Disciplinary Literacies Across Content Areas
When reading through the article, I found it almost ironic that I was having a difficult time understanding some parts and phrases simply because I myself am not that well versed in the technical language that a paper about the study of the English language would employ. I too am a learner of this particular discipline so I can understand the use and logic behind Functional Language Analysis. Learning new facts always requires us to expand our brains to accommodate the new “bricks” and “mortar” words we come across. The biggest challenge for me, and maybe for many others out there, is identifying and understanding the technical words that are used across a range of disciplines but mean something different in different contexts. Some words that come to mind are “Postmodern and Baroque”. Words that are discipline specific (photosynthesis, isosceles, vanitas), I find easier to grasp as they aren’t usually used in other contexts outside of their field. Looking back to how I learned, I would agree with the author’s encouragement of subject area teachers to help his/her students in understanding the type of language that would be used in the classroom. Instead of assuming that all students automatically know what certain words mean or how they relate to one another in a sentence, it is a safer for teachers to be pro-active and go through difficult terminology that may hinder a child’s comprehension of the subject. Unfortunately, this rarely happened when I was in high school. I would venture to say that by the time a student reaches their high school years, and especially when they enter post-secondary, his/her teacher would assume that the teaching of “language” and comprehension is no longer necessary. Because Art is a very visual practice, I believe that many of the “bricks” would be better understood when accompanied by a visual. For instance, I can describe what “impasto” is but without a visual, the learner may have a very difficult time perceiving what this is. In this situation, what I know “impasto” to be is as accurate as how I can describe it to the learner because without the aid of a visual, it really is just up for interpretation.