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Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum

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CONTENT AREA READING:
LITERACY AND LEARNING
ACROSS THE CURRICULUM, 8/e
© 2005
Richard T.Vacca
Jo Anne L.Vacca

0-205-42857-6 Exam Copy ISBN

(Please use above number to order your exam copy.)

Visit www.ablongman.com/replocator to contact your local Allyn & Bacon/Longman representative.

p r e f a c e
The pages of this Preface may have
slight variations in final published form.

The colors in this document

are not an accurate representation
of the final textbook colors.

Allyn & Bacon

75 Arlington St., Suite 300
Boston, MA 02116
www.ablongman.com
 Preface

W hen we began writing Content

Area Reading more than twenty-five years ago, we decided to set the tone of the
first edition in the opening chapter by quoting a line from Simon and Garfunkel’s
“Kodachrome.” Although we run the risk of dating ourselves, we are reminded of
the provocative line because it captures the disconnect that many students have
felt in their school experience, then as well as now. The opening lyrics to “Koda-
chrome” are a songwriter’s personal reflection on education—nothing more, noth-
ing less. Yet the juxtaposition of having learned “crap” in school with the inability
to “think” critically represents an ongoing dilemma faced by content area teach-
ers who are wedded to an academic discipline.
We have never met a teacher who didn’t believe that the essence of artful
teaching is in showing students how to think deeply and critically about the con-
tent underlying an academic discipline. Yet, when content is taught in a vacuum
without attention to the process by which it is learned, students are apt to make
few connections between the powerful ideas underlying an academic discipline
and the prior knowledge and experience that they bring to classroom learning sit-
uations. In this book, we explore the relationships between content and process
by critically examining the literacy processes and strategies that students use to
think and learn with texts.

Major Themes in the Eighth Edition

Influenced by the role of language, cognition, culture, and social context in
learning, our goal for this edition is to inspire teachers, whether novice or vet-
eran, to examine what it means to connect literacy and learning in a standards-
based curriculum. The eighth edition continues the ambitious exploration of
content literacy—the ability to use reading, writing, talking, listening, and view-
ing processes to learn subject matter across the curriculum. The major themes
underlying content literacy and learning are reflected in the organizing princi-
ples described at the beginning of every chapter:

● All teachers play a critical role in helping studens comprehend and respond
to information and ideas in the text.
● Instructional assessment is a process of gathering and using multiple sources
of relevant information about students for instructional purposes.

xvii
xviii PREFACE www.ablongman.com/vacca8e

● Teachers respond to the literacy needs of struggling readers and writers by

scaffolding instruction so that students become confident and competent in
the use of strategies that support learning.
● Teachers respond to linguistic and cultural differences in their classrooms by
scaffolding instruction in the use of vocabulary and comprehension strategies
and by creating classroom environments that encourage talking and working
together.
● Instructional practices involving the use of informational and literary trade
books in content areas help to extend and enrich the curriculum.
● Electronic texts, like trade books, extend and enrich the curriculum.
● Bringing students and texts together involves instructional plans and activi-
ties that result in active student engagement and collaboration.
● Teaching words well means giving students multiple opportunities to de-
velop vocabulary knowledge and to learn how words are conceptually related
to one another in the texts that they study.
● Activating prior knowledge and generating interest create an instructional
context in which students will approach reading with purpose and antici-
pation.
● Teachers guide reader–text interactions through the instructional strategies
and practices that they use and the reading support that they provide.
● Writing facilitates learning by helping students to explore, clarify, and think
deeply about the ideas they encounter in reading.
● Looking for and using text structure in everything they read helps students
to study texts more effectively.

Underlying these themes is our belief that students learn with texts, not nec-
essarily from texts. Learning from texts suggests that a text is a body of infor-
mation to be mastered by learners rather than a tool by which they construct
meaning and knowledge. Learning with a text, on the other hand, implies that stu-
dents have much to contribute to their own learning as they interact with texts to
make meaning and construct knowledge.

Organization of the Eighth Edition

The knowledge base related to content literacy and learning has changed dramat-
ically in the past twenty-five years, and so has thinking about what constitutes
“best practice.” Nevertheless, in making decisions related to changes in this edi-
tion, we ask the same question that guided the writing of the first edition twenty-
five years ago: How can teachers make content literacy a visible part of their
instructional routines without sacrificing high standards for content learning?
 PREFACE xix

Answers to this guiding question led us to reorganize the eighth edition into
three parts: Part One: Content Literacy in a Standards-Based Curriculum, Part
Two: Learners and Texts, and Part Three: Instructional Strategies and Practices.
Part One situates issues and problems related to content literacy within the
context of the standards-based movement and accountability systems that are
changing the face of education in today’s U.S. schools. Although the pressure to
ensure that students meet content standards weighs heavily on instructional de-
cisions, a teacher can make a difference in students’ literacy development and
knowledge acquisition by showing them how to use literacy processes and strate-
gies to meet high standards for learning. Ongoing, authentic assessment in the
classroom—when coupled with high-stakes proficiency assessment—provides
the information that teachers need to inform their day-by-day instructional deci-
sions about content literacy and learning.
In Parts Two and Three of this edition, we build an instructional framework
for content literacy and learning across the curriculum. In Part Two, Learners and
Texts, our emphasis is on the exploration and clarification of issues related to
struggling readers and writers, culturally and linguistically diverse learners, and
the use of trade books and electronic texts to extend and enrich the curriculum.
Students who continually struggle with text in reading and writing situations need
to build strategic knowledge, skills, and insights related to literacy and learning.
Moreover, culturally and linguistically diverse students present a unique chal-
lenge to content area teachers, especially in light of the influx of immigrant stu-
dents in today’s classrooms. We also examine the limitations of textbooks and
explain how to use trade books and information and communication technologies
such as the Internet to extend and enrich a standards-based curriculum.
In Part Three, Instructional Strategies and Practices, we flesh out the in-
structional framework by explaining how to create active learning environments
in which all students—alone and in collaboration with one another—know how
to use content literacy strategies to learn with texts. To this end, Part Three offers
a multitude of instructional strategies and practices that allow teachers to scaf-
fold instruction in ways that support the following:

● development of vocabulary knowledge and concepts;

● activation of prior knowledge before, during, and after reading;
● comprehension and critical analysis of text through reader–text interactions;
● use of various writing activities to facilitate learning; and
● development of study strategies based on a search for text structure in every-
thing that students read.

These instructional strategies and practices are designed to engage students in

their strategic interactions with text and other learners. Rather than left to “sink or
swim” with a text assignment, students will be more likely to know how to search
for meaning in everything they talk about, listen to, and read, view, and write.
 xx PREFACE www.ablongman.com/vacca8e

Features in the Eighth Edition

The eighth edition retains all of the features of the previous edition, while im-
proving its overall coverage of content literacy topics and instructional strategies
and practices.

New and Expanded Chapters

The text continues to emphasize a contemporary, functional approach to content
literacy instruction. In a functional approach, content area teachers learn how to
integrate literacy-related strategies into instructional routines without sacrificing
the teaching of content. Our intent is not to “morph” a content teacher into a read-
ing specialist or writing instructor. As a result, we expanded our discussions of
topics in the previous edition by creating separate, new chapters for the following:

● Chapter 1: Reading Matters (with an emphasis on the impact of teaching to

content standards);
● Chapter 3: Struggling Readers and Writers (with a renewed emphasis on writ-
ing strategies for students who struggle with the writing process);
● Chapter 4: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners (with emphasis on
students whose first language is other than English);
● Chapter 5: Learning with Trade Books (written by Professor Barbara Moss
from San Diego State University, a leading expert in the field of informational
literature for children and adolescents); and
● Chapter 6: Learning with Electronic Texts (with emphasis on learning with
the Internet).
Overview

CULTURALL
Y AND LIN

CULTURALLY
GUISTICAL

ANDLINGUIS
TICALLY
LY DIVERS

DIVERSE
LEARNERS
E LEARNE
RS Aids to Understanding
CULTURAL

t e r
4 DIFFERE
NCES

A new design makes the text visu-

Chapter

From LINGUIS
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Ways of TIC DIFF
Monocultura Stud ERENCES
to Multicult l Knowing ents'
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Classroo English Lang
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Culturall lly
Bilingual
and ESL Prog
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What Mak
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Through this new, attractive design,

Literacy

a
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Ling uist ic LAR

STRATEGIE Y
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Sheltere

TALKING
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Vocabula S AND WOR
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lection TOGHETHER KING

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(VSS) Questioning

Div CD Word the Auth Scaffolding

Maps or (QtA)
Student Talk
Vocabula Directed Purposes

fied, making the text user-friendly.

ry Building Reading– and Type
ces s
kinds of voi m
Thinking of Discussi
Activitie on
so many s (DR–TA)
There are rld, and none of the
Creating
Environm an
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in the wo
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is the real
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is withou ol experie

Each chapter opens with a quota-

—ST. PAU nce more -
nounced pro- How can
of English than in the teachers be
language academic linguistic responsive
lear lives and cultural to
tic and perience is often cha ners. Their school ex- classrooms diversity
to linguis connection racterized while mai in their
respond , and by failure, dards for ntaining high
Teachers
tion to help readers reflect on the un-
content liter
s in their writing in acad resistance to reading dis-
Understand acy and lear
stan-
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is all the mor the
cultural lding
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texts. The
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Teaching sroom, whe classr oom English dem uage is one nonmainstr
today’s clas eam learners
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rsity abularyinstruction that ands liter

lenging in cultural dive
derlying theme of each chapter. The
of voc acy- related tant first step is an imp
uistic and is strategi or-
range of ling since the n in the use sponsive, c and cult ple of this
, as the orga
stea dily instructio ategiealls with high urally re- chapter sugg nizing princi-
increasing hension str
learning exp
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stu- students.
has been ing dive rsity in the and compre era of unp
St. Paul’s
quote wea
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for
respond to
linguistic
ests: Teache
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1960s. The
grow cted in the ssroom recedented rs well in ferences in and cultura
often refle ating cla
Organizing Principle gives readers a
is day’s teac classroom an their clas l dif-
dent populat
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ut themselv
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think abo t enc ourage
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eth er.grounds and
linguistic
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and compreh
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read bac tog of academic
of diverse in working their voic needs. And
and
environmen by creating classroo
not, students reading and writing talking and
“heads-up” by introducing the ratio-
es is without none ts m
classroom. significance and working that encourage talk
struggle with the
Organizi

Much like in the together. ing

contexts. de-
academic writers we
readers and watered-dow
n
struggling culturally
and
a limited,
nale for each chapter and highlighting
3,
scribed in
Cha pter n are is based on result, the
learners ofte struction um. As a
ly diverse failure that the curricul bring to inst
ruc-
linguistical of school version of rse learners
a cyc le t and that dive ed.
caught in l achievemen strengths ally go unt
app
to margina ations usu
contributes
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low-ability
Typically,
groups whe
they are
re in-
tional situ
its underlying theme. A Chapter Over-
view depicts the relationships that exist
 PREFACE xxi

among the important ideas presented in each chapter. A set of Frame of Mind
W e began our teaching careers in the

questions at the start of the chapter helps readers approach the

1960s in a suburban high school just outside of Albany,
1. Why are today’s classrooms
New York, during the height of the civil rights move-
more diverse than they were
ment and the Vietnam War. The times were tumultuous
several decades ago? in the wake of great social change. Practically every

text in a critical Frame of Mind as they analyze and interpret in- 2. What are some of the cultural
and linguistic differences that
students from various racial and
facet of American society was open to critical exami-
nation, if not reform, including the nation’s schools. The
landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v.
Board of Education of Topeka ruled that “separate but

formation presented in each chapter.

ethnic backgrounds bring to
equal” schools were unconstitutional and laid the
classroom learning situations?
groundwork for educational reform in the 1960s. The
3. Why do English language civil rights movement fueled the legislative agenda of

End-of-chapter features include Minds On and Hands On ac- learners struggle with content President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. The Civil
literacy tasks, and how does Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in public
sheltered instruction make institutions on the basis of race, color, religion, or na-
tional origin. Also in 1964, the Economic Opportunity

tivities. Minds On activities engage students individually and col-

content more accessible to
Act resulted in educational programs, such as Head
them while providing additional
Start and Upward Bound, that are still in existence to-
language support?
day. In 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education

laboratively in thinking more deeply about some of the important

4. How can teachers scaffold Act (ESEA) established compensatory educational pro-
instruction to develop grams (Title 1) to provide educational opportunities for
vocabulary-building strategies low-income students from minority backgrounds. In
for diverse learners? addition, the Bilingual Education Act of 1967 made it

ideas that they have studied. Hands On activities engage students 5. How are the questioning the
author (QtA) strategy and the
possible for schools to receive federal funding for mi-
nority groups who were non-English speaking.
Despite the social and educational reforms taking

individually and collaboratively in applying some of the important

directed reading–thinking place in the 1960s, it was business as usual at the high
activity (DR-TA) similar? How school where we taught. The school seemed impervious
are they different? to change. In a student body of more than 1,000 stu-
dents, no more than 1 or 2 percent of the students were

ideas that they have studied.

6. Why is classroom talk especially
people of color or immigrants whose first language
important to English language was one other than English.
learners, and how can teachers One of our students during
create an environment for
our first year of teaching,
discussion in their classrooms? Johnny, was the oldest son
of Hungarian immigrants.
He worked after school at
his uncle’s garage where he
pumped gas and did minor
repairs on cars. He used to
Response Journal
If you currently are
teaching, how would you
describe the cultural and
linguistic differences of
your students? If you are
studying to be a teacher,
describe the cultural and
linguistic differences
that existed in your

New Features work on our beat-up, old

Chevy Impala whenever it
school experiences.

broke down and needed repair. Anyone who took the

time to get to know him could tell that Johnny was a
bright young man, but in school he was mostly a quiet

New features to this edition include marginal notations and “boxed”

text segments that highlight issues related to content standards and
assessment, procedures for research-based best practices, and con- retrieve
Reinking
information
(1995) argu
, constru
ct their own
CHA PTER
6: LEAR NIN
G WIT H
ELEC TRO
NIC TEX
es that com texts, and TS 199

nections between chapter content and diverse learners.

cate and interact
disseminate pute
and how information rs are changing the with othe
rs.
we think , how we way we com Response
texts ofte about peo approach muni- Journal
n enhanc ple becomi reading and
graphic read e learning ng literate. writing, In what ways, and
ing and writ , Reinking Although what purp for
the way we ing with (1998) con electron oses, do you
teach and compute tends that ic use comp
learn. rs have the post typo- uters?
power to
transform

● What about Content Standards and Assessment? Boxes po- Wha

Contentt about . . .
Standard

6. 1
s and As
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municati
how to use
information
sessment
?

BOX
on technolo and com-
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is integral such as the
to the strat ze
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designed to emphasize relationships between chapter con-

skills that egic knowl- te and
content area every stud knowledg
will need ent in ever e.
tent literate to develop y State cont
in the twen to be con- ent standard
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all of the ury. ability to un-
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associations onal educatio for learning, gies to
in the vari but for the
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readers and linguistically diverse learners.

maintain
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ity before work on the

● Response Journal. The Response Journal marginal icon

reading, use focal poin ed as an (8)
quent disc t for more
ussion to the subse- involving fundamental
terms and build two (9)
to raise expe meaning for key Constitution. different (10) of the
signment ctations for merit, but All of thes
as a whole. the as- e views have
passage after If you assig no single
n the cloz unanimou view has

signals readers to use a journal while reading to make

reading, it e s support. won
cepts attai will reinforce (Answers
ned through con- can be foun
reading. chapter on d at the end
page 292. of this
)

personal and professional connections as they react to

ideas presented in each chapter.
xxii PREFACE www.ablongman.com/vacca8e

● eResources. The eResources marginal icon directs readers to the Companion

Website to search for Web links, Web activities, or suggested readings to en-
gage in further learning about the topics presented in each chapter. There are
also additional eResources at the end of each chapter directing students to the
Companion Website for more activities and suggested readings, as well as ar-
ticles from the New York Times.

Supplements for Instructors and Students

Allyn and Bacon is committed to preparing the best quality supplements for its text-
books, and the supplements for the eighth edition of Content Area Reading reflect
this commitment. For more information about the instructor and student supple-
ments that accompany and support the text, ask your local Allyn & Bacon represen-
tative, or contact the Allyn & Bacon Sales Support Department (1-800-852-8024).

● Instructor’s Resource Manual and Test Bank with teaching suggestions and
test items for each chapter.
● PowerPoint™ Presentation. Ideal for lecture presentations or student hand-
outs, the PowerPoint™ presentation created for this text provides dozens of
ready-to-use graphic and text images (available for download from Supple-
ment Central at www.suppscentral.ablongman.com).
● Companion Website (www.ablongman.com/vacca8e) that provides online
practice tests, activities, and additional Web resources to deepen and expand
understanding of the text.
● VideoWorkshop, a new way to bring video into your course for maximized
learning! This total teaching and learning system includes quality video footage
on an easy-to-use CD-ROM plus a Student Learning Guide and an Instructor’s
Teaching Guide. The result? A program that brings textbook concepts to life
with ease and that helps your students understand, analyze, and apply the ob-
jectives of the course. VideoWorkshop is available for your students as a value-
pack option with this textbook. (Special package ISBN required from your
representative.) VW will eventually become part of an exciting new package on-
line called “My Lab School” currently under construction. Watch for details.
● My Lab School. Discover where the classroom comes to life! From video clips
of teachers and students interacting to sample lessons, portfolio templates,
and standards integration, Allyn and Bacon brings your students the tools
they’ll need to succeed in the classroom—with content easily integrated into
your existing course. Delivered within Course Compass, Allyn and Bacon’s
course management system, this program gives your students powerful in-
sights into how real classrooms work and a rich array of tools that will sup-
port them on their journey from their first class to their first classroom.
● Allyn and Bacon Digital Media Archive for Literacy. This CD-ROM offers
still images, video clips, audio clips, Web links, and assorted lecture resources
that can be incorporated into multimedia presentations in the classroom.
 PREFACE xxiii

● Professionals in Action: Literacy Video. This 90-minute video consists of 10-

to 20-minute segments on Phonemic Awareness, Teaching Phonics, Helping
Students Become Strategic Readers, Organizing for Teaching with Literature,
and discussions of literacy and brain research with experts. The first four seg-
ments provide narrative along with actual classroom teaching footage. The fi-
nal segments present, in a question-and-answer format, discussions by
leading experts in the field of literacy.
● Allyn and Bacon Literacy Video Library. Featuring renowned reading schol-
ars Richard Allington, Dorothy Strickland, and Evelyn English, this three-
video library addresses core topics covered in the literacy classroom: reading
strategies, developing literacy in multiple intelligences classrooms, develop-
ing phonemic awareness, and much more.

Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the many individuals who made this edition possible. First, we
would like to thank several of our former doctoral students who came to the res-
cue of tired and beleaguered mentors by helping us to meet deadline commit-
ments: Dr. Barbara Moss, San Diego State University, for revising Chapter 5,
Learning with Trade Books; Dr. Christine McKeon, Walsh University, for serving
in the role of Webmaster as she updated and redesigned the Companion Website
for this edition; and Dr. Maryann Mraz, University of North Carolina, for revising
and updating the Instructor’s Resource Manual.
We also wish to acknowledge the thoughtful and thought-provoking profes-
sional suggestions of those who responded to questionnaires and reviewed the
text for this edition: Vi Alexander, Stephen F. Austin State University; Mickey
Bogart, Kansas State University; Dr. Deb Carr, King’s College and Hazleton Area
School District; Ann Harvey, Columbia College; Stephenie Hewett, The Citadel;
Lois E. Huffman, North Carolina State University; Luther Kirk, Longwood Uni-
versity; and Joyce Stallworth, The University of Alabama.
This book is only as good as the editors behind it. We owe a debt of gratitude
to our Acquisitions Editor, Aurora Martínez, whose graceful guidance and inci-
sive leadership on this project made us work harder than we wanted to. And spe-
cial kudos to Tom Jefferies, the finest and steadiest developmental editor with
whom we have had the pleasure to work thus far.
A special thanks to students, colleagues, and teachers in schools through-
out the United States and Canada, too numerous to list, who have contributed
immeasurably to our growth as teachers and scholars. This book has been a
marriage-of-sorts for us and it’s time to celebrate our silver anniversary with
this edition’s time cycle! Never in our dreams did we think it possible, and we
thank a Power greater than ourselves for making it a reality.

R. T. V.
J. L. V.

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