Adolescents Learning With Text in the Academic Disciplines

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

A number of alarming reports have found that adolescents are ill-prepared for the literacy skills for comprehending the complex and technical texts in their academic disciplines (Biancarosa & Snow, 2006; Rand Reading Study Group, 2002). Adolescents must come to understand the special nature text in each academic discipline because disciplines are a powerful means of organizing vast bodies of related knowledge and experience (Jetton & Shanahan, in press).
The purpose of this symposium is to examine the trends in learning from text and those discipline-specific strategies that increase adolescents’ understanding of these texts. Experts in the area of adolescent literacy from several institutions present critical research that details how adolescents learn with text in particular academic disciplines.

Sub Unit

• Division C - Learning and Instruction / Section 1: Reading, Writing, and Language Arts

Chair

• Tamara L. Jetton, Central Michigan University

Papers

• Learning With Text in the Academic Disciplines: Research From the Last Decade - Tamara L. Jetton, Central Michigan University; Richard Ian Lee, Central Michigan University

• How Disciplinary Experts Read - Cynthia R. Shanahan, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Learning With Text in English Language Arts - Troy W. Hicks, Central Michigan University

• Learning With Text in Science - Cynthia R. Shanahan, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Learning With Text in History - Bruce A. VanSledright, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Learning With Text in the Arts - Kathleen Moxley, Central Michigan University