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Adolescent Literacy in the Language Arts

David Westlake

Arizona State University

Why Adolescence Literacy Is Important

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Literacy in all classes is important, because in order for them to fully comprehend and

remember what they learned, they need to fully engage and take ownership of their own

education. Obtaining adolescent literacy and sharpening those skills constantly is prevalent in

English Language Arts (ELA). Young adult learners often ask the question, “Why are we

learning this? I’m not going to be using this information outside of school.” Students with that

mindset, while that’s logical in their mind, unfortunately fail to understand the skills that relate to

being engaged with the world outside of their schools and future careers. The video “The Power

of Literacy: Read, Write, Think and Discuss” illustrates an example of what they label as “an

engagement model” where it’s centered around students being agents of their learning. Ted Loht,

one of the teachers who use this model, describes it as “It’s not about them the right answer. It’s

about them trying to find an answer. Whether it’s right or wrong will come later, but the critical

thinking [...] these are the skills the students need” (Fairfax County Public Schools). The

engagement and the teamwork gives the students an opportunity to grow and develop their own

thinking strategies. Students are able to grasp both content and disciplinary literacy with this

instruction model.

Content literacy from an English classroom involves breaking down the text with the use

of vocabulary words only looking at the form of literature as a whole piece. Disciplinary literacy

takes what students have learned from the content and compares and contrasts it to not only other

texts in the classroom but also in different classes. Other examples to get students to participate

in a language arts class would be warm-ups to start the class, and their warm-ups would be free-

writing based on a couple of prompts given. Students could also create their own mini-lessons

and presentations to spark discussion among their peers. As it is described in the content and

disciplinary literacy brief by the International Literacy Association, “Writing is evaluated based
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on the subject material. What makes good writing in English (such as metaphors) is different for

good writing in a nutrition or physical education class” (Wilson-Lopez and Bean 4). Adolescent

literacy combines and has a balance between content and the discipline or field that is being

taught. The focus is on the adolescent mind in being their for support, making connections,

creating awareness, and understanding why they think the way they do through metacognition

(International Literacy Association 4). English and its literature has its own relevance and

strategies for students to be able to retain the information given to them.

Disciplinary Literacy in Language Arts

Disciplinary literacy is reading, writing, and thinking techniques that adapt to each

subject of school. However, it’s more than just knowing the terminology and receiving lectures

on grammar in an English classroom. The goal is for students to take this information and want

to continue on their pursuit for literature, but how can this objective be accomplished between

one to two hours? Students lose motivation as it is reported that “Annually, approximately 27

percent of students who go to college do not continue past their first year (ACT, 2010)” (Rainey

and Moje 72). The answer is not only receding strategies, but giving students projects that will

put these strategies to use. Teachers are only the guides and not the givers of analysis, and the

language arts are no exception. The source that was provided in the introduction provided an

example of students learning techniques and applying them to their community. They learn the

purpose of a public service announcement (PSA) and in order to take action on a specific issue,

they are shown visuals and apply photographs to their PSA. A graphic organizer is then

composed with the format of storyboards, and then after finalising their announcements, they

analyze and constructively critique each other’s work (Wilson-Lopez and Bean 6). While literacy
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is a bright method on paper, each subject faces similar and contrasting obstacles that can steer

progress in a student to be slower.

Obstacles and their Solutions in the Language Arts Discipline

A common issue among giving up the responsibility of learning and obtaining knowledge

to the students is that disciplinary studies will encourage a student’s short attention span. This

happens because their brains are still developing, but instead of taking complete control and

shutting them out, we should monitor and redirect the conversation if it goes out of hand (Tovani

and Whitlock). An example would be a formatted discussion where some students are located in

an inner circle to discuss prompts on the assigned reading or what they chose, and the people on

the outside circle observe and take notes. The instructor allows each person in the inner circle to

speak as well as providing evidence for their claim or providing evidence to support or disagree

with a fellow student, so long as the environment is encouraging which is initiated in the

beginning of the semester and evolves throughout on a weekly basis.

An obstacle in relating to this academic subject is that students who aren’t studying

English outside of college for a career may lack motivation. The solution to this would be using

pedagogic or teaching devices by selecting reading writing and listening strategies that are from

outside of the school and adapting them for school learning (Collin). The learner would engage

with their community as a result.

There is also the argument that there is no right answer in English, so coming up with a

position by themselves creates doubt and insecurity. Combating this insecurity is having that

awareness that there is a basic understanding of a novel’s or poem’s plot and the ‘invisible ink’ is

the symbols, themes, motifs, characterization that are used to determine the author’s intention

and purpose. Interpretations are made backed up through evidence of the text (Rainey and Moje
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79). There is also much more to explore with this field of study when you let the students take

charge of their learning.

More Examples

Students will comprehend terminology and how to annotate by having their own

conversations with the words on the pages. Teachers must examine genres with their classes in

order for students to understand the core of a piece of work, and they’ll provide resources for

them to infer the author's intent (McConachie and Petrosky 210-211). Students need to use

technology in the classroom, so they will not be sheltered and inexperienced in the workforce

when they graduate. The fishbowl activity is a great example of providing discussion with their

classmates. They step into the character’s shoes with young adult literature, because they will

feel like they’re voice is heard if the teacher moderates the discussion and steps back otherwise.

As English teachers, we know “constructing knowledge is based in an understanding that

“literature keeps its secrets. We as readers are in a position to figure out what to do productively

in the face of those secrets not being revealed.” (Rainey 61). Being involved with what is offered

through the pages gives insight and perspective to students that they won’t get in another subject.

Conclusion

Language arts provides skills that can be used outside of the classroom when students

come across something they don’t understand. Literature is everywhere which includes

electronically. Taking the words and separating by each section will allow the students to see the

bigger picture of the work. This is still a new learning concept so teachers would need to get into
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the habit soon if they really have the intent of making a difference for each yearly class that

enrolls.

References

Fairfax County Public Schools. (2017). “The Power of Literacy: Read, Write, Think, Discuss -

Disciplinary Literacy”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

time_continue=6&v=FfYe6ndbVq8&feature=emb_logo

International Literacy Association. (2017). “Content Area Disciplinary Literacy: Strategies and

Frameworks.”

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

Kuby, Candace. Collin, Ross. (2015). “Moving beyond the content area literacy debate of

strategies vs. disciplinary approaches.” Voice of Literacy.

http://www.voiceofliteracy.org/posts/59635

McConachie, Stephanie M. Ptrosky, Anthony R. (2010). “Content Matters: A Disciplinary

Literacy Approach to Improving Student Learning”. University of Pittsburgh of the

Commonwealth System of Higher Education.

Rainey, Emily. Birr Moje, Elizabeth. (2012). “Extending the Conversation: Building Insider

Knowledge: Teaching Students to Read, Write, and Think within ELA and across the

Disciplines”.

Rainey, Emily C. (2017). “Disciplinary Literacy in English Language Arts: Exploring the Social

and Problem-Based Nature of Literary Reading and Reasoning.” International Literacy

Association.

Tovani, Chris. Whitlock, Paige. (2017). “Read, Write, Think, Discuss: Disciplinary Literacy”.

https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-answer-key/read-write-think-discuss-BxDWF-eA7Cd/
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