What is the role of literacy in the acquisition of content knowledge?
“Language helps one to make sense of the world, to understand and to be understood. Language isn’t language unless
meaning-making is involved.(Vacca, 2011, pg. 17). Language is an instrument of collective thought. Language is an
expression of human intelligence; it basically is the characteristic that makes us human. A child’s academic success depends
on learning to read well and in turn learning to read well is dependent upon a rich knowledge in language. In the world of
academia, academic success means that meaning and information from texts must be obtained by the reader. That is in order
for there to be success, the reader must be able to accurately and automatically decode the text. The reader must possess the
knowledge of the meaning of the word and have the ability to follow the structure of the sentence.
How do we as content teachers/educators structure the lessons to assist the reader in accessing the content and practicing the
important language structure? How do we as educators/teachers help the reader to communicate that mental image? Vacca,
2011 suggested that struggling readers can benefit from explicit instruction. Explicit language instruction will provide the
reader with a key to constructing meaning. An explicit language for content lesson will not only focus on scaffolding the
content whereby enabling students understanding. In preparing an explicit language instruction lesson the teacher must first
consider the function of the language in the content instruction.
idpaul 