Running Header: Historical Literacy 1

Historical Literacy

Lauren Coleman

Arizona State University

Running Header: Historical Literacy 2

Importance of Adolescent Literacy Instruction

As an educator, one of my most critical roles in the classroom is teaching literacy. Every

day people of all ages are surrounded by a myriad of text types, and adolescents are at a crucially

malleable stage during which literacy instruction and development is “at the heart of supporting

adolescent students” (ILA, 2019, 4). One should not be quick to assume that literacy refers solely

to the practices of reading and writing, however fundamental those skills are to effective literacy.

As importantly, “we prepare students for what to do when they are confronted with specific

difficulties experienced as a result of background knowledge, readability, or disinterest” (ILA,

2019, 4). In this sense, the development of adolescent literacy extends far beyond reading and

writing; my responsibility is actually most importantly to teach students how to overcome

obstacles when they arise.

Such an approach to adolescent literacy not only equips adolescents to interact effectively

and responsibly with the many texts they encounter in their daily lives; it also prepares

adolescents for adulthood and their personal and professional lives. The development of strong

adolescent literacy creates adults who engage in thoughtful communication, civil conversations,

and meaningful contributions in various professional spheres. Considering the multifaceted

nature of literacy, it becomes evident that literacy skills cannot be taught in isolation. Rather,

literacy development must be a fundamental element of every academic and non-academic

course.

Explanation of Disciplinary Literacy in History

Disciplinary literacy is comprised of five design principles, and these principles vary in

each academic content area. For example, the five design principles of disciplinary literacy
Running Header: Historical Literacy 3

would be applied differently in a history classroom than they would in a math classroom. The

essences of each of the five principles, however, remain the same across disciplines, and are

understood as follows: “1. Knowledge and thinking must go hand in hand;” “2. Learning is

apprenticeship;” “3. Teachers as mentors of apprentices;” “4. Classroom culture socializes

intelligence;” “5. Instruction and assessment drive each other” (McConachie and Petrosky, 2010,

197-199).

The first design principle, again, reads “Knowledge and thinking must go hand in hand”

(McConachie and Petrosky, 2010, 197). In a history classroom, the first design principle might

be applied when students are learning about historical events, people, places, and concepts and

utilizing this knowledge to analyze historical documents. The second design principle reads

“Learning is apprenticeship” (McConachie and Petrosky, 2010, 198). In a social studies

classroom, the second design principle might look like students interpreting historical

documents, asking questions, and challenging others’ interpretations.

Next, the third principle of disciplinary literacy states “Teachers as mentors of

apprentices” (McConachie and Petrosky, 2010, 198). In a historical context, a teacher might

implement the third principle by scaffolding their instruction to teach varying methods of

historical thinking. Fourth, disciplinary literacy ensures that “Classroom culture socializes

intelligence” (McConachie and Petrosky, 2010, 199). Students in a social studies class might

practice this principle by discussing, explaining, and debating historical concepts with groups of

varying sizes. Finally, the fifth principle of disciplinary literacy reads “Instruction and

assessment drive each other” (McConachie and Petrosky, 2010, 199). In practice, a history
Running Header: Historical Literacy 4

teacher would provide meaningful formative feedback to students, who would in turn use that

feedback to guide future historical thought, analysis, writing, and research.

Supporting Students in History

Social studies students come from diverse backgrounds and will encounter many

different kinds of obstacles and challenges related to disciplinary literacy. One such challenge,

which may be obvious or expected, would be a teacher’s lack of understanding of disciplinary

literacy and/or general inflexibility. For instance, consider for a moment the plethora of teaching

materials related to disciplinary literacy. Several intervention programs and targeted curricula

aim to develop adolescent literacy in historical contexts. Unfortunately, when teachers have only

a surface-level understanding of the concept of disciplinary literacy, their confusion is translated

to their students. Teachers may teach the lessons they’re handed word for word, yet their

students will not fully develop the skills that the lesson aims to teach if their teacher is unable to

support them, answer questions, and check for understanding along the way.

Furthermore, in addition to fully understanding the concept of disciplinary literacy,

teachers must be extremely adaptable in their teaching. Different students and classes will react

to cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all lessons in many different ways depending on their background

knowledge and demonstrated skills. For this reason, teachers must be able to meet their students

where they’re at and focus on developing the specific skills that they might be missing. The

importance of adaptability cannot be overstated, as is illustrated by a 2014 study in which two

teachers, Ms. Janney and Mr. Addison, made great use of instructional disciplinary literacy

materials that were provided to them. The key to these two teachers’ success was the way in

which they modified the curriculum to meet their students’ needs: “Both teachers consistently
Running Header: Historical Literacy 5

reflected on what was working for their students. When they found students struggling, they

made changes to help those students reach the goals of the curriculum” (Monte-Sano, De La Paz,

& Felton, 2014, 558). As this study exemplifies, teachers must be very knowledgeable about

disciplinary literacy as well as flexible in their teaching.

A second challenge that students may face with regard to historical literacy is the

tendency of adolescents to interpret historical texts literally, taking everything at face value

without considering the historical context of a document. This poses as a barrier to historical

inquiry, as students will be unable to totally grasp the broad implications of historical events and

figures without analyzing them within their respective historical contexts. Too often have

“adolescents… been observed to have difficulty grasping the nature of historical context, tending

to judge past actors and actions by present standards” (De La Paz et al., 2014, 232). One of my

primary goals as a historical educator, therefore, is to foster a sense of historical empathy among

my students, encouraging them to use historical evidence to imagine history as it was instead of

making assumptions based on their own life experiences and perspectives.

In their 2014 study, De La Paz et al. found an intervention curriculum centered around

argumentative historical writing to be effective for developing adolescents’ historical literacy

skills. As a result of the intervention, adolescents who had previously struggled to consider

historical context demonstrated a more nuanced understanding of historical complexities. De La

Paz et al. maintain that while “writing argumentative essays in response to historical

controversies does not in itself promote disciplinary thinking,... argumentation is now recognized

as one way for students to engage in literacies that are central to history” (De La Paz et al., 2014,
Running Header: Historical Literacy 6

258). This study illustrates the ways in which primary source analysis and synthesis of evidence

to support or refute an argument can improve students’ historical literacy skills.

Finally, one of the most salient challenges facing adolescents in regard to historical

literacy will be all too familiar to social studies teachers: boredom. History teaching has been

characterized by dry textbooks, rote memorization, and mundane factual recall. Historians know

that primary sources can often be much more interesting to read than history textbooks, yet many

of these documents are above and beyond our students’ current reading levels, employing

language and literary strategies that make the texts unreadable and incomprehensible to

adolescents with underdeveloped historical literacy skills.

With the Document-Based Lesson, Reisman aimed to eliminate this issue by modifying

historical documents. Reisman modified documents “according to three principles of adaptation:

focusing, simplification, and presentation” (Reisman, 2011, 243). In doing so, Reisman

effectively made each document an approachable length by extracting excerpts that immediately

pertained to the historical question at hand. Further, Reisman simplified the spelling, vocabulary,

grammar, punctuation, and sentence structures of documents to increase readability and

comprehension of the excerpts. Finally, Reisman presented the excerpts in a manner that was

inviting rather than intimidating, utilizing large font sizes and margins. With all of these

modifications, Reisman managed to preserve the tone, message, and intention of the original

documents while making them more accessible for adolescent learners. As such, modifications

should be one of the many strategies that history educators use to support adolescents’ historical

literacy.
Running Header: Historical Literacy 7

References

International Literacy Association. (2019). Engagement and Adolescent Literacy. Literacy

Worldwide.

https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/where-we-stand/ila-engagement-

and-adolescent-literacy.pdf.

McConachie, S. M., & Petrosky, A. R. (2012). Appendix A: Disciplinary Literacy Design

Principles by Core Academic Area. Content Matters, 197–214.

https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118269466.app1

Monte-Sano, C., Paz, S. D. L., & Felton, M. (2014). Implementing a disciplinary-literacy

curriculum for US history: learning from expert middle school teachers in diverse

classrooms. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 46(4), 540–575.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2014.904444

Paz, S. D. L., Felton, M., Monte-Sano, C., Croninger, R., Jackson, C., Deogracias, J. S., &

Hoffman, B. P. (2014). Developing Historical Reading and Writing With Adolescent

Readers: Effects on Student Learning. Theory & Research in Social Education,

42(2), 228–274. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2014.908754

Reisman, A. (2011). The ‘Document-Based Lesson’: Bringing disciplinary inquiry into high

school history classrooms with adolescent struggling readers. Journal of Curriculum

Studies, 44(2), 233–264. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2011.591436