In Australia, as elsewhere, national assessment data consistently demonstrate a significant decline in writing achievement as students move from late primary to secondary schooling (ACARA, 2018). This lack of sustained development is concerning given an ability to write effectively is critical to progress and achievement in learning in all subject areas across all stages of schooling and subsequent success in the future workplace (Chen et al., 2020). In addition, there is widespread concern that writing is rarely taught in secondary schools (Wyatt-Smith & Jackson, 2020) or not taught effectively about the increasing complexity of writing in the different curriculum areas (Christie & Derewianka, 2008).
Addressing this perennial problem in literacy education requires a novel understanding of writing being not so much 'a product for assessment' but a tool for learning and knowledge making (MacDonald, 1994). This requires teachers' focus on content complemented by a focus on related thinking skills (Goldman et al., 2016). These are higher-order thinking skills that transfer across contexts (OECD, 2019) and increase in complexity through the secondary years (Goldman et al., 2016).
In this paper, we report on findings from a priority grant project funded by the New South Wales Education Strategic Research Funds (2021-2023), which seeks to develop an innovative embedded literacy approach in the subject areas of English, History and Science in Years 7, 9, and 11. The project adopts a phased, qualitative approach involving teachers as co-researchers in developing and implementing a new form of teaching and learning that scaffolds and extends students' thinking and writing skills in the context of authentic curriculum tasks (Rose & Martin, 2012). The paper presents an integrated pedagogical model that explicitly teaches deep knowledge of the disciplinary content and how to transform that knowledge into a coherent written text that embodies the relevant meaning-making strategies and the language resources that realise such meanings. The paper contributes to a critical understanding of how to foster integrated development of writing and thinking skills integral to successful writing and deepening knowledge.
References
ACARA. (2018). NAPLAN achievement in reading, writing, language conventions and numeracy: 2018 national report.
Chen, H., Myhill, D., & Lewis, H. (Eds.). (2020). Developing writers across the primary and secondary years: Growing into writing. Routledge.
Christie, F., & Derewianka, B. (2008). School discourse. Continuum.
Goldman, S. R., Britt, M. A., Brown, W., Cribb, G., George, M., Greenleaf, C., Lee, C. D., Shanahan, C., & Project, R. (2016). Disciplinary literacies and learning to read for understanding: a conceptual framework for disciplinary literacy. Educational Psychologist, 51(2), 219-246.
MacDonald, S. (1994). Professional academic writing in the humanities and social sciences. Southern Illinois University Press.
OECD. (2019). OECD Skills Strategy 2019: Skills to shape a better future. OECD Publishing.
Rose, D., & Martin, J. R. (2012). Learning to write, reading to learn: genre, knowledge, and pedagogy in the Sydney school. Equinox.
Wyatt-Smith, C., & Jackson, C. (2020). Australian writing survey: Building an evidence base (Policy Brief - Part one, Issue.
