A Case Study: Embedding Disciplinary Literacy Strategies in a Pre-Advanced Placement Biology Class

Background: The No Child Left Behind Act mandates the raising of academic achievement levels for all students, including students with learning challenges, traditionally low-performing students, and students of color. The improvement of literacy initiatives, often through the implementation of content-area literacy programs, has been viewed as the primary mechanism for doing so despite current studies showing such programs have struggled to improve student literacy growth and test scores nationwide. Research has concluded that for students to be successful using literacy to access knowledge within specific disciplines, content-area teachers should provide explicit instruction of literacy within their content areas. However, due to increased emphasis for students to demonstrate growth on summative state assessments, many content-area teachers neglect literacy instruction within their subjects. Disciplinary Literacy (DL) represents an alternative to failing literacy initiatives by approaching students’ literacy acquisition in the content areas through apprenticing students in the practice of thinking and using literacy as content experts. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a classroom culture rich in disciplinary literacy ideology and strategy usage to observe the overall result such practices have on student literacy growth and teacher instructional practices. Students learned to navigate Biology in a pre-advanced placement classroom within the framework of an inquiry-based instructional approach highlighted with disciplinary literacy strategies. The following research question was used for this study: How do disciplinary literacy strategies affect student literacy growth and inform teacher practices? Methods: This study employed a qualitative case study approach to collect and analyze data from both the principal researcher, serving as the teacher of record, and twenty-nine students participating in lessons built around disciplinary literacy strategies. Data collected included an initial and final Metacognitive Awareness Inventory, a 52-item true/false survey administered to identify knowledge and regulation of metacognitive skills, researcher reflections captured in a weekly journal, classroom observations conducted by the researcher, student exit-tickets, and student work samples. Twelve DL lessons were developed to examine student growth in disciplinary reading, writing, thinking, and communicating and were implemented by the researcher over the course of thirteen weeks. A thematic analysis approach (Creswell, 2002) was used to analyze all data sources and to allow themes to emerge. Three peers, with science experience and from diverse educational backgrounds, reviewed findings to guard against researcher bias. Results: The study found that the consistent use of Disciplinary Literacy strategies improved some students’ literacy growth and significantly informed teaching practices. Analysis of data revealed three emergent themes: 1.) DL strategy implementation resulted in instances of both very positive and negative student and teacher engagement; 2.) DL strategy implementation resulted in growth of student and teacher metacognitive awareness through the development and use of interim texts; and 3.) DL strategy implementation resulted in an increase in the frequency, comfort level, and sophistication of academic conversations for the teacher and students. Student cell phone use emerged as the primary avoidance behavior observed when students were presented with DL strategies. Conclusion: DL strategies have a positive impact on both student and teacher metacognitive and literacy development. DL strategies also have a positive impact on teacher efficacy.