Defining Content Area Literacy

"Adolescents entering the adult world in the 21st century will read and write more than any other time in human history. They will need advanced levels of literacy to perform their jobs, run their households, act as citizens, and conduct their lives." -Richard Vaca (as cited in Alber, 2010)

What is content area literacy?

"Content is WHAT we teach, but there is also the HOW, and this is where literacy instruction comes in" (Alber, 2010).

"...a cognitive and social practice involving the ability to read and write about multiple forms of print...to be considered from a critical stance" (as cited in Bean, 2000).

Content area literacy involves using strategies to make meaning of text. It is not just the ability to read words on a page, but being able to comprehend and engage with content through critical thinking.

Why is it important for all teachers—especially those who teach content areas—to have a well-developed, clear, current understanding of content area literacy?

Content area literacy affects ALL students, regardless of grade level, across all content areas. Student success is every teacher's responsibility, not only English or reading specialists.

“Schools are more effective when all teachers accept responsibility for the overall goals of the school…to develop interests and abilities that will allow students to continue to be reasonably well versed in their subjects in the future” (Manzo, 2005).

Teachers in the most successful schools work together to create an educational environment in which students are challenged to analyze, reflect, and communicate (Manzo, 2005).

How is content area literacy different from content area reading?

“Content [area] literacy represents skills needed to acquire knowledge of content” (McKenna & Robinson, 1990) while content area reading is reading needed to complete and understand a particular subject area.

Content knowledge is a prerequisite of content literacy—the more students know, the more they will be able to decode, which leads to gaining additional knowledge.

What are some of the challenges our students encounter when reading content area material?

School

• Combination of single-texts and high-stakes testing (Bean, 2000)
• Few remediation programs for adolescent literacy development (Allington, 2002)
• “One-size-fits-all” approach of single-source curriculum design

Classroom

• Students have been labeled as poor readers
• Disparity between school-based literacy and out-of-school literacy (Bean, 2000)
• Teacher-centered rather than student-centered approaches (Bean, 2000)

Text

• Vocabulary becomes less familiar, syntax more complex, and emphasis on inferential thinking and prior knowledge (Allington, 2002)
• Often above average instructional reading level of students
• No connection to students' personal interests or lives

What are some of the key 'terms' and concepts in content area literacy and why are they important?

Untitled Slide

• Literacy: generalized knowledge of a subject
• Content Area Literacy: the ability to use reading and writing for the acquisition of new content in a given discipline (McKenna & Robinson, 1990)
• Content Knowledge: knowledge about a specific content area

Untitled Slide

• Content Acquisition: knowledge gains in a specific content area
• Reading: constructively comprehending, or making meaning from, print (Manzo, 2005)
• Reading Comprehension: understanding, interpreting, and applying (Manzo, 2005)

Untitled Slide

• Independent Reading Level: level at which a student can read a text on his/her own with ease
• Instructional Reading Level: level at which a student needs the support of a teacher or tutor
• Range: level of reading abilities
• Decode: make meaning of text

Why is it important for content area teachers to support the reading and writing of their students within the context of the subjects they teach?

“It is not enough to merely acquire information; students must know how to acquire it and, more important, to interpret and use it” (Manzo, 2005).

Content literacy instruction should be done while teaching content, not in addition to teaching content.

“Students who have been afforded opportunities to become content literate will be better able to use content literacy as a means of extending their knowledge of a discipline even after they have completed a given course” (McKenna & Robinson, 1990).

Content literacy leads to increased content acquisition - direct, traditional instruction followed by literacy activities reinforces content acquisition.

References
Alber, R. (2010, August 4). How important is teaching literacy in all content areas?. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/literacy-instruction-across-curriculum-importa...
Allington, R. L. (2002, November). You can’t learn much from books you can’t read. Reading and Writing in the Content Areas, 60(3), 16-19.
Bean, T. W. (2000). An update on reading in the content areas: Social constructionist dimensions. Retrieved from http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/bean/
Manzo, A. V. (2005). Content area literacy: Strategic teaching for strategic learning. New York: Wiley.
McKenna, M. C., & Robinson, R. D. (1990, November). Content literacy: A definition and implications. Journal of Reading, 34(3), 184-186.