WHY CONTENT LITERACY IS DIFFICULT TO INFUSE INTO THE SECONDARY-SCHOOL - COMPLEXITIES OF CURRICULUM, PEDAGOGY, AND SCHOOL CULTURE

THE DOMINANT model used to infuse literacy into the content curriculum has met with resistance because it rests on a foundation constructed outside of the school contexts in which it is applied. In this commentary the authors contend that the goals and methods of content literacy instruction are paradoxical. As a form of radical pedagogy, content literacy instruction confronts deeply embedded values, beliefs, and practices that secondary teachers, students, and other members of the school culture hold. However, when shaped to fit traditional curricular goat of secondary schools, content literacy represents nothing nerv. The authors explore this paradox through the complexities of secondary schooling, focusing on curriculum, pedagogy, and school culture. An alternative to the traditional infusion model is presented to sensitize content literacy educators to sociocultural contexts of secondary schools in order to improve content literacy practice and research.