"Strong early reading skills do not automatically develop into more complex skills that enable student to deal with the specialized and sophisticated reading of literature, science, history, and mathematics (Perle et al., 2005)" (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008, p. 43).
Students need help developing higher order literacy skills in specific disciplines. Without these skills, students cannot be critical consumers of information, and they may struggle with these fields in higher education and the workplace.
Literacy is correlated with income. Students with lower literacy skills find themselves in lower paying jobs, while students with greater literacy skills will work higher-paying jobs.
"The advantages without continued enhanced teaching efforts- the so called "vaccination" conception of teaching - does not appear to hold."
Why different disciplines might require different literacies:
- Disciplinary litearcy is power.
- Disciplines evolved this way; the conventions depend on teh nature of knowledge being discussed.
- Literacy differences reflect the different activities being conducted in different disciplines.
Students need to be continually reinforced on literacy skills and not just relying on elementary perceptual and decoding skills
