Research School Network: Two months into term and the real challenge begins… Disciplinary literacy challenges that all subject teachers face

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Two months into term and the real challenge begins…

Disciplinary literacy challenges that all subject teachers face

by Unity Research School
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The initial thrill of the new academic year is waning, new books have names of students and teachers marked neatly upon them, stiff shoes are becoming more comfortable, but the harsh reality of the academic challenges ahead start to kick in. This is secondary school with its academically rigorous curriculum, dominated by expository reading and non-fiction texts. The latter demand a knowledge and understanding of 95% of their vocabulary to be comfortably understood. In addition, Year 7 students need to become accustomed to navigating the content and demands of up to 6 subjects a day, known as code-switching. After the huge excitement of being at big school”, comes the realisation of just how tough it is.

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All students (and teachers!) hit a bit of a wall at this point. However, persistently disadvantaged students with low levels of literacy are even more jaded. Why?

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These students have yet to acquire reading fluency and probably have far less than the required minimum of 25,000 words to cope with KS3. Therefore, they are far less likely to comfortably understand the content of the work in front of them. They are unable to read with expression, accuracy, intonation, taking note of punctuation and at a conversational pace. They are still decoding sounds and letters, meaning they are having to work doubly hard and regrettably using up valuable space in their working memory which then can’t be applied to understanding what they are reading.

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When working alongside colleagues from all key stages and types, I repeatedly hear voiced the following frustration: I can teach them my subject, but I haven’t got time with all the subject content we have to get through to teach them to read!” This is an understandable and real concern. The 2018 Oxford Language Report reflected this worry at all key stages.


Unfortunately, the stark reality is unless students CAN read at around their chronological reading age, regardless of however effective and caring their teachers are, students will hit this language gap and struggle. This battle with literacy will often result in a retreat into themselves and disengagement or resorting to exhibiting poor behaviour to disguise their frustration and inability to access the curriculum.

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So, what simple, evidence-based strategies can secondary teachers use, regardless of subject discipline, to enhance their students’ development of this essential comprehension and reading fluency? I could share many, but the following two are effective, tried and tested, evidence-based approaches that not only increase understanding but lead to students becoming more motivated and engaged.

  1. Activate Prior Knowledge:
    Make a real effort to activate your students’ prior knowledge of a topic before teaching it. If their interest is engaged before reading a challenging passage or listening to a difficult explanation, students are far more likely to be motivated by the content and subsequent delivery of the lesson. For example, if starting a topic about volcanoes, firstly asking students about what they already know. You could then elicit a definition of what they think volcanoes are, followed by showing a short YouTube clip of an eruption. This will not only entice their curiosity but encourage them to feel they can already access the topic. Having a sense of some ownership of the knowledge inevitably results in increased motivation and greater self-esteem.

  2. Pre-Teach Key Subject-Specific Vocabulary
    Plan to pre-teach key subject-specific vocabulary which would otherwise be a barrier to your students’ understanding of a topic. If a student is having to concentrate on understanding a significant number of difficult terms, particularly in a non-fiction text, their working memory will be taken up on decoding these so they will not be comprehending the passage. For example, a text about the Black Death including the words symptoms, bubonic, blistered, and Medieval, will be extremely challenging to a student whose reading comprehension is poor. Taking the time to read these aloud first, then explain and discuss them, perhaps using a Frayer model, will provide the student with greater insight into a topic and increase the chance of their being able to understand the content when they actually begin reading it.

There are many other comprehension strategies that can become embedded into your teaching easily which increase reading fluency resulting in better understanding, regular questioning, summarisation, prediction to name a few. I might well cover some more in a future blog if readers are interested.


Activating prior knowledge and pre-teaching barrier words” are highly effective strategies allowing students from word-poor backgrounds immediately with greater access to the content of your lesson.

Written by Ruth Everett, Literacy Advisor – Unity Schools Partnership & Unity Research School

Follow Ruth on Twitter: @RuthevRuth

Check out our CPD for latest courses with Ruth: https://researchschool.org.uk/…

28th February – Improving Literacy in Secondary School

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Related EEF Guidance Report – **NEW** Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools. This report highlights the importance of disciplinary literacy i.e. how important being literate is across all subjects. After all, in every subject a student needs to be able to read, write and talk in detail to achieve their best outcomes. Literacy, therefore, is not solely the responsibility of English teachers.

Improving literacy in secondary schools
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