H-810Y Developing Adolescent Literacy
Joshua Fahey Lawrence
As the literacy demands of the workplace and postsecondary education increase, many adolescents struggle to acquire the reading and writing skills that they will need to meet these demands. Although most students succeed in learning to read simple narrative texts in elementary school, a substantial number struggle when asked to learn content from reading complex expository texts in middle and high school. This module will investigate the variety of reasons that adolescents struggle--including decreased motivation, low vocabulary, unremediated word reading difficulties, limited background knowledge, and lack of strategic knowledge about how to attack secondary texts--as well as explore instructional approaches to address each of these challenges. Readings and discussions will pay particular attention to language and literacy demands within the content areas, to the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse learners, and to the organizational challenges of improving literacy instruction in middle and high schools. Using a combination of lecture, discussion, and small-group activities, this module will strike a balance between examining recent research in this growing field and discussing how to implement research-based practices in the classroom. This module is designed for master's students in the Language and Literacy Program and for students in other programs interested in learning about and/or improving literacy instruction for adolescents.
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