Jordan Clingan & Hollie Hughes

Position Statement on Disciplinary Literacy in Social Studies

Description of Disciplinary Literacy
Those who are literate in the social studies will know the importance of critically reading
from a historical perspective. Highly proficient historians are trained to read with a critical eye.
Their purpose is to not only to read, but write historical accounts and interpret and translate
historical text . Because historians interpret the past on the basis of incomplete and often
conflicting documents, they read critically, thinking about the author and his or her perspective,
the time period in which a text was created, its purpose and audience, the completeness and
coherence of the argument or account, and what others corroborate (Shanahan, 2015, p. 3).
Texts, Tasks, and Literacy Practices
Historians have to read a variety of text including, documents, political cartoons, books,
newspaper articles, textbooks, and many more. One of the more important texts is primary
sources. Primary sources are included in the social studies Tennessee state standards, and the
ILA disciplinary literacy statement states, that in order for students to be college and career ready
they must be able to analyze the relationship between primary and secondary sources on the
same topic (ILA, 2015, p.2).
Practices that are implemented in social studies to promote literacy are, analyzing,
contextualizing, and corroborating. Historians must critically analyze sources focusing on the
author's, purpose, and audience. They also will contextualize to better understand when and why
the text was created. (Spires, Kerkhoff, Graham, Lee, 2014). Corroborating will help individuals
to strengthen any claim being made by comparing evidence. Through these practices individuals

are able to write and represent highly qualified historical accounts, and argument responses
through multiple formats (Spires, Kerkhoff, Graham, Lee, 2014).
Implications and Recommendations for Instruction
Two aspects of historical literacy that are embedded into both state and national standards
are understanding the historical process, or the skills and procedures that historians use to study
the past, and historical inquiry which is the conceptual patterns that historians use to make sense
of the past (Mandel, 2008). To help other students become literate in social sciences, teachers
should model and implement asking critical thinking questions about the past, draw conclusions
that are supported by evidence, and explore the causes and effects of past historical events. A
historical inquiry category that students should master is recognizing key turning points in
history, when societal development begins to follow a new trajectory shaped by new possibilities
and constraints (Mandell, 2008). An effective strategy teachers can implement is asking
questions before each lesson or unit, this shows students that history begins with questions while
giving direction and purpose to the curriculum. Shanahan also suggests that thinking about the
perspective of texts by having students ask questions about the author, the time and place the
piece was written, and what was happening at the time allows students to identify biases and how
to interpret the text (Shanahan, 2015, p. 9).
Curriculum components such as asking questions that are not clearly defined by the
textbook, supplementing the textbook with primary sources and personal knowledge, and using
multiple sources along with the anchor text are essential for becoming literate within the history
discipline. Shanahan also suggests that textbooks should not be the only text used, and students
should see the way historical interpretations are created (Shanahan, 2015, p. 8). Modeling

historical literacy such as lectures with driving questions, discussions that require students to
draw information from sources, document analysis, and using songs and poems and source
documents promote students own historical literacy (Mandell, 2008). Asking good historical
questions and answering them is very beneficial for students, this can be used in conjunction
with Thinking Like a Historian Worksheets, which should be given at the beginning of each new
unit or topic (Mandell, 2008). This is a successful group work strategy and over time, students
will begin to think of the past in meaningful ways, rather than as a collection of information to be
memorized and recalled on demand (Mandell, 2008).

References
International Literacy Association. (2015). Collaborating for success: The vital role of
content teachers in developing disciplinary literacy with students in grades 612 [Position
statement]. Newark, DE: Author

Mandell, N. (2008). Thinking like a historian: A framework for teaching and learning. OAH
Magazine of History, 22(2), 55-59.

Shanahan, C. (2015). Disciplinary Literacy Strategies in Content Area Classes. International

Literacy Association. doi:DOI:10.1598/e-ssentials.8069

Spires, H., Kerkhoff, S., Graham, A., & Lee, J. (2014). Model for Inquiry-Based
Disciplinary Literacy. Disciplinary Literacy for Deeper Learning MOOC-Ed. Friday
Institute for Education Innovation. Raleigh, NC: NC State University.