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Literacy 7-12

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Literacy 7-12 > Factors > Literacy Environment

Literacy Environment

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Factor Connections

Hover to see how factors connect to Literacy Environment. Then click connected factors to explore strategies related to multiple factors.

How Literacy Environment connects to...

A student's Literacy Environment includes the resources provided by their home, school, and community that helps them develop their literacy skills. Providing classroom supports and resources for families that strengthen the Literacy Environment can help create an equal foundation for all students.

Main Ideas

While the Home Literacy Environment is critical in the development of early literacy skills, during adolescence, students spend more time away from home, both in school and with peers in their community, and have more agency in their literacy choices. The Literacy Environment spans across these areas -- home, school, and community -- to influence the continued development of students' literacy skills.

The Literacy Environment is multifaceted. First, it involves aspects of print exposure, including:

  • The availability of reading and writing materials in the home, school, and community;
  • Exposure to print and writing opportunities through a variety of media including fiction, magazines, music lyrics, the Internet, emails, and text messages; and
  • Time spent reading and writing for school and for pleasure.

The Literacy Environment also involves how others influence a developing reader and writer, including:

  • The literacy skills of parents and caregivers;
  • The instruction parents and caregivers provide when their children are developing their reading and writing skills;
  • The value parents and caregivers place on literacy, such as whether they are avid readers and writers themselves;
  • The encouragement of parents, caregivers, teachers, and librarians to read and write for fun; and
  • Peers, specifically students with high expectations for academic success and a high social status within their group, who can have a positive influence on each others' literacy development.

Literacy development during adolescence is also critical because voluntary writing and reading habits, which are linked to print exposure, are established during these school years. Students report that they have a hard time finding texts that capture their interest, making a robust Literacy Environment even more critical. A collaborative, supportive writing environment where students have many opportunities to write on topics of their choice is also critical.

Many students spend a large portion of their time composing and reading online (e.g., websites, blogs, emails, text messages). Thus, while having access to print books, magazines, and tools for writing is an essential component of a successful Literacy Environment, access to technology, such as computers and mobile phones, is also important, and may not always be available to students in lower-income communities.

Learn More

  • Family Engagement: Topic that includes research on how schools can improve their family engagement on Digital Promise's Research Map
  • Family Resources & Relationships: Subtopic that explores research on the effects of parenting, SES, and stress on children's wellbeing and achievement on Digital Promise's Research Map
  • Parent Involvement: Subtopic that includes research on the connection between parent/family involvement and student achievement on Digital Promise's Research Map

View Measures and References

Research-Based Strategies For This Factor

Acting/Role Play

Physically acting out a text or enacting major themes from texts enhances reading comprehension, particularly as texts become more complex.

Annotating

When annotating, students engage deeply with a text and make their thinking visible while reading.

Authentic Audiences & Purposes

When adolescents can connect and communicate with authentic audiences about their interests and values, reading and writing become more personally meaningful and relevant.

Book Clubs

Students practice making and finding meaning in texts through book discussions moderated by teachers to varying degrees.

Collaborative Writing

When peers are able to work together to plan, draft, edit, and revise during the Composition process, their writing quality improves.

Composition Projects: Multimodal

For adolescent learners, the Composition process can become more robust, as learners begin to express ideas through multiple media, which includes visual, audio, and digital production.

Direct Instruction: Comprehension Strategies

As part of a varied curriculum, explicit instruction in reading comprehension strategies from teachers can help older students use strategies meaningfully and flexibly.

Direct Instruction: Vocabulary

Seeing and using new words repeatedly and in many contexts is critical for Vocabulary acquisition.

Extended Writing Opportunities

Increasing how much and how frequently students write improves both their writing quality and content knowledge.

Feedback on Writing

Providing constructive feedback supports students' writing development by letting them know how to improve their writing.

Guided Inquiry

During guided inquiry, teachers foster student autonomy by designing lessons centered on meaningful questions in which students locate, analyze, and present relevant information on their own or in small groups.

Mentor Texts

By observing, rereading, and closely analyzing published writing, students see examples and learn the strategies of good writing that they can integrate into their own Composition.

Multimodal Instruction

Instruction in multiple formats allows students to activate different cognitive skills and Background Knowledge that are necessary to remember procedural and content information.

Multiple Texts

Providing multiple texts on the same topic or theme allows students to interact with multiple perspectives and develop their critical thinking skills.

Producing Counter-texts

When students write from a non-dominant or marginalized perspective, they consider and give voice to points of view that are often missing.

Prompts & Questions

Providing guiding prompts and questions for students to use when reading or participating in discussions deepens their understanding of texts and gives them space to question and grapple with issues of power, justice, and equity.

Provide Writing Models

When teachers provide students with model texts for their writing, they learn to identify effective elements to incorporate into their own writing.

Read-alouds

Reading aloud to adolescents models Reading Fluency as texts become more complex and disciplinary in nature and therefore, more difficult to understand.

Reading Conferences

Teachers can provide individualized support through one-on-one conferences to assess reading comprehension, understanding of content, and spark further interest in reading.

Rich Library: Diversity

Having culturally relevant reading materials, including multicultural and diverse texts, are critical for supporting all students.

Student Choice

Giving students voice and choice in their learning is critical for making learning meaningful and relevant to them.

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