Fostering Literacy And Inquiry

We must be making progress on the educational front. We have moved from the "Reading Wars" (the conflict between phonics and whole language) to the "High Literacy Crisis" (the failure to teach sophisticated comprehension skills to our students). To flourish in today's information society, young people must be able to read and understand different kinds of prose. They must evaluate sources, find main ideas and supporting evidence, draw conclusions, write creatively and persuasively, and use reading and writing to learn independently. To develop those abilities, students need instruction and guided practice in reading, writing, speaking, and listening throughout their school years.

Unfortunately, most teachers in upper elementary, middle, and high schools have not been trained to teach these literacy skills. Fortunately, most teacher librarians have, because a closer examination of "high literacy" skills shows that they are essentially the same skills taught whenever students are using the library.

If instruction in information literacy or inquiry skills develops these independent learning skills in students, then it is not surprising that research studies reveal that academic achievement is positively impacted by the presence of an effective school library with a qualified librarian. In fact, a library program that is structured around inquiry can help an entire school develop a community of literacy and inquiry that supports meaningful learning and high achievement.

Teachers and teacher librarians have the greatest impact on learning by creating a library environment that invites students to participate, challenges them to learn, and fosters inquiry and literacy throughout the curriculum.

The library engages students in reading by offering diverse resources that appeal to their needs and interests, by promoting reading through special programs and book clubs, and by ensuring open and equitable access to every student. Writing is enhanced when the students are offered opportunities to "go public" with their writing on the library's Web site or display boards. When the library becomes a public forum for the sharing of ideas, speaking and listening skills are enhanced.

On the instructional side, teacher librarians and classroom teachers can create communities of literacy and inquiry. By collaborating, they can balance direct teaching of inquiry and literacy skills with guided practice during student investigations and with independent practice in reading, writing, and inquiry.

A library program fosters a schoolwide community of inquiry by focusing on the connections between inquiry and literacy that provide motivation, authenticity, and context for learning.

Because students ask their own questions and pursue their own answers, inquiry gives purpose to literacy skills. Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, the authors of "Reading Don't Fix No Chevys": Literacy in the Lives of Young Men (Heinemann, 2002), found that inquiry motivated adolescent males to learn literacy skills. The young men enjoyed finding out about what interested them. They loved becoming an "expert" on particular topics and sharing their knowledge with peers.

Authentic learning involves the construction of knowledge, not just accumulation of facts. It requires the disciplined use of thinking skills and connection to real life and value beyond school. During inquiry, learners use thinking and high-level literacy skills to construct understanding about their own questions and connect that knowledge to the real world outside of school. Educational researchers, as well as practicing teachers and teacher librarians, have discovered that authenticity leads to enhanced development of both learning skills and content knowledge.

The building of background knowledge or context is a third essential component to the symbiotic relationship between inquiry and literacy. E. D. Hirsch and others have emphasized the importance of background knowledge to literacy. Context is equally important to inquiry. Young people can comprehend text and learn new ideas when they can attach new concepts to what they already know. The more students read and inquire throughout their school years, the more they acquire background knowledge and an understanding of the world, and thus the more they learn.

Some of the characteristics and skills of inquiry cut across all grades and subjects:

Embedded in inquiry are the effective reading and writing skills that cascade down through the grades. These include questioning, finding main ideas and details, summarizing, interpreting, making inferences, determining the importance of ideas, identifying the author's purpose, and synthesizing.

Although all the steps of the inquiry process are necessary, students do not have to perform each step if teacher librarians provide guidance and scaffolding (like offering pathfinders, developing inquiry questions with the class, or providing a list of the best Web sites for a particular research project).

Graphic organizers are helpful for any type of inquiry. Virtually every student benefits from attaching new information to a schema. With enough experience, students can organize their own thinking and develop their own schema. Until they are able to do so, teacher librarians should provide templates, instruction, and guidance.

Other aspects of literacy and inquiry should be tailored more specifically to each discipline. The chart on the opposite page provides a glimpse of inquiry in the content areas.

Teacher librarians have a responsibility to ensure that all children and adolescents develop the inquiry and literacy skills needed to become independent learners. When inquiry and literacy become the focus of their programs, teacher librarians will have established a permanent and powerful connection between school libraries and the academic achievement and personal development of our youths.

This article is adapted from "Inquiry-Based Learning," a chapter in a forthcoming book called Curriculum Connections Through the Library: Principles and Practice (Libraries Unlimited, 2003).