Ore than an estimated 90 million adults in the United States lack the

How Literacy Develops

conceptual model to describe how literacy develops is shown in Figure 1. 

It shows several key factors that affect learners’ literacy development—

the learning context, texts and tools, literacy activities, and the learner—

and it also shows the aspects of each of these factors that are possible to 

influence through instruction.  The following brief section discusses 

several of these factors, along with research-based guidance on how to influence them 

to support learning.

A

Development 

of Literate 

Practice

The 

Learner

The 

Learning 

Context

Text and 

Tools

Literacy 

Activity and 

Purpose

Goals for learning and 

literacy

Instructional practices

Motivating features

Cultural and language 

norms

Text features

Tools embedded in 

text

Motivating features

Skill demands

Knowledge/skills for comprehension, 

production, and use of text

Motivation

Neurocognitive differences

Education

Linguistic background

Literacy learning goals

What goal does this 

literacy activity achieve 

for the student?

FIGURE 1: Model of the development of literate practice 

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