Awareness of Disciplinary Literacy and Academic Language Practice

Abstract

This chapter is based on classroom experience, was written along the lines of an opinion paper, and addresses the complex nature of literacy. Limitations are acknowledged upfront: samples of qualitative data illustrate instances of awareness of academic language use; however, the objective is not to formulate generalizable explanations for the progressive development of disciplinary literacy. In fact, the main goals in this text are: (a) to highlight the relevance of the point of view of the learner and the first-person nature of language awareness (LA); (b) to revisit the notion of discourse community and discuss intricacies in the continual process of becoming (recognized as) especially literate. In pursuing these goals, the notion of LA is reviewed to support the claims and classroom procedures advanced in the chapter, then the topics of disciplinary literacy and discourse communities are analyzed and contrasted with excerpts of learners’ responses to specific tasks. Despite the focus on highly specific contexts for teaching academic English to speakers of other languages, the ideas and data in the chapter may help reframe lesson plans and stimulate classroom-based research involving professionals and scholars in the making.