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 comment ary the authors contend that the goals and methods of content literacy instruction are paradoxical. As a form of radical pedagogy, content l iteracy instruction confronts deeply embedded values, beliefs, and pra ctices that secondary teachers, students, and other members of the sch ool culture hold. However, when shaped to fit traditional curricular g oat of secondary schools, content literacy represents nothing nerv. Th e authors explore this paradox through the complexities of secondary s chooling, focusing on curriculum, pedagogy, and school culture. An alt ernative to the traditional infusion model is presented to sensitize c ontent literacy educators to sociocultural contexts of secondary schoo ls in order to improve content literacy practice and research.