Date Approved

3-26-2019

Embargo Period

3-27-2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Services and Leadership

College

College of Education

Advisor

Thompson, Carol

Committee Member 1

Abi-El-Mona, Issam

Committee Member 2

Manning, JoAnn B.

Keywords

academic vocabulary, close reading, content area literacy, disciplinary literacy, dispositions, pedagogical content knowledge

Subject(s)

Content area reading

Disciplines

Language and Literacy Education | Secondary Education

Abstract

The purposes of this exploratory qualitative study were to a) gain an understanding of middle and high school science, social studies, and English language arts teachers' disciplinary literacy pedagogical content knowledge b) explore teachers' dispositions towards disciplinary literacy and c) to determine whether teachers dispositions influenced disciplinary literacy instruction in the classroom. Using a pre - and post-survey, semi-structured interviews, professional development workshops, teacher reflections, and classroom observation field notes, this study discovered teachers' disciplinary literacy pedagogical content knowledge was a combination of generic literacy and disciplinary literacy skills knowledge. Teachers dispositions towards disciplinary literacy were found to be favorable because teachers recognized the importance of disciplinary literacy to their subject areas. Findings indicated there was a lack of pre-service disciplinary literacy training that limited teachers' disciplinary literacy pedagogical content knowledge and influenced their dispositions towards literacy instruction in the classroom. After engaging professional development workshops, teachers reflected their need to continue learning disciplinary literacy strategies. This study offers a perspective on the importance of disciplinary literacy pedagogical content knowledge and its possible influence on literacy instruction in middle and high school.

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