The TL/DR...

  • Strong literacy skills that include reading, writing, comprehension, and communication are not confined to English language arts classes but can be developed in other disciplines that require the analysis and expression of complex concepts.
  • To develop in-depth content knowledge, a student must become familiar with the vocabulary used in that discipline and be able to extract meaning from specialized text that is written in a language, format, and style unique to that subject area.
  • Disciplinary literacy enables the student to construct a deep understanding of content in a subject area, utilizing the same reasoning and communication practices that a professional in the field would use.

“Learning to read, Reading to Learn” is a saying that is known to many professionals in the education community. Its meaning centers on how the development of strong literacy skills such as reading, writing, and comprehension can provide a foundation for learning and building knowledge across core subject areas. Some people think that developing literacy proficiency takes place only within an English language arts classroom. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Literacy skills are developed not only in English language arts classrooms, but they are built in other subjects such as math, science, history, social studies, and literature. Central to each of these academic disciplines is the need for the student to possess the reading, writing, listening, and communication skills that will enable them to think critically about the content they are studying. To develop an in-depth understanding of a particular subject area, a student must become familiar with the vocabulary and the meaning of the words used in that discipline. In addition, the student must have the capacity to synthesize meaning from text that is written in a language, format, and style unique to that subject area. This skill is referred to as disciplinary literacy. Seth Parsons, Professor of Literacy and Elementary Education PK-6 at George Mason University, recently shared his thoughts on how disciplinary literacy can serve as the foundation for success throughout a student’s academic journey.

Basic Literacy

Basic literacy provides young learners with the essential skills they need to read, write, and comprehend general text across a wide range of subjects. When young learners become adults, basic literacy enables them to perform everyday activities such as filling out a job application, understanding the meaning of traffic signs while driving, identifying sale items on a grocery store advertisement, reading a book for leisure, or performing any number of other life activities.

Disciplinary Literacy

In contrast, disciplinary literacy requires the student to use strategies that will enable them to decipher the specialized text specific to subject areas such as math, science, history, social studies, and literature—all of which require a high level of critical thinking skills and comprehension to achieve academic success. The strategy used by the student will vary depending on what the specific subject area is and the degree of complexity of the related text. For example, in working through a math problem that includes words, symbols, notations, and graphs, a student will use an approach that differs from the one they would use in analyzing a dense historical text. Similarly, the student will use entirely different reading and comprehension strategies when approaching science text that emphasizes evidence-based principles derived from the results of an experiment or when analyzing themes and character development in literature. In each case, disciplinary literacy enables the student to construct an in-depth comprehension of content in a particular subject area using the same reasoning practices that a professional in the field would use. It also allows the student to communicate that knowledge in a way that may enhance other individuals’ understanding of the discipline content.

An Example of How Students Can Build Disciplinary Literacy

An example of how a student’s skills in disciplinary literacy could be enhanced in a real-life situation is a math class where learners work in groups to solve a word problem assigned by the teacher that also contains math symbols and equations. The students might exchange their ideas on how the problem should be solved. The teacher could ask them to write in clear and concise sentences (using proper grammar) what steps they think are needed to derive a solution to the math problem. This would allow students to demonstrate their content knowledge of math and would provide them with practice in using words and vocabulary specific to this discipline. In other activities, the teacher could show students an image of a graph and ask them to write a narrative summarizing their interpretation of the information it displays and why it is significant. An assignment of this type would facilitate a deeper understanding of math concepts because the student would need to draw on their content knowledge in supporting their interpretation of the visual.

Proficiency in disciplinary literacy can facilitate deeper learning as a student engages in more challenging academic endeavors throughout their educational journey.

Education experts say that whether it is history, social studies, science, math, or literature, each of these subject areas requires a unique and specialized way of constructing and communicating knowledge. To become proficient in these disciplines, a student must learn to read and think like a historian, scientist, mathematician, or author. While this may be a challenging endeavor for many students, developing disciplinary literacy skills will allow them to be successful in their study of increasingly complex subject matter as they progress in their academic careers.


For more information on degree offerings in the Literacy and Elementary Education PK-6 Programs at George Mason University, please visit the program websites.