Touch-Talk-Text: Science Practices and Language for Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Elementary teachers are tasked with teaching the language and literacy strategies and skills leading to reading comprehension while also teaching disciplinary content that is the subject of texts, frequently with limited instructional time. Prior research demonstrates that an integrated approach to science and literacy instruction featuring authentic, hands-on science experiences increases student learning. The authors have developed an instructional framework, Touch-Talk-Text, for elementary classrooms. This framework emphasizes student engagement in authentic science practices integrated with meaningful science discourse and connected to comprehending science-related texts to support comprehension. The authors provide two examples of how this framework has been enacted in classrooms, one from lower elementary and one from upper elementary grades, and share strategies for how classroom teachers can implement it into their current science and literacy teaching practices.