Supporting Disciplinary Talk From the Start of School: Teaching Students to Think and Talk Like Scientists

• Published in: The Reading teacher Vol. 71; no. 2; pp. 189 - 197
• Main Authors: Wright, Tanya S., Gotwals, Amelia Wenk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Newark Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.09.2017; Wiley-Blackwell; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: 2‐Childhood; Content literacy; Discourse strategies; Discussion < Oral language; Educational Methods; Educational Strategies; Elementary education; Elementary School Students; Elementary School Teachers; Expressive language < Oral language; Instructional strategies; Instructional strategies; methods and materials; Interpersonal Communication; Literacy; Literacy Education; Oral Language; Pedagogy; Reading Instruction; Sciences; Scientific Literacy; Specific subject areas (math, art, etc.) < Content literacy; Spoken language; Student Improvement; Teachers; Teaching Methods; teaching strategies < Strategies, methods, and materials; Vocabulary
• ISSN: 0034-0561; 1936-2714
• DOI: 10.1002/trtr.1602

In this article, the authors first review the research literature to show why supporting talk from the start of school is important for students’ long‐term literacy development. The authors then define and describe disciplinary talk and argue that it is an important entry point into science and disciplinary literacy learning for young students. The authors briefly describe their research project, which found success in improving students’ science talk: SOLID Start (Science, Oral Language, and Literacy Development from the Start of School). The rest of the article describes the SOLID Start instructional strategies for supporting disciplinary talk: the research that supports these strategies, examples of what each strategy looks like in primary‐grade classrooms, and how‐tos for teachers to start using these instructional strategies.