Abstract:

Given the emphasis on literacy in the disciplines (e.g., math, sciences, literature) over the last 15 years, new lessons and insights can help move the field forward in important new ways.

Methods:
The present phenomenological study included 12 experts in various disciplines such as engineering, music, and art, 11 teachers in US middle and high schools, and 11 literacy educators at the university level. Each expert sat down with a literacy educator to discuss how literacy professionals might interact with experts to determine the specific ways that the representative disciplines might differ from each other and how literacy professionals can support learning in those disciplines. Teachers then responded to the interviews with their thoughts.

Findings:
The study found interesting and significant differences, as expected. However, in addition specific details about the discipline, other, unexpected themes emerged, as well. These themes suggest that additional research is needed, and they include:
1. Experts often work with other experts but in different fields. Thus, they need to communicate technical information in a manner that another expert whose perspective is different can understand.
2. Experts often must explain to non-experts complicated concepts in a non-technical way (e.g., an expert musician must understand a customer’s needs and explain qualities of musical instruments to the customer who is not an expert).
3. Disciplinary expertise is valuable in specific career paths, but experts also noted that conversant levels of disciplinary knowledge also lead to better citizenship (understanding how diseases are transmitted, for example, as a matter of public health) and a richer, life of the mind in general.

Conclusion:
Solid understanding of the content of various disciplines and how and why knowledge is constructed as it is within those disciplines is critical, but it is not enough. While it is important that students in secondary schools and at university understand how knowledge is constructed in various disciplines in order to more completely understand that particular discipline, workplace communications with other experts and with non-experts are equally valuable. At the same time, disciplinary literacy improves the manner in which citizens of any country can interact in a given polity, and it enriches the life of the mind for the individual. Additional study of these conclusions can strengthen the rationale for studying literacies of the disciplines and improve how they are taught.

Keywords:

Disciplinary literacy, literacy in the content areas, interdisciplinarity, workplace literacy, citizenship literacy.