Literacy-Based Intervention Examples: Content & Structure Focus

Continuing with the challenges facing adolescents with language and literacy problems, practitioners often ask: “What can I do to help students access the curriculum, thrive, and survive in the classroom, and acquire the literacy skills needed to enter the workforce? Isn’t it too late to make changes?’’ Further, traditional methods relating to language intervention practices, popularly employed at elementary school levels, fall short of meeting the ongoing language literacy needs of older students. For course two, we will highlight the ways that language disorders “show themselves” across time with a focus on pathways to becoming literate (and why this is important for school learning). The three tiered framework described in chapter one will be operationalized in chapter two, providing specific examples in each area: (1) Engaging students’ background knowledge in activities, (2) Integrating requirements of content subjects into language intervention goals, and (3) Balancing content and structure knowledge in the search for meaning. Examples of specific intervention techniques will be provided in each area (mentioned above) with a focus on helping students develop the linguistic knowledge, skills, and strategies necessary for school and life-long learning. The role of metalinguistic and metacognitive ability, including self-monitoring strategies, will be weaved throughout the chapter.