Building School Libraries Conference - 18 & 19 June 2022 at Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre

Literacy is a vital skill for the 21st century and it is imperative for student mastery of practice that it is embedded across the curriculum. An important aspect of teacher librarianship is to support the development of literacy across the curriculum. This support can be whole school initiatives such as wide reading programs, the organisation of targeted intervention support for developing readers and the embedding of pedagogical strategies that support literacy teaching and learning. Whilst there may be several methods of improving literacy across the school, the development of disciplinary literacy requires strong pedagogical collaboration between faculty staff and the teacher librarian for optimum results. This is because disciplinary literacy is a multidimensional construct that requires the student to go beyond information extraction and have the capacity to critically analyse the text for the presence of nuances, contexts and procedural knowledge of inquiry (Hamilton & Stolle, 2016, p. 30). However, in order to do so effectively, students need targeted strategies and access to specifically curated resources so that they can develop the necessary skills to read, comprehend, reason, investigate, analyse and create texts specific to a particular discipline (Hamilton & Stolle, 2016, p. 30; Spires et al., 2018, p.1402).

Disciplinary literacy is a critical component of teaching and learning in high schools because it is the next stage of literacy development as indicated in the literacy continuum (ACARA, 2014). The majority of students start secondary school at an intermediate level of literacy as most of them can address some textual misunderstandings, take notes, activate background knowledge and summarise their thinking (Morrow & Gambrell, 2019; Hannant & Jetnikoff, 2015, p.3). However, there seems to be an inability to transfer skills across the curriculum and this inability, combined with insufficient formal instruction in disciplinary literacy, means that students lack the relevant knowledge and skills to decode, decipher and comprehend information rich texts (Spires et al., 2018, p.1402). This lack of comprehension or information overload is a world-wide issue which limits the ability of an individual to interact with course specific texts and hampers engagement and success in that discipline.

There are several pedagogical strategies that are effective at embedding disciplinary literacy in the classroom. Resources and content are best approached through strategies that incorporate collaborative learning, discourse pedagogy, scaffolded instruction and guided practice (Hamilton & Stolle, 2016, p. 30; Morrow & Gambrell, 2019). However, the efficacy and effectiveness of the strategies are enhanced when resources are appropriately pitched to the students. This means students have increased access to the material and therefore become familiar with the disciplinary genre, vocabulary and content because it correctly captures language and the use of language in context. The texts simultaneously act as a model and teaching tool for students to improve their skill set which in turn improves their effectiveness at transforming the information they are extracting (Lawrence et al., 2019; Hamilton & Stolle, 2016, p. 30).

Improving disciplinary literacy in non-traditional literacy subjects is a targeted approach and requires collaboration between faculty staff and the teacher librarian. This is because these subjects have specific literacies, content, skills and knowledge requirements, however literacy instruction is often inferred rather than explicitly taught. In these situations, students are unable to transfer their knowledge and understanding to textual genres. The issue is often compounded by a cognitive dissonance between the teacher librarians and the faculties as

teacher librarians may be unfamiliar with the language and concepts of the subjects.

As Table 1 indicates, the goal of disciplinary literacy is equipping students with the skills to effectively extract, comprehend and compose texts. This can be achieved through the use of correctly pitched resources that are genre specific and contain the relevant vocabulary. This allows students to access and construct text and develop critical thinking within the subject.

Cross curriculum literacy development requires strong collaboration between the teacher librarian and faculty staff because collegial relationships are essential to improve student outcomes. Using evidence-based strategies of talking for learning, critical reading and writing for learning to facilitate transfer of information, disciplinary literacy can form part of the teaching routine in all subject areas. Teacher librarians bring their knowledge of quality resources, as they are able to adapt the resources to meet the needs of a diverse classroom, the subject area and the unit of work.
Bronwyn, Maree & Trisha are presenting at the References: Capacity Building School Libraries Conference - 18 & 19 June 2022 at Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre
ACARA. (2014c). Literacy continuum. F-10 Curriculum - General Capabilities Curriculum. Educational Services Australia. h ttps://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/3596/general-capabilities-literacy-learning-continuum.pdf

Hamilton, Erica R. and Stolle, Elizabeth (2016) "The Importance of Disciplinary Literacy," Colleagues 13(1). http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/colleagues/vol13/iss1/9

Hannant, K. & Jetnikoff, A. (2015). Investigating a disciplinary approach to literacy learning in a secondary school. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years 23 (3), pp28-37. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/84940/3/84940.pdf

Lawrence S., Langan, E., & Maurer, J. (2019). Using primary sources in content areas to increase disciplinary literacy instruction. The Language and Literacy Spectrum 29 (1). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1263061.pdf

Morrow, L., & Gambrell, L. (2019). Best Practices in Literacy Instruction (6th ed.) The Guildford Press. New York.

Spires, H. A., Kerkhoff, S. N., Graham, A., Thompson, I., & Lee, J. K. (2018). Operationalizing and validating disciplinary literacy in secondary education. Reading and writing, 31(6), pp1401-1434. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-018-9839-4

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Disciplinary Literacy - The Beginnings - National Education Summit

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Literacy is a vital skill for the 21st century and it is imperative for student mastery of practice that it is embedded across the curriculum. An important aspect of teacher librarianship is to support the development of literacy across the curriculum.

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Challenges of Science Text | Reading to Learn in Science

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Improve your classroom with our educational research and resources. SERP provides innovative and scalable solutions for our schools' most pressing problems.

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Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking Content Area Literacy

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Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking Content Area Literacy

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Shanahan, T., & Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: Rethinking content-area literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 78(1), 40–59. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.78.1.v62444321p602101

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Content area teachers are now being tasked with incorporating reading and writing instruction. In this essential book, author Lori G. Wilfong describes ten best practices for content area literacy and how to implement them in a classroom. She also points out practices that should be avoided, helping you figure out which ideas to ditch and which to embrace.

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Supporting struggling adolescent readers through the Response to Intervention (RTI) framework

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Supporting struggling adolescent readers through the Response to Intervention (RTI) framework

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de Haan, M. (2020). Supporting struggling adolescent readers through the Response to Intervention (RTI) framework. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties 26(1). pp47-66.

https://doi.org/10.1080/19404158.2020.1870512

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ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to describe what needs to happen in Australian schools to provide effective literacy support for adolescent students with reading difficulties. The central thesis of this paper is that the Response to Intervention (RtI) model provides a useful framework for organizing multi-tiered evidence-based reading interventions for struggling adolescent readers. Necessary adaptations of the model for the secondary context are discussed and the benefits and pitfalls of flexible and fixed groupings are outlined. Australian schools cannot afford to adopt a “business-as-usual” approach. Reasonable adjustments within classrooms are not enough to equip students with the literacy they need. Rather, schools should look to how they can use the RtI model to provide varying levels of evidence-based reading intervention, drawing on the expertise of speech pathologists.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Supporting struggling adolescent readers through the Response to Intervention (RTI) framework

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
(2021). Supporting struggling adolescent readers through the Response to Intervention (RTI) framework. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties: Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 47-66.

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Foregrounding Collaboration in Disciplinary Literacy: Implications From JAAL, 2008–2017

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Foregrounding Collaboration in Disciplinary Literacy: Implications From JAAL, 2008–2017

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Hinton, K., & Suh, Y. (2019). Foregrounding collaboration in disciplinary literacy: Implications from JAAL 2008-2017. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 63(3). pp279-287 https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.986

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NSW Government: Literacy and Numeracy strategy 2017-2020

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NSW Government: Literacy and Numeracy strategy 2017-2020

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While you're here... help us stay here.

Are you enjoying open access to policy and research published by a broad range of organisations? Please donate today so that we can continue to provide this service.

The NSW Literacy and Numeracy Strategy 2017-2020 is a plan to ensure NSW students have the essential literacy and numeracy skills they need for success in learning and in life. Literacy and numeracy skills will be described clearly, taught explicitly, assessed meaningfully and reported regularly in all schools across NSW.

The strategy builds on the 2012-2016 State Literacy and Numeracy Action Plan, committing an additional $340 million over the next four years to maintain our focus on early intervention. It also commits NSW schools to a relentless focus on explicit teaching and high expectations for all students across all sectors, by extending our literacy and numeracy focus up into secondary schools.

Based on the best evidence available, our priorities over the next four years will be:

a continued focus on intervention in the early years of schooling

clear guidance on explicit teaching and better, faster diagnostic assessments

more support for literacy and numeracy in secondary schools

quality training for teacher education students in literacy and numeracy

rigorous evaluation to focus investment and effort on what works.

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The NSW Literacy and Numeracy Strategy 2017-2020 is a plan to ensure NSW students have the essential literacy and numeracy skills they need for success in learning and in life. Literacy and numeracy skills will be described clearly, taught explicitly, assessed meaningfully and reported regularly in all schools across NSW.

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Victorian Government: School leaders guide to literacy and numeracy.

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Victorian Government: School leaders guide to literacy and numeracy.

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Shanahan on Literacy - Blog on literacy matters

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Shanahan on Literacy - Blog on literacy matters

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Shanahan on Literacy has a variety of literacy blogs in one place. Find out here the information that can use by teachers and parents in teaching and assessing reading, writing, and literacy. Read more here!

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Cris Tovani takes on the challenge of helping students apply reading comprehension strategies in any subject. This is because if teachers want their students to learn complex new concepts in different disciplines, they often have to help their students become better readers. This resource shows how teachers can expand on their content expertise to provide instruction students need to understand specific technical and narrative texts.

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A guide offering schools and teachers recommendations to improve outcomes in literacy for secondary school students. It is aimed primarily at subject leaders, principals and other staff responsible for leading improvements in literacy teaching.

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This resource is valuable because it shares structures and tools for effective literacy instruction that have high-impact on learning, as well as insights on which stage of learning have that high impact.

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This Guidance Report offers seven practical, evidence‑based recommendations – that are relevant to all students in secondary school – but particularly to those struggling with their literacy.

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The Writing Revolution (TWR) provides instruction across subjects and year levels.   It is a clear method of instruction that can be used across the year levels and curriculum areas.  Based on the Hochman method, this model is able to turn weak writers into strong communicators as teachers of all subjects adapt the TWR strategies and activities to their current curriculum and weave them into their content instruction. It breaks the writing process down into manageable chunks and then has students practice the chunks they need, repeatedly, while also learning content.

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The book addresses major components of literacy, the needs of specific populations, motivation, assessment, approaches to organizing instruction, and more. 

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Building on best practice, this is a practical guide of how to establish quality written communication across the secondary curriculum. It can be used as a handbook by a literacy coordinator to lead the approach as well as being a source of practical ideas for each subject area.

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7 strategies for highly effective readers 

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7 strategies for highly effective readers 

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McEwan, E.K. (2007). 40 Ways to Support Struggling Readers in Content Classrooms. Grades 6-12. Corwin Press. pp1-6

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Lesson template for teaching summarisation.

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Lesson template for teaching summarisation.

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McEwan, E.K. (2007). 40 Ways to Support Struggling Readers in Content Classrooms. Grades 6-12. Corwin Press

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We know literacy is important. Unfortunately, many Australian students move through the years of schooling without achieving the literacy they need for essential daily activities.

When we think about building literacy, we most likely think about the English learning area. But think back to your time at school. You’ll probably remember you needed good literacy skills in learning areas beyond English.

Your knowledge and skills across most learning areas were gained and measured through your literacy skills. For example, your ability to write an essay in history, produce a report in science and explain your working out in mathematics contributed to your grade. Research shows how students’ literacy skills influence their achievement in mathematics and science.

Read more: All teachers need to teach language and literacy, not just English teachers

The Australian Curriculum positions literacy as a general capability to be taught in every learning area. Despite this, few Australian schools have whole-school literacy policies that include practical plans for building student literacy across learning areas. That’s the troubling conclusion from my analysis of Australian and UK school literacy policies for my upcoming book.

My earlier research also shows that many Australian secondary teachers do not believe their schools have a whole-school approach to supporting struggling literacy learners. This is concerning, as students who struggle with literacy won’t only struggle in English.

It’s not that the push to make every teacher a teacher of language and literacy is new. It has been discussed since the 1960s. However, there are questions about how closely Australian schools meet this expectation.

What kinds of literacies do we need?

Many literacies are needed to boost achievement beyond English. When we talk about whole-school literacy, we often refer to content area literacy and disciplinary literacy.

Content area literacy refers to the literacy knowledge, strategies and skills we use across the learning areas. For example, we don’t only need reading comprehension in English. It’s needed in every learning area that requires students to read.

Disciplinary literacy relates to the literacy knowledge, strategies and skills that we use to achieve learning purposes that are unique to a learning area. For example, writing a science report requires the correct scientific language, formatting, referencing and diagrams. It calls for specific literacy skills unique to science.

Read more: Language matters in science and mathematics - here’s why

What’s missing from school literacy policies?

Whole-school literacy policies plan for all learning areas to include a focus on literacy achievement.

However, analysis of Australian schools’ literacy policies reveals many gaps in these policies. Part of the problem is an excessive focus on NAPLAN testing. There is also limited attention to making the most of literacy resources such as school libraries, especially by comparison with policies in the UK.

School literacy policies commonly fail to include:

A definition of literacy that considers both content area literacy and disciplinary literacy, as well as the wide range of literacies that the school seeks to develop in its students. This should not be limited to the narrow framing of literacy tested in NAPLAN.

Read more: A year without NAPLAN has given us a chance to re-evaluate how we gauge school quality

Detailed and explicit literacy targets for building content area and disciplinary literacy, as well as meeting other goals such as increasing students’ information literacy. Targets are needed so the policy isn’t just aspirational; it actually drives change. There should also be detailed implementation planning that allocates literacy responsibilities across the school.

An explanation of how improvement in literacy will be measured to determine the effectiveness of the policy. Don’t just assess changes in high-stakes literacy-testing scores. Look at building literacy engagement. This relates to students’ attitudes toward and performance of practices such as reading for pleasure. Research has found a relationship between reading for enjoyment and reading comprehension, a key content area literacy skill.

Plans for identifying and supporting students who are struggling with literacy. These plans should cover all schooling years and learning areas. Include plans for professional development of teachers who lack confidence in supporting students’ complex literacy needs among the many competing demands of their role.

Consideration of how to make the most of the literacy resources within the school. These resources include but are not limited to the school library and its staff.

Read more: Music can help lift our kids out of the literacy rut, but schools in some states are still missing out

Attention to writing – the majority of Australian schools’ policies did not mention handwriting. Most of the UK policies did. Australian school policies also rarely mentioned typing. A whole-school literacy policy should include these skills, given their importance across the curriculum and the years of schooling.

COVID-related literacy issues – school policies may also need to include strategies to overcome any negative impacts of pandemic-related education interruption on students’ literacy learning.

In general, Australian school literacy policies are typically far shorter and less detailed than their UK equivalents. Australian schools and their students will benefit from more effective whole-school literacy planning.

Literacy is not just the responsibility of the English teacher. Every teacher is a literacy teacher.

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Every teacher needs to be a literacy teacher – but that’s not happening in most Australian schools

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A whole-school approach to literacy is far more effective for students, but few Australian schools have practical plans for building literacy across all subject areas.