Moving beyond early grade reading: Teaching content area literacy in the upper primary grades.

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The multilingual nature of many low- and middle-income countries contributes to the rich social, cultural and economic fabric of these nations, but also renders language and literacy education a complex and highly contested issue. For socioeconomic and sociopolitical reasons, many SSA countries have language policies which follow early-exit transitional models of language education where children are taught in MT languages in grades K-3 children with an international/official language taught as a subject. From grade 4, children transition to instruction solely in the international or national languages such as French, English, and Portuguese. Some countries continue to teach MT languages as subjects, while others phase them out completely (Tikly, 2016; Williams, 2014).
While much of the emphasis in literacy education in LMICs focuses on the early grades and early grade reading, there is a dearth of research and investment in the upper primary grades (grades 4 through 6 or 7). In grades 1-3, students are expected to acquire basic literacy skills needed to learn how to read and write. However, the ability to use basic literacy skills does not mean that students automatically acquire advanced literacy skills and strategies needed for reading to learn in grade 4 and beyond (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008; Snow, 2002). Literacy learning continues beyond the early grades and must especially be embedded in content area learning for students who are learning in the target international or official LoTL. Without academic literacy instruction, students can struggle to read, understand, and communicate what they read in content-area texts. In upper primary grades therefore, teachers must have the skills to continue to teach basic literacy strategies in content areas such as activating prior knowledge, making predictions, summarizing and making inferences. Additionally, they need to focus on what literacy looks like in specific disciplines (Chauvin & Theodore, 2015). Each discipline has a distinctive way of thinking about the world and the types of questions to be answered, specific organization and structure in the texts used, and characteristics ways of writing content (Alverman et al., 2013).
Teachers can provide support in learning the specific strategies used within their disciplines (e.g., mathematicians, scientists, etc.) needed to think, read, and write about what has been learned (Buehl, 2011). There are strategies that students can use to access and understand content area information. Use of these strategies can support pupils’ understanding of the language of the discipline and to evaluate, discuss, and apply the information. These strategies include using questioning techniques, facilitating engaging discussions, applying graphic organizers, building background and conceptual knowledge, understanding text structures, robust vocabulary learnings, and purposeful and intensive writing instruction (Chauvin & Theodore, 2015; Fisher & Frey, 2015; Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). A closer look at teaching content literacy in the upper primary grades is vital, as research evidence indicates that although more children are in school, they are not achieving minimum learning outcomes at the end of primary (World Bank, 2018). Our panel emphasizes the need to look beyond the notion of literacy as a technical skill acquired in the early grades, but “rather a developmental process throughout a reader’s life” (NCTE.org).
The purpose of this panel will be to present a selection of instructional strategies which are subject specific, contextualized, and useful for strengthening adolescent academic literacy in the content areas in upper primary grades in LMICs. Context specific subject-area examples will be provided. The strategies to be presented include knowledge of questioning techniques and graphic organizers to help learners understand text structures, developing robust and discipline specific academic vocabulary, and using writing to improve literacy and language skills and learn content area subjects. Our panel will present strategies which support the improvement of literacy skills of upper primary learners and prepare them to be successful learners in secondary and tertiary education, as well as critical thinkers, effective communicators, and productive citizens of their countries.
The first presentation will discuss how teachers can use questioning and graphic organizers to strengthen student understanding of text structures in the content area textbooks they read. The second presentation will give examples of strategies teachers can use to help students learn vocabulary in the academic disciplines, and the third presentation will discuss writing strategies. The final presentation will discuss and illustrate how several of these content area literacy strategies were used in the teaching of Hausa literacy in the UNICEF-funded Reading and Numeracy Activity (RANA).

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Adrienne Barnes, Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University

Individual Presentations

• Reading Comprehension in Upper Primary School: Use of Questioning Techniques and Graphic Organizers - Adrienne Barnes, Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University

• Teaching vocabulary to enhance reading to learn in upper primary - Sarah Koko, RTI International, Tusome Kenya

• Teaching Writing in the Content Areas - Patience A Sowa, RTI International

• From research to implementation: A case study on Hausa Literacy in upper primary. - Emily Koester, FHI 360

Discussant

• Patience A Sowa, RTI International