Disciplinary Reading

Unlocking Learning: The Power of Reading in Every Subject

The Importance of Disciplinary Reading in Secondary School

At secondary school, reading is a vital skill that plays an important role in every subject. However, reading for school is not always the same as reading for pleasure. Each subject requires students to read and understand information in slightly different ways — this is known as disciplinary reading.

Disciplinary reading helps students approach each subject with the right reading skills and mindset. For example:

• In Science, students need to read and understand complex processes, follow detailed explanations, interpret diagrams, and learn technical vocabulary such as photosynthesis, molecule, hypothesis, ecosystem, and respiration.
• In History, they analyse sources, compare viewpoints, and use evidence to build arguments, learning words like primary source, revolution, bias, treaty, and empire.
• In English, students explore characters, themes, and the author’s language choices, using terms like metaphor, narrative, characterisation, genre, and symbolism.
• In Maths, they carefully read problems and apply mathematical vocabulary such as quadratic, ratio, percentage, probability, and equation.
• In Geography, students encounter words like erosion, climate change, urbanisation, population density, and sustainability.
• In Art or Design Technology, they may learn terms like composition, texture, perspective, prototype, and function.

Disciplinary reading isn’t just about words. In many subjects, students must also learn how to read and understand different types of visual information, such as:

• Diagrams – explaining how processes work (e.g. the water cycle, the heart, circuits).
• Graphs – showing data patterns (e.g. population growth, temperature changes, sales over time).
• Charts – summarising information quickly (e.g. pie charts, bar charts, flow charts).
• Tables – organising facts and figures (e.g. scientific results, historical data, financial figures).

Learning how to read these correctly is crucial for understanding information, spotting patterns, drawing conclusions, and answering exam questions accurately.