DEFINING DISCIPLINARY LITERACY 1

Defining Disciplinary Literacy: A Reflection

Kyla Burrola

Arizona State University

RDG 323
DEFINING DISCIPLINARY LITERACY 2

Abstract

This reflection will discuss disciplinary literacy and its importance. It will reflect past

articles and essays to present a more well-rounded image of what disciplinary literacy means to

me and how it will reflect into my classroom and teaching practices. The reflection will also

examine the importance of thinking like experts in their respective fields and why would that

apply to students developing their critical thinking skills.

Keywords: disciplinary literacy, adolescent literacy

DEFINING DISCIPLINARY LITERACY 3

Defining Disciplinary Literacy: A Reflection

Disciplinary literacy refers to the strategies and tools experts use to analyze texts and

writings within a specific discipline. These techniques may include specialized vocabulary,

exclusive techniques, and unique viewpoints. Allowing the students to participate in disciplinary

literacy is important because it exposes them to discover a new way of reading and writing.

These strategies will also be beneficial to their critical thinking skills. The importance of

disciplinary literacy lies within the use of research-based learning that many schools are now

following. However, the issues arise that many schools have not followed this type of learning

and so the students are not being taught how to properly assess and connect new information.

“Disrupting the status quo to create a culture of productive and equitable talk is difficult but not

impossible.” (Windschitl 2019). Meaning that there is an impact on the implementation of

disciplinary literacy and its effect on adolescent literacy overall.

Perhaps it's better to define what literacy itself is in the 21st century. 21st-century literacy

means being able to distinguish and sort out information. To be knowledgeable about what

sources are reliable and to be able to create critical insights when reading a text. This generation

of students has been born in the age of information, within a few seconds they can find the

answer to any question they have immediately. The real question is whether how authentic is this

information and what strategies can be used to authenticate the information. Students must be

able to look at multiple pieces of evidence, identify the creator, consider any biases/motivations,

and even noting the time when a certain text was written to understand the context. (Shreiner &

Zwart 2020). This description was originally used to describe disciplinary literacy in history, but

truthfully this can be applied to all disciplines. The reason being is that throughout all disciplines
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students must be able to research accurately and efficiently so their opinion is informed and their

knowledge is acquired through problem-solving and critical thinking.

Now to focus on the importance of teaching specific literacy practices in each discipline.

As addressed in previous writings, to be literate in any discipline the students must learn to put

themselves in the expert’s shoes, and analyze the information they way a mathematician or

historian would. For example, a discipline that a student would not realize involves a lot of

reading and writing in math. While it is true that math teachers reject generic literacy strategies

because they do not find them relevant, they will in turn accept more disciplinary literacy

strategies that are focused on “...writing to document approaches to problem-solving, such as

devising a plan, carrying out the plan, and looking back, ...promotes metacognitive thinking and

a deeper understanding of concepts.”(Brozo & Crain 2018). The word that stands out here is

metacognitive thinking, this means that students are aware of how they are thinking and then

using that to understand what is being asked in a math problem.

Equity in education has always been an underlying issue in the public school system.

Diverse learners are not always considered when a teacher is creating their unit plan and these

issues arise even more when introducing the use of disciplinary literacy. “Literacy requires a

range of cognitive abilities, written and spoken language knowledge, knowledge of genres, and

cultures. “(Zulfah & Senam, 2018). But what can be done, if certain students have not fully

acquired proficiency in any of these sorts of knowledge? This is where differentiated instruction

can come into play. As another example involving math and writing, if a teacher requires the

students to provide a written explanation of their process, they would differentiate the

assignment by allowing the student to write their explanation based on their literary proficiency.

This way the students are not excluded and do not lose points either.
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There are many benefits to disciplinary literacy but it will take some time before it is

implemented in all public education. The exclusive strategies that are displayed in each

discipline can be easily applied to other disciplines. As long as students can start thinking more

critically, they will be more well prepared for the “outside world” after high school.
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References

Brozo, W. G., & Crain, S. (2017). Writing in Math: A Disciplinary Literacy Approach. The

Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 91(1), 7-13.

doi:10.1080/00098655.2017.1342435

Shreiner, T. L., & Zwart, D. E. (2020). It’s Just Different: Identifying Features of Disciplinary

Literacy Unique to World History. History Teacher, 53(3), 441–469.

Windschitl, M. (2019). Disciplinary Literacy Versus Doing School. Journal of Adolescent &

Adult Literacy, 63(1), 7-13. doi:10.1002/jaal.964

Zulfah, K., & Senam, K. (2018). Problem-solving ability of students with disciplinary literacy

instruction. International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science Engineering and

Education, 6(2), 81-87. doi:10.5937/ijcrsee1802081s