Content Area Literacy Essay

According to Harvey & Goudvis (2007), literacy is the ability to “teach our students to think when they read so that they can access information and learn, understand and remember what they read” (p. 15). It is the skill of comprehension. Prior to the 1980's, literacy was limited to decoding skills and oral language (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007). In essence, if a child could read words, the child could read a book. (This is where I fell as a young learner.) As the concept of content area literacy developed, the art of literacy matured beyond the identification of words to include interaction with words through schema and connection to experiences (p. 17). Lee and Spratley conclude that content area literacy, the art of using reading and writing