Disciplinary Literacy From a Speech–Language Pathologist's Perspective

Comprehension of narratives, non-fiction, and complex syntax as predictors of science achievement

“…Integrating the teaching of language/literacy and science could facilitate gains in both domains Guthrie, 2004;Romance and Vitale, 2016). SLPs should increasingly become involved in identifying students whose difficulty with academic subjects is underscored by difficulty with the language involved as part of the tiers of instruction and progress-monitoring within Response to Intervention frameworks (Ehren et al, 2012). Collaboration between SLPs and science teachers is needed, as many science teachers lack explicit knowledge of language (Ehren et al, 2012, Fang andSchleppegrell, 2010), whereas SLPs may lack content knowledge about science (Ehren et al, 2012).…”

“…One example is nominalization, or using as a noun a word that a child may know as a verb or as an adjective (Ehren et al, 2012;Fang et al, 2006;Fang and Schleppegrell, 2010;Shanahan and Shanahan, 2008;Wellington and Osborne, 2001;Westby and TorresVelasquez, 2000). Nominalizations frequently are used in science to help define terms or summarize explanations (Fang and Schleppegrell, 2010), requiring students to retrieve scientific words from the lexicon and switch from everyday meanings to the specific 'science' meaning (Wellington and Wellington, 2002).…”

“…Many scientific terms cannot be easily visualized, and the figures that are used to visually represent the constructs described are abstract depictions (Graesser et al, 2002;Westby and TorresVelasquez, 2000). The referencing of figures within the text requires that students recognize that the content was interrupted, adding an additional challenge to the comprehension of the material (Ehren et al, 2012;Hoop, 2015). Students are expected to produce representations of the concepts they are learning by constructing posters, graphs, or models.…”

“…Hand et al (2003) emphasized that the science education community needs to incorporate evidence from language research in order to facilitate science literacy in students. Speech-language pathologists have a crucial role in facilitating disciplinary literacy in children and adolescents with language impairment (Ehren et al, 2012).…”

Improving Clinical Practice: A School-Age and School-Based Perspective

“…(Harcourt School Publishers, 2000, p. 280; also quoted in Wallach et al, 2009, pp. 202, 206) As a bridge between the previous and next section, readers can certainly appreciate the level of both background and linguistic knowledge needed to access the information in this abbreviated excerpt (Ehren, Murza, & Malani, 2012;Faggella-Luby, Graner, Deshler, & Drew, 2012). Our colleagues in disciplinary literacy (next section) would also remind us that history has its own language style (e.g., Fang, Schleppegrell, & Moore, 2014;Shanahan & Shanahan, 2012).…”