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“Sharon Besser and Ruslana Westerlund’s Making Language Visible in
Social Studies is a must-read resource for anyone who is passionate about
teaching for equity through social studies. Their practical, empowering,
and language-based disciplinary literacy approach provide teachers with a
unique and effective path to maximally improve their students’ disciplinary
expertise in social studies.”
Dr. Andrés Ramírez, Associate Professor in the Department of
Curriculum and Instruction at Florida Atlantic University

“Making Language Visible in Social Studies offers teachers of social studies

the essential ‘behind the scenes’ support to integrate attention to the lan-
guage and content of social science. The authors address both the ‘what’
of key disciplinary texts for learning and the ‘how’ of pedagogic practice,
including authentic texts and practical activities to engage and support lit-
eracy for learning in social science.”
Sally Humphrey, Senior Lecturer, School of Education,
Australian Catholic University

“This book is a much-needed collection for teachers and teacher educators

in need of resources to develop their knowledge base about how language
is used in social studies. With practical concepts, ideas, and tools, this
book will empower teachers to teach language in the context of social
studies disciplinary genres. Chapters illustrate problems of practice with
annotated social studies texts showing language features and functions that
can be used in curriculum design and practical applications for both con-
tent and language teachers.”
Luciana C. de Oliveira, Ph.D., Professor and Associate Dean for
Academic Affairs and Graduate Studies, School of Education, Virginia
Commonwealth University

“Social Studies teachers are literacy teachers. This book clearly shows what
these teachers need to know about language and how to teach it in the
context of social studies classes for the benefit of students’ acquisition of
knowledge and ability to function as literate individuals.”
María Estela Brisk, Boston College, Emeritus Professor
 Making Language Visible
in Social Studies

As the first book in the Making Disciplinary Language Visible series, this
practical toolkit helps teachers promote disciplinary literacy development
for Multilingual learners and their peers in the 5–12 social studies class-
room. Using systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and the SFL-informed
genre pedagogy, the Teaching and Learning Cycle for Disciplinary Genres,
the book shows teachers how to teach content using language as a
meaning-making resource. Besser and Westerlund provide clear guidance
on understanding how language is used in the discipline and provide prac-
tical tools to empower teachers to teach language in the service of social
studies disciplinary genres.
Chapters feature authentic vignettes to illustrate problems of practice,
annotated social studies texts, practical curriculum design tools, exercises
for readers to develop knowledge about language, and sample scripts for
practical application.

Sharon Besser is a teacher educator, curriculum writer, and researcher who

looks at problems in education through the lens of Systemic Functional
Linguistics. She has over 25 years of experience locally and internationally
in support of Multilingual learners.

Ruslana A. Westerlund is an educational consultant, author, keynote speaker,

and researcher of disciplinary literacy through Systemic Functional
Linguistics with more than 25 years of experience in the field of Multilingual
learner education.
 Making Disciplinary Language Visible
Sharon Besser, Series Editor
Ruslana A. Westerlund, Series Editor

Making Language Visible in Social Studies: A Guide to

Disciplinary Literacy in the Social Studies Classroom
Sharon Besser and Ruslana A. Westerlund
Making Language Visible
in Social Studies
A Guide to Disciplinary Literacy in the
Social Studies Classroom

Sharon Besser and

Ruslana A. Westerlund
Designed cover image: © Getty Images
First published 2024
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2024 Taylor & Francis
The right of Sharon Besser and Ruslana A. Westerlund to be identified as authors
of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
ISBN: 978-1-032-29919-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-28822-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-30271-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003302711
Typeset in Optima
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Sharon dedicates this book to the Berkeley Broads, you inspire me to make
this a better world.

Ruslana dedicates this book to all the Ukrainian students who continue
going to school in the time of war and whose resilience and fierce faith in
the future and victorious Ukraine inspires us all.
 Contents

Meet the Authors x

Acknowledgments xi

1 What Does It Mean to Make Language Visible in

Social Studies and Why Do We Need to Do It? 1

2 What Is the Nature of Language in Social Studies

Explanations? What Do We Mean by Explain? 24

3 What Is the Nature of Language of Arguments in

Social Studies? What Do We Mean by Argue? 60

4 How to Make Language Visible Using the

Teaching and Learning Cycle for Disciplinary Genres 93

5 A Language-Based Approach to Disciplinary Reading 141

ix
 Meet the Authors

Sharon Besser, Ph.D., is a teacher educator, researcher, and curriculum

writer. She received her doctorate from U.C. Berkeley in language and
literacy education. Ruslana Westerlund, Ed.D., is a Ukrainian-born writer,
researcher, and educational consultant. She received her doctorate from
Bethel University. Sharon and Ruslana met at a Systemic Functional
Linguistics (SFL) affinity group in Madison, Wisconsin, while Sharon was
working at Edgewood College teaching teachers about language and
Ruslana was working at WIDA as an associate researcher. Since meeting,
they have done several classroom-based research projects together, led
countless workshops for teachers, and created numerous publications
together. They specialize in using SFL to make equity visible in every class-
room, not just on websites in school districts’ mission statements. Their
approach for making equity visible is done through explicit teaching of dis-
ciplinary genres for all students through scaffolding up and not simplifying
down, which is the foundation of the humanizing pedagogy of promise.
They are driven by the vision to transform schools where all teachers are
equipped with the right knowledge about language that empowers them
to use language as a vehicle for learning and engaging with life itself, not
as an inventory of structures. Their unique area of expertise and research
is writing in the disciplines through an apprenticeship pedagogy called
the Teaching and Learning Cycle for Disciplinary Genres (TLC-DG). When
they are not talking about language in education, they discuss sourdough
bread making and kombucha brewing. This is their first book together.

x
 Acknowledgments

We are profoundly grateful to the many people who have inspired and
supported our work. We are particularly indebted to the teachers we have
worked with over the years who have invited us into their classrooms,
around their dinner tables, and have participated with us in countless
opportunities of learning and collaboration.
We are deeply appreciative of our mentors, who have contributed sig-
nificantly to our understanding of language learning and SFL. Specifically,
Sharon would like to thank Lily Wong Fillmore for setting her on the path
of finding ways to draw attention to language for teachers and Jed Hopkins,
whose creative and playful approach to genre pedagogy brings joy to our
field. Ruslana would like to thank Mariana Castro, who assigned her a task
of researching the language of development of the early years. That search
led her to discover Halliday’s work of analyzing his son’s language from
functional perspective and later Claire Painter’s work. She is also indebted
to her mentor, Sally Humphrey, and her patient explanations of the SFL
metafunctions in a coffee shop in Sydney in 2016. She is also profoundly
thankful to Luciana de Oliveira, whose article Nouns in History changed
the way she see “vocab” in social studies texts.
Lastly, we would like to thank our colleagues, friends, and family who
read drafts and provided valuable feedback and support, particularly Rob
Westerlund, Sean and Adelaide Howell, and Lydia Wegert.
Graphic Design by Dmytro Komarynski.

xi
 1 What Does It Mean
to Make Language
Visible in Social
Studies and Why Do
We Need to Do It?

YOUNG PEOPLE need strong tools for, and methods of, clear and disciplined
thinking in order to traverse successfully the worlds of college, career, and
civic life.
(C3 Framework, p. 15)

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy
in History/Social Studies, Science, and the Technical Subjects call on social
studies teachers to share in the responsibilities for literacy instruction in K-12
education.
(NGA and CCSSO, 2010a as cited in C3 Framework, p. 20)

“What does liberty look like?” This is a compelling question from one of the
inquiries from the College, Career, and Civics (C3) Framework for Social
Studies, designed to be used in History, Civics, Geography, or Economics.
We are going to use this cartoon (Figure 1.1) to illustrate what it means
to make language visible in social studies and why we need to do it.
Hopefully, the cartoon gave you a little chuckle, and if so, why? What’s
funny about Lina’s (student on the right) response, “Liberty is a green lady
with a torch.” Would there be a context in which this would be the pre-
ferred response? The Statue of Liberty is indeed a tall green lady with a
torch. Likewise, Marcus’s (student on the left) argument that economic pros-
perity is a hallmark of liberty can also be made in response to the prompt.
However, as you no doubt know, Marcus’s response is appropriate for the
context, and Lina’s is not. How do we know this?

DOI: 10.4324/9781003302711-1 1
Making Language Visible in Social Studies

Figure 1.1 Cartoon with a teacher drawing on the board

Credit: Adelaide Howell

2
 Making Language Visible in Social Studies

Let’s unpack the context. First, it’s a high school economics class.
High school economics classes have predictable content having to do with
income, trade, cash, and spending. So a response to “What does liberty
look like?” in the context of an economics class is going to include this kind
of content. Second, the assignment is to write a five-paragraph essay. This
implies a structure that includes an introduction, three body paragraphs,
and a conclusion. If the teacher had left it at that, we couldn’t be sure
what kind of essay. Is it supposed to be a literary response, explanation,
and argument? A literary response doesn’t make sense in the context of an
economics class, but both explanations and arguments do. Fortunately, the
teacher said, “And don’t forget Claim, Evidence, Reasoning.” This narrows
the type of essay to an argument. The context, therefore, comes with a
set of parameters, expectations, and even rules that need to be under-
stood and followed. Lina did not follow the parameters, either because she
didn’t know them or chose to ignore them. Marcus seemed to know these
expectations and followed them.
We can say that Marcus is developing an awareness of disciplinary lit-
eracy in the context of 11th Grade Economics. Let’s start with a discussion
on what we mean by disciplinary literacy.

What Is Disciplinary Literacy?

The view of disciplinary literacy we take up in this book is multidimen-
sional. It is the specific way of knowing, reasoning, reading, writing,
doing, believing, and communicating by members of a particular dis-
cipline. Disciplinary literacy encompasses three central aspects of dis-
ciplinary learning: Discourses and practices, identities, and knowledge
(Moje, 2008). Disciplinary literacy is concerned with pursuing habits of
mind valued by the community. Disciplines represent “cultures, … [with]
their own conventions and norms that are highly specialized to particular
purposes and audiences” (Moje, 2015, p. 273). Part of learning in a subject
area, then, is coming to understand the “norms of practice” for constructing
and communicating disciplinary knowledge (Lemke, 1990; Moje, 2007;
Wineburg & Martin, 2004). Part of that learning also involves examining
how disciplinary norms for practice are similar to or different from the
everyday norms for practice. Such learning requires understanding deeply
held assumptions or themes of the discipline (Lemke, 1990).

3
Making Language Visible in Social Studies

One important dimension of disciplinary literacy we will focus on in

this book is an understanding that language exists to serve the content.
Language exists in the service of learning. When we make the language
patterns visible, we do a better job at expressing and understanding the
content. When we do that, we and our students get better at the con-
tent. Disciplinary literacy is all about figuring out how language realizes
the content of the discipline and teaching into that so our students get
that too. In short, this is an approach that pays attention to the unique
ways members of each disciplinary community read, write, reason,
value, think, communicate, and create (see, e.g., Achugar et al., 2007;
Fang, 2020; Fang & Schleppegrell, 2010). Disciplinary communities can
be conceived of in many forms, such as book clubs, podcast audiences,
organic farmers, sourdough bakers, historians, and 11th Grade Economics
classes, to name a few. Each of these communities has what we call dis-
ciplinary literacy practices, processes of going about making meaning
that the community creates that represent their unique way of reading,
writing, reasoning, valuing, thinking, communicating, and creating. These
disciplinary literacy practices can change, evolve, and push boundaries,
as the practices exist to serve the meaning the community is putting out
into the world. Practices may include developing arguing from evidence,
pursuing inquiries, asking compelling questions, identifying and challen-
ging perspectives, constructing explanations and arguments, and others.
Each community has expectations and parameters that best work to make
the meaning that serves the goals of the community. Schools are typically
organized into disciplinary communities: English, Science, Social Studies,
Math with those communities being divided into smaller communities:
World Literature, Biology, Civics, Algebra 11. As you read this book, you’ll
note many references to the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework
for State Social Studies Standards (2013), the C3 Framework for short. This
is one of the disciplinary communities we authors, and this book, are a
part of. One of the main jobs of a learner in those communities is to figure
out the expectations and parameters. It’s like figuring out what the teacher
wants in the context of the disciplinary community. Let’s take a look at
Figure 1.2.
Now, consider this. Many disciplinary communities share discip-
linary literacy practices. For example, five-paragraph essays, narrative
descriptions, explanations, lab reports, and informational reports are
common ways that the learning is displayed in many disciplinary

4
 Making Language Visible in Social Studies

Figure 1.2 Multidimensional view of disciplinary literacy

communities in middle and high school. However, these practices look

different depending on the community. Arguments are a good example
of this. The way scientists engage in argumentation is different from the
way scholars of literature craft literary response arguments in English
Language Arts (ELA) with one similarity being that they both require evi-
dence to support one’s claims. While scientists draw their evidence from
data in experiments and observations, evidence in ELA comes from texts,
for example, images and ideas that support a theme, as in theme inter-
pretation essays. In social studies, particularly within the C3 Framework,
learners follow the C3 Inquiry Arc: Develop compelling questions, weigh
evidence, and construct explanations and arguments. Providing evidence
is a different process in each discipline, but how, what makes it different?
What makes it different is how the discipline communities use lan-
guage in service of the content. In this way, language is a resource for
serving the goals of the disciplinary processes and concepts (Derewianka
& Jones, 2023; Martin & Rose, 2007; Schleppegrell, 2004). Another way
to say this is that the difference between an argument in ELA and one in
social studies is not just the content, but how language resources are used
to create disciplinary meanings.
Let’s shift our focus to social studies. Typically, content is expressed
through arguments and explanations which have predictable patterns
unique to social studies (Coffin, 2009; Schleppegrell, 2004). The authors
of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the C3 Framework
framed the standards around the expectations for students to engage in
processes and make meaning in social studies specific ways. Take a look

5
Making Language Visible in Social Studies

at these standards from the C3 Framework, Dimension 4, Communicating

Conclusions:

D4.1.9-12. Construct arguments using precise and knowledgeable

claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging
counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses.

D4.2.9-12. Construct explanations using sound reasoning, correct

sequence (linear or nonlinear), examples, and details with significant
and pertinent information and data, while acknowledging the strengths
and weaknesses of the explanation given its purpose (e.g., cause and
effect, chronological, procedural, technical).

D4.3.9-12. Present adaptations of arguments and explanations that

feature evocative ideas and perspectives on issues and topics to reach
a range of audiences and venues outside the classroom using print
and oral technologies (e.g., posters, essays, letters, debates, speeches,
reports, and maps) and digital technologies (e.g., Internet, social media,
and digital documentary).
(C3 Framework, p. 60)

Key:

• Disciplinary literacy practices: Construct arguments and

explanations
• Social studies specific ways of thinking, reasoning, and
connecting ideas
• Formats specific ways of communicating to an audience

In the standards above, the disciplinary literacy practices (shown in

bold) are named: Arguments and explanations. Types of social studies
explanations (shown in regular text) are also named: Cause and effect,
chronological, procedural, and technical. The social studies specific
ways of thinking, reasoning, and connecting ideas (shown in italics) are
named, for example, using precise and knowledgeable claims, acknow-
ledging strengths and weaknesses of the explanation, evocative ideas and
perspectives on issues and topics. Social studies specific ways of com-
municating are also named, for example, debates, speeches, and maps.

6
 Making Language Visible in Social Studies

Additionally, from these standards, we can derive a structure for each of the
disciplinary literacy practices. In D4.1.9-12., for example, the argument
could be structured in the following way: Claim, Evidence 1, Evidence 2,
Evidence 3, Counterclaim, Conclusion.

Why Do We Have an Equity Problem in

Social Studies?
Let’s go back to our cartoon for a moment. What if, instead of assigning a
“five-paragraph Essay” on “What does liberty look like?,” Ms. Williams had
told the students she wanted an argument “using precise and knowledge-
able claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging
counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses” and “featuring evocative ideas
and perspectives on issues and topics” to be presented in a digital docu-
mentary. Would that guidance have supported Lina in writing a piece that
fits better into the disciplinary community of this high school economics
class? What if Ms. Williams also included a suggested outline: Claim,
Evidence 1, Evidence 2, Evidence 3, Counterclaim, Conclusion?
Being explicit about which disciplinary literacy practice, the purpose,
the content and structure like this would, no doubt, support Lina’s writing
development, but it may not be enough. This would make Ms. Williams
expectations and the expectations of the purpose of the piece more visible.
However, what is still invisible is how you use language to write a claim,
a counterclaim, etc.
Our research and teaching, and likely your own experience in
working with students, have shown us that there is a large disparity
among students in what they can and do produce. We have seen a big
gap between students like Marcus who seems to produce essays that
match the expectations of the discipline seemingly magically, just by
being in the class. We know them as our “A” students. We have seen
other students who can do proficient work with a little support related to
the purpose and structure of the assignment, as suggested in the previous
paragraph. These are our “B” students. And, we have seen many, and
maybe even most, students miss the mark. Why? When we have a dis-
parity in academic achievement, and we suspect this disparity is related
to factors outside of the individual student, our field refers to this as an

7
Making Language Visible in Social Studies

equity problem. What are these factors that contribute to a lack of equity?
Here are a few relevant to this book:

• White privilege as it relates to early literacy experiences. This refers

to the 100s, if not 1000s, of hours that some (often White middle and
upper class) parents spend reading with their children before they get
to school, which gives these children a huge advantage in learning to
read once they get to school.
• Systemic racism in education. This refers to systems in schools that
create and maintain racial inequality for people of color. Some of
the symptoms are as follows: a lack of teachers of color, discipline
problems that result in students of color being sent out of class and not
getting the chance to participate in the reading and writing lessons in
elementary school, middle school, and high school; a lack of engage-
ment in school, which then occurs repeatedly resulting in students not
having the skills they need to do the work in High School which then
results in them not having the confidence to participate.
• Ineffective approaches to literacy instruction. These refer to reading
and writing programs that do not result in students mastering these
skills.

What those factors have in common is that they all result in unequal types
of support that students get in learning to read and write throughout their
school careers. We are not implying that all students need the same type
of support; for example, multilingual students who are still developing
their English need a great deal of language-focused support from highly
trained teachers. What we are suggesting is that each of those factors
results in some students getting more or better support (e.g., students who
get effective approaches to literacy instruction or help from parents) and
some students getting no support (e.g., because they have been repeatedly
kicked out of class and told they are dismissed as “not good enough” or
“don’t have enough English”). When we don’t support all our students with
intention, we are left with a great disparity in achievement within the class.
So not providing support becomes an equity issue. Think about this for a
minute in relation to your own teaching context:

• Whose job is it to teach middle and high school students how to write
and read?

8
 Making Language Visible in Social Studies

• Who among the students is participating in lessons that focus on

writing and reading?
• Who is not participating?

Often, the job of teaching reading and writing falls to either elementary
school teachers or ELA (English Language Arts) teachers. ESL (English as a
Second Language) teachers have the job of teaching English language. In
some middle and high schools, reading teachers teach remedial reading.
The job of the social studies teacher is to teach content such as revolutions
and human rights, shifting landforms, and governments, then and now.
Each teacher typically works within their own department, and it is rare
that teachers collaborate across them. From the student’s perspective, then,
there is no connection between reading, writing, language, and content.
This may have been acceptable prior to the CCSS and C3 Framework,
but the expectations as framed in those standards and the curriculum
in service of them are more rigorous than before. These standards are
designed around mastery of social studies disciplinary literacy. In order to
meet them, what is required is deep expertise and experience as a member
of the social studies disciplinary community, with a great deal of mentoring
and practice writing and reading in the unique way that is required for the
discipline of social studies. This requires a shift in the work and expertise
of us social studies teachers. Because we are expecting students to master
the disciplinary practices specific to social studies, it is now imperative that
this support takes place in the context of the discipline of social studies.
By this we mean, in social studies classes by social studies teachers. Think
about this for a moment:

• How can we promote equity and dismantle systemic racism as social

studies teachers?
• What kind of support do students need in social studies to master dis-
ciplinary literacy?
• How can we provide this support to all students?
• How can we increase student participation and engagement?

We have been teachers and worked with teachers who are not exactly sure
how to teach writing and reading in a way that would promote equitable
access to the knowledge necessary to make meaning in the unique way

9
Making Language Visible in Social Studies

that is valued in social studies. Making language visible in our disciplines

takes knowledge about language and language patterns. This places new
demands on teachers who are called to provide specific kinds of instruc-
tional support (Fang & Schleppegrell, 2010). Few teacher preparation
programs address this, and most of us are more than a little squeamish
about grammar, so we carry on teaching as we have been. This book is
designed to do something different; it’s going to teach you how to see lan-
guage patterns in social studies texts, deepen your knowledge about lan-
guage, and empower you to teach in a way that makes the language visible
for your students. To do this, we will show you how to make language vis-
ible in your social studies community for the purpose of supporting all your
students in mastering the ways of thinking, reading, writing, reasoning, and
creating that serve the content you teach and the discipline more broadly.

Our Approach to Social Studies

Inquiry is at the heart of social studies teaching (Swan et al., 2018; C3
Framework and National Council for Social Studies1). As an instructional
framework, inquiry-based teaching “builds out from the C3 Inquiry Arc
through: (a) Compelling and supporting questions that frame and give
structure to the inquiry (Dimension 1); (b) summative, formative, and add-
itional performance tasks that provide the opportunities for communi-
cating conclusions (Dimension 4); and (c) disciplinary sources that allow
students to explore the compelling question, build content expertise, and
develop the disciplinary skills to successfully support and defend their
ideas (Dimensions 2 & 3).”
Both the C3 and the National Council for Social Studies emphasize
that explanations and argumentation are not something that happen at the
end of the unit but need to be integrated throughout. The inquiry approach
takes place across the unit of instruction and involves supporting students
in questioning and analysis, supporting students’ thinking, reasoning, and
reading, and providing explicit instruction in literacy practices.2 In addition
to the explicit and sustained instruction in disciplinary literacy practices,
we want to add explicit and systematic teaching of language of social
studies genre (Figure 1.3). The next section will define explicit and system-
atic instruction in the language of social studies genres from a functional
perspective.

10
 Making Language Visible in Social Studies

Figure 1.3 Pedagogical framework for making language visible

Our Approach to Teaching Language

in Social Studies: What Is a Functional
Perspective and How Will This Help
Promote Equity?
Often when teachers think about teaching from a functional perspective,
they think about functions such as arguing, explaining, presenting ideas.
These are, of course, things we do with language, but as explained above,
we need to go deeper into how we actually do these things. For example,
how exactly do you “acknowledge a counterclaim” or “feature an evocative
idea?” Expert social studies teachers like you know how to do this, probably
without thinking too much. You have a toolbox full of language resources
that give you lots of choices you pull from to do the writing you need to do.
For example, as we are writing this, we are pausing to consider, should we
have said, “let’s start with an example” instead of just “for example?” We
are wondering about the difference those choices make. “Let’s start with an
example” builds a relationship with you, the reader because “let’s” connotes

11
Making Language Visible in Social Studies

something we are going to do together. “For example” doesn’t build the

same relationship, but it is efficient at setting up an example. We create
our social studies meaning through all the choices we make with language,
choices that we pull from our toolbox of language resources. Marcus seemed
to know what language resources to use and choices to make to produce
what the teacher is looking for and Lina, either chose not to, or, more likely,
did not have access to this knowledge and repertoire of language resources.
It is not hard to start thinking about language this way, and once you
start to draw your attention to the choices you make all the time, you’ll be
well on your way to making language choices visible for your students.
However, it is helpful to have a framework to guide us.
The theory that underlies this book, and gives us a useful framework is
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)3. This theory was originally designed
by Michael Halliday (e.g., Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014), who wanted to
understand and explain how our language use differs depending on the
social purpose. He famously said, we learn language, we learn through lan-
guage, and we learn about language. He has inspired many scholars to use
this theory to do many things in education such as identifying characteristics
of genres (disciplinary practices) we use for school (Martin & Rose, 2007;
Schleppegrell, 2004); critically analyzing educational practices (e.g., Brisk,
2023; Gebhard, 2019); and teaching teachers about language in a way
that is practical and empowering (Derewianka & Jones, 2023; Humphrey
et al., 2023). We like SFL for its usefulness in describing the integration of
content, language, and literacy for teachers (Gebhard, 2019; Schleppegrell
et al., 2004). Perhaps most exciting and relevant to you are the pedagogical
implications. In this book, we use an SFL-informed pedagogy of apprentice-
ship, called the Teaching and Learning Cycle to promote a way to scaffold
instruction in a way that fosters equity by insisting that all students have
access to the language resources they need to meet the demands of school.
The Teaching Learning Cycle of Disciplinary Genres (TLC-DG) in Figure
1.4 provides a framework that supports teachers in teaching students these
language resources in the context of authentic texts students need to write
and read. We will show you how to use this pedagogical model and give you
many examples of how to use this in your classroom later in the book. First,
though, we need to introduce you to a way of describing and talking about
these language resources that we typically use to make meaning in social
studies so that you will have the confidence to teach these to your students.
The rest of the chapter will introduce you to some SFL metalanguage and

12
 Making Language Visible in Social Studies

Figure 1.4 The teaching and learning cycle of disciplinary genres

Credit: Adapted from Derewianka and Jones (2023)

ways of thinking and describing language, all of which are foundational

for the kind of teaching and learning you’ll engage in throughout the book.
Then, in the next two chapters, we build on this metalanguage and processes
of drawing attention to language by focusing in detail on how we use lan-
guage resources to craft explanations (Chapter 2) and arguments (Chapter 3).
This way of looking at language enables us to see how complex lan-
guage is (Figure 1.5). Each circle has a component of language. They are
nested in concentric circles to depict how choices in language are made
simultaneously at the level of context, text, sentence, and word. Keep this
in mind as you read this book. While there will be many times we will ref-
erence one ring of the circle at a time, we are always thinking about how
the rings are interconnected.

Thinking about Texts at the Genre Level

Previously, when we talked about Ms. Williams changing the way she
introduced her “What does liberty look like?” assignment to specifically
explain that she wanted an argument “using precise and knowledgeable

13
Making Language Visible in Social Studies

Figure 1.5 A stratified model of language

Credit: Adapted from Halliday and Matthiessen (2014)

claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging

counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses,” we were talking about the
genre of the text. The term genre is widely and sometimes misleadingly
used in education. We are using it very specifically here to pay attention
to the social purpose of the whole text (including multimodal texts), the
overall structure of the text that exists to meet that social purpose, and the
specific job that each section of the text has in service of that purpose.
Genres exist within and across disciplinary communities. In short, genre
is about using language to achieve different purposes. This book focuses
on the two main genres that we use most often in social studies to do the
learning and teaching: Explanations and arguments.
Thinking about texts at the genre level requires us to think deeply
about what kind of thinking and reasoning we want our students to do in
service of the content. For example, do we want students to describe what
something looks like, how one thing led to another, or the relationship
between certain phenomena? All of these are legitimate ways of thinking
in social studies, but as you saw in the cartoon, we need to be explicit with
our students about which genre will best serve the content and reasoning
around that content. In the next two chapters, we unpack explanations
and then arguments, showing how to draw attention to the social purpose,
generic structure that would serve that purpose, and how to identify the
moves and jobs different sections of a piece of writing have. For example,

14
 Making Language Visible in Social Studies

Figure 1.6 SFL trinocular view of register

Credit: Adapted from Derewianka and Jones (2023)

introductions don’t just introduce, they orient the reader to the context,
provide necessary background, and set up the reader to expect a certain
type of reasoning (e.g., that this text will describe events that will have
consequences or claims that will be supported in some way).
Thinking about social studies texts at the genre level makes visible the
purpose, structure, and ways of reasoning, but we also need to think about
how language enables us to achieve the purpose and illustrate our thinking
and reasoning. To do that, we need to look at what SFL calls the register of
the text (Figure 1.6).

Thinking about Texts at the Register Level

When we think about the register of the text, we describe the how of the
text by making visible the language choices that express the content and
meaning. We will group these language choices into three categories, each

15
Making Language Visible in Social Studies

that represents a different aspect of what we need to do in the texts. SFL

refers to these aspects as metafunctions.
There are three metafunctions that underlie all of the ways we make
meaning: Ideational, or Field which is using language to express ideas;
interpersonal, or Tenor which is using language to interact with our audi-
ence; and textual, or Mode which is using language to create cohesive texts
(e.g., Derewianka & Jones, 2023). As we make meaning in our disciplines
and in any aspect of our social worlds, for that matter, we make use of each
of these metafunctions simultaneously, most of the time without thinking
about it. However, thinking about this in the context of our discipline is
exactly what we need to do in order to make visible the specific ways we
want our students to make meaning.
To guide our thinking, it’s helpful to ask focus questions aligned with
each metafunction. When we are thinking about Field, we ask, “How am
I using language to get across my content? What types of grammatical
features should I use to express my ideas?” When we are thinking about
Tenor, we ask, “Who is my audience? Are they my peers or a distant adult
audience? How formal or informal do I need to be? What kind of rela-
tionship do I want to build with my reader?” When we are thinking about
Mode, we ask, “How should I lead my reader through the text? What sorts
of ways can I weave the text together so it forms a cohesive whole?” This
simultaneous interplay of these metafunctions comprises what we call the
register. Differences between an email and a text, or an argument in social
studies compared to one in ELA, or Marcus’s text and Lina’s text are essen-
tially differences in the register of the texts. We will illustrate this below by
returning to the student writing from our cartoon. You’ll note we’ve added
a few more lines in each of the texts.
As you study Table 1.1, notice the similarities and differences between
Marcus and Lina’s texts. We have organized this table by the metafunctions
so you compare the texts and begin to notice how each author uses lan-
guage to create meaning. Also note that we are looking at language descrip-
tively here, as opposed to evaluatively, for the purpose of determining what
choices the writers made.
This table is an example of a productive way of describing differences
in writing pieces by focusing on language choices. Some of these choices
are about what we typically think of as grammar, such as nouns and
prepositions, and other choices don’t fit as easily into grammatical cat-
egories, such as language to make a judgment. Let’s look at the choices the

16
 Table 1.1 Analysis of Student Work Using SFL Metafunctions

Metafunctions Student texts Focus questions

Field: Liberty is a tall green lady with a How does Lina use language to get across the
Using language to express ideas torch. She is in the New York Harbor. content?
and This statue came from France…. What types of grammatical features does she
Using language to connect ideas use to express her ideas?
She describes the statue using a long noun
phrase
She describes where the statue is and how it
got there using prepositional phrases
While some might argue differently, my claim is How does Marcus use language to get across
that liberty and prosperity go hand in hand. the content?

Making Language Visible in Social Studies

First of all, you can’t be free if you can’t What types of grammatical features does he
support yourself. Second of all … use to express his ideas?
He uses a noun phrase that connects the two
main ideas
He uses is to link the word claim to the actual
claim
He uses other verbs
He previews a counterclaim by connecting
this clause to his claim
(Continued)
17
 Table 1.1 (Continued)

Making Language Visible in Social Studies

18

Metafunctions Student texts Focus questions

Tenor: Liberty is a tall green lady with a torch. Who is Lina’s audience? How formal or
Using language to interact with an She is in the New York Harbor. This statue informal is she being with this text?
audience came from France…. Her audience is Ms. Williams and she is
Using language to create using informal language
interpersonal meaning How neutral or judgmental is she being with
this text?
She is using a neutral tone, stating a series of
facts
While some might argue differently, my claim Who is Marcus’s audience? How formal or
is that liberty and prosperity go hand in hand. informal is he being?
First of all, you can’t be free if you can’t His audience is Ms. Williams. He is mostly
support yourself. Second of all … using a formal tone, although he uses
informal language too. He also refers to the
audience as “you” which creates solidarity
with the reader
How neutral or judgmental is he being with
this text?
He is being judgmental, using language
that conveys his opinion, “liberty and
prosperity go hand in hand”; “you can’t be
free if you can’t support yourself”

(Continued)
 Table 1.1 (Continued)

Metafunctions Student texts Focus questions

Mode: Liberty is a tall green lady with a torch. She isHow does Lina lead the reader through the
Using language to create cohesive in the New York Harbor. This statue came text?
texts from France…. Each sentence starts with the subject of the
essay, liberty
How is she making the text hang together as
a whole?
She uses a pronoun reference and
a synonym for Liberty (this
statue) to create cohesion
While some might argue differently, my claim is How does Marcus lead the reader through the

Making Language Visible in Social Studies

that liberty and prosperity go hand in hand. text?
First of all, you can’t be free if you can’t He uses text connectives
support yourself. Second of all … How does he make the text hang together as a
whole?
He begins with some then narrows it to you
which he repeats
Also, he uses a synonym for liberty (free)
to create cohesion
19
Making Language Visible in Social Studies

writers made to express and connect their ideas, Field. For example, Lina
used a long noun phrase to describe what liberty looks like, “a tall green
lady with a torch” and prepositional phrases describing where liberty
is, “in the New York harbor.” These language choices serve to express
Lina’s literal meaning in response to the prompt. Marcus made choices
that express his understanding of the metaphorical meaning of liberty
as in “liberty and prosperity.” Next let’s look at how the writers created
interpersonal meaning, Tenor. Marcus uses judgment-type language that
expresses his strong opinion, for example, “you can’t be free …,” whereas
Lina is very neutral in her opinion about the topic, simply stating facts,
for example, “The statue came from France.” Lastly, let’s look at how
the writers create cohesive texts. It’s difficult to see this with these short
excerpts, but we can get a sense of the differences. Marcus uses signposts
such as “First of all,” while Lina uses pronoun referencing and renaming
to show that the sentences logically go together, “liberty” … “she” …
“this statue”.
We are also hoping you noticed that in the table we describe the lan-
guage the students use relatively objectively. We have not said Marcus
is more advanced than Lina but simply described how both were using
language resources. We are not evaluating their writing, but describing
their language use. Why would this distinction be important? There are
several important reasons, and these are foundational to this book. First
of all, to make language visible in the service of supporting students,
we need to be able to see and describe the language students are using
and the language we want students to be able to use. Second, we want
to validate what students know about language and bring to their work.
We recognize that all students have a toolbox of language resources
that they bring to school each day. We also want to challenge the notion
that the formal or academic language that characterizes Marcus’s work
is better or more advanced than Lina’s. Throughout our day we use lan-
guage for all different purposes and make different choices depending
on the context and social purpose. Our goal is for students to under-
stand what parameters and sets of choices are appropriate for the social
purpose they find themselves in. Our view of language development is
that it is an increasing repertoire or range of language resources from
which to make choices as well as an expansion of what we can do with
language.

20
 Making Language Visible in Social Studies

How Will This Book Help Teachers?

This book is for Professional Learning Circles, coaches, teacher
educators, teachers and people in teacher education programs who
teach disciplinary literacy, teachers who teach ELLs, teachers who
teach students who speak dialects of English, mainstream social studies
teachers who are using C3 Framework or their state standards informed
by the C3 Framework,4 and any practitioner concerned with inequitable
language and literacy outcomes in grades 5–12. This book is designed
to support you in taking up the challenge of teaching social studies in
a way that promotes equitable achievement of disciplinary literacy so
that all of your students work toward mastering the standards set out
for them. This book will enable you to predict what types of texts and
varieties of language students will need to be able to comprehend and
produce to be successful in your social studies classes. You’ll develop
knowledge about social studies specific language, which will build your
confidence in being able to support your students’ development. As you
work through this book, we know you’ll be thinking about how this all
would apply to your teaching, so we provide plenty of ideas for class-
room application.
Throughout this book, we ask you to apply theory to prac-
tice by thinking and working through tasks and short exercises. There
are “answers,” in the Answer Key at the end of the chapter. We put in
“answers” in quotes to acknowledge that there may be more than one
way to do these tasks. The numbers on the exercises correspond with
numbers in the Answer Key.
Our outcomes for you:

• Predict what types of texts and varieties of language your students will
need to be able to comprehend and produce
• Build a metalanguage that you can use with students to talk about
language
• Develop ways to promote and support language development
• Assess language development in discipline-specific ways

Table 1.2 shows your road map for the book.

21
Making Language Visible in Social Studies

Table 1.2 Road Map of Our Book: What Social Studies Teachers Need to Know
about Language

Knowledge of written genres of school

How disciplinary meaning of social studies is realized through written genres:
The Book

WHAT we need to know about the patterns HOW to make the patterns
of language? visible?
Knowledge of language at genre level: Making language visible at genre
How explanations are structured (Chapter 2) and register levels:
How arguments are structured (Chapter 3) Teaching and Learning Cycle of
Knowledge of language at register level: Disciplinary Genres (Chapter 4)
Language features salient to explanations Language-based Approach to
(Chapter 2) Disciplinary Reading (Chapter 5)
Language features salient to arguments
(Chapter 3)

Notes
1 https://c3teachers.org/inquiry-design-model/
2 https://www.socialstudies.org/meeting-common-core-standards-
english-language-arts-argument-writing
3 https://c3teachers.org/inquiry-design-model/
4 https://www.socialstudies.org/standards/c3

References
Achugar, M., Schleppegrell, M., & Oteiza, T. (2007). Engaging teachers in
language analysis: A functional linguistic approach to reflective lit-
eracy. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 6(2), 8–24.
Brisk, M. (2023). Engaging students in academic literacies: SFL genre peda-
gogy for K-8 classrooms (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Coffin, C. (2009). Historical discourse: The language of time, cause and
evaluation. Bloomsbury.
Derewianka, B., & Jones, P. (2023). Teaching language in context (3rd ed.).
Oxford University Press.

22
 Making Language Visible in Social Studies

Fang, F. (2020). Toward a linguistically informed, responsive and embedded

pedagogy in secondary literacy instruction. Journal of World Languages,
6(1–2), 70–91.
Fang, Z., & Schleppegrell, M. J. (2010). Disciplinary literacies across content
areas: Supporting secondary reading through functional language
analysis. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(7), 587–597.
Gebhard, M. (2019). Teaching and researching ELLs’ Disciplinary Literacies.
Systemic functional linguistics in the context of U.S. school reform.
Routledge.
Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. (2014). An introduction to func-
tional grammar (4th ed.). Routledge.
Humphrey, S., Droga, L., & Feez, S. (2023). Grammar and meaning (3rd
ed.). PETTA.
Lemke, J. (1990). Talking science: Language, learning, and values. Ablex.
Martin, J. & Rose, D. (2007). Working with discourse: Meaning beyond the
clause. Bloomsbury.
Moje, E. B. (2007). Developing socially just subject-matter instruction: A
review of the literature on disciplinary literacy teaching. Review of
Research in Education, 31, 1–44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20185100
Moje, E. B. (2008). Foregrounding the disciplines in secondary literacy
teaching and learning: A call for change. Journal of Adolescent & Adult
Literacy, 52(2), 96–107.
Moje, E. B. (2015). Doing and teaching disciplinary literacy with adoles-
cent learners: A social and cultural enterprise. Harvard Educational
Review, 85(2), 254–278.
Schleppegrell, M. (2004). The language of schooling. A functional linguis-
tics perspective. Routledge.
Schleppegrell, M., Achugar, M., & Oteíza, T. (2004). The grammar of his-
tory: Enhancing content-based instruction through a functional focus
on language. TESOL Quarterly, 38(1), 67–93.
Swan, K., Lee, J., & Grant, S. G. (2018). Inquiry design model: Building
inquiries in social studies. National Council for the Social Studies &
C3 Teachers.
Wineburg, S. S., & Martin, D. (2004). Reading and rewriting history.
Educational Leadership, 62(1), 42–45.

23
 2 What Is the Nature
of Language in
Social Studies
Explanations?
What Do We Mean by
Explain?

Vignette:

Figure 2.1 Mr. Rodriguez’s whiteboard

T: Today I want you to plan out your essay. Here is an Outline. What’s
the first thing you need to think about?
S: Have a thesis.
T: That’s right, what are some ideas?
S1: The Boarding Schools were bad for the kids.
T: Ok, tell me more, why were they bad?
S1: Because the kids forgot their language.

24 DOI: 10.4324/9781003302711-2
 Explanations

T: Ok, so you could say the Boarding Schools were bad because the
kids lost their language. Does that work for a thesis?
Ss: Yes.
T: Ok, does anyone have any questions or are you ready to get to
work on planning? No? Ok, your Exit Ticket is your Outline
(Figure 2.1).

What Does It Look Like When We Don’t

Make Language Visible?
As you can imagine, this class is studying the consequences of westward
expansion of the United States in the late eighteenth to mid-nineteenth
century with a focus on the Native Americans.
The vignette was the introduction to the assignment. Let’s assume
that the writing instruction students had received was limited to crafting
a thesis statement, and that Mr. Rodriguez expects that, by 11th grade,
students are skilled in essay writing. Let’s also assume that Mr. Rodriguez
is an excellent teacher, knowledgeable about the content and able to
engage and motivate his students. But writing instruction is not yet in his
wheelhouse. So later, when the students turn in their essays, he wonders
what he can do to help the third of his class that didn’t produce the
essays that would meet the CCSS or C3 Standards (National Council for
the Social Studies Standards (n.d.)) he was required to teach to. These
students had thesis statements, but they didn’t explain the consequences
of the Boarding School movement. As we discussed in the previous
chapter, what Mr. Rodriguez needs to do is to teach his students how
to write in ways that serve the content of his discipline. As we saw in
Chapter 1, as social studies teachers, we need to be able to predict the
kind of language students need to use to participate in our discipline and
teach them that language.
We might describe that what Mr. Rodriguez did in the vignette above
was to introduce an assignment in a way that hid the language demands
of the assignment. We might say that while the content of the assignment
was made really clear, the language of this assignment was invisible. How
is it invisible? First, the specific genre was not identified explicitly, nor
were there models of the genre provided so that students could see what

25
Explanations

the target text should look like. Second, while Mr. Rodriguez provided an
outline, it had no specifics that would guide students to writing a social
studies explanation. One could use that outline in any discipline where a
five-paragraph essay is required. Lastly, and most troublesome, was that
there is no particular focus on the language needed to express the con-
tent in the context of the assignment. Specifically, there were no learning
targets that would indicate what language resources would best serve the
content.
How do we get from this vignette to a language-focused way of
teaching social studies in a way that makes the language students need
visible? We start by attending to the genre. We need to be very clear
about what genre we are asking our students to comprehend and
produce. In social studies, the main genres are explanations and
arguments (Coffin, 2009; de Oliveira & Obenchain, 2019; Schleppegrell,
2004). This chapter will focus on explanations, and Chapter 3 will focus
on arguments.

Purpose
This chapter is going to help you figure out how to talk to your students
about the language they need to do the work of explaining for the
social studies you teach. In addition, it is going to show you how to
help your students expand the meanings they make and ultimately
expand their social studies linguistic repertoire.

Part 1: Genre: What Are the Different

Kinds of Explanations That Are Important
in Social Studies?
To discover what kinds of explanations exist in social studies, let’s take a
look at a few examples from the C3 Inquiry Hub of sample inquiry units.1
They all require that students will construct an explanation:

• What are the working conditions like for children in the banana
industry? Discuss the issue of child labor in the banana industry using
evidence from sources to support ideas. (Formative Performance Task,

26
 Explanations

Grade 5, 5.7 Economics, Fifth Grade Banana Trade Inquiry: What is

the Real Cost of Bananas?)2
• How were people affected by the Dust Bowl? Write a paragraph about
how people were affected by the Dust Bowl. (Formative Performance
Task, Grade 8, Era.7.2.USH.6 Eighth Grade U.S. History Inquiry, Was
the Dust Bowl a Perfect Storm?)3
• How did the Opium Wars create foreign influence in China and
how did the Chinese react? Write 2–3 sentences describing how the
Opium Wars created foreign influences in China and the Chinese
reactions. (Formative Performance Task, 10.4 IMPERIALISM, 10th
Grade Imperialism Inquiry, Do the Boxers Deserve a Bad Rap?)4
• What was the Enlightenment and what were the Enlightenment
writers’ views on human rights? Define Enlightenment and design a
chart listing the major Enlightenment writers, their major works, a brief
biography of where they were from, and their essential Enlightenment
ideas expressed in their writings. (Formative Performance Task, 10th
Grade Enlightenment and Revolutions Inquiry, How Did Reason Lead
to Revolution?)5

It is extremely helpful to understand not just that students need to

construct an explanation to respond to those questions, but that we have
choices about what type of certain explanation that would best serve the
content. This entails thinking about the social purpose in more detail; for
example, if the purpose was to look at the factors that lead up to an event
in the past, this explanation would look different from one in which we
focused on the present-day consequences of a past event. Here are some
of the major types listed with the social purpose and examples you might
see in the curriculum (Table 2.1).
The type of explanation should match the social studies way of
thinking, reasoning, and explaining best suited for the content. If our con-
tent is women’s suffrage and we want our students to explain why there
was opposition, the kind of reasoning we want them to do is one in which
they identify and analyze the factors that contributed to the opposition,
such as the divisions in roles at the time between men and women, with
the women taking care of the home and the men the business life outside
the home. The kind of explanation we would want them to use would be a
factorial explanation.

27
 Table 2.1 Types of Explanations in Social Studies

Explanations
28

Types of explanation Social purpose of explanation Sample curricular context Formats

Causal Explanation Explain a phenomenon that What has caused the gender wage gap in Poster
involves an element of the United States? Letter
causality Determine the major causes of the Dust Blog
Bowl6 Map
System Explanation Explain how a system works What is the relationship between the Essay
in terms of the relationships legislative, judicial, and executive Digital documentary
between its parts branches of the US government? Debate
If you wanted to change the constitution, Speech
what would you need to do? Social media post
Billboard
Meme
Powerpoint
Speech
Infographics

(Continued)
 Table 2.1 (Continued)

Types of explanation Social purpose of explanation Sample curricular context Formats

Factorial Explanation Explain the factors that Why was there so much opposition to
contribute to a particular women’s suffrage?
outcome What is causing the drought in the
western United States?
How did the Opium Wars create foreign
influence in China and how did China
react?

Consequential Explanation Explain the effects or Why are some people opposed to
consequences of a situation gerrymandering?
or event How did slavery shape my state?7

Adapted from Coffin (2009) and Derewianka and Jones (2016).

Explanations
29
Explanations

2.1* Try it out

Look back at the vignette that starts this chapter. What type of explan-
ation is Mr. Rodriguez looking for? Rewrite the assignment so that the
genre and type of explanation are more clear. Choose a visual represen-
tation of the type of explanation you would present to students. See the
answer key at the end of the chapter if you want a hint.
*(Numbering 2.1, etc. corresponds with the Answer Key)

We are thinking that Mr. Rodriguez is looking for a consequential

explanation. This type of explanation describes how a certain historical
situation or geographical event led to one or more consequences. In writing
a consequential explanation for Mr. Rodriguez, his students would choose
an event related to Native American tribes and nations and explain the
consequences of that event. Here is an example of a consequential explan-
ation that Mr. Rodriguez was really happy with. Have a quick read and
then we will walk you through an analysis where we make visible the
moves the writer used to create this piece.

The Consequences of the Boarding Schools

on the Ho-Chunk People
In Wisconsin in the late 1800s, many children of the Ho-Chunk nation
were taken from their homes and sent away to boarding schools. The
goal of these schools was assimilation, a political and social goal of
the US government, designed to make the Native American children
learn the language and culture of the white people. This had severe
and lasting consequences on the Ho-Chunk community.
One consequence these boarding schools had was a disconnec-
tion of the children from the cultural ways of the Ho-Chunk which
was achieved through systemic repression of the Ho-Chunk culture
with particular focus on appearance, farming practices, and spiritual
traditions….
The second consequence the boarding schools had on the
Ho-Chunk was the loss of their language.…
(See Appendix for the Complete Text)

30
 Explanations

Figure 2.2 Input and consequences

Credit: Adapted from Coffin (2009) and Derewianka and Jones (2016)

The writer here chose the sending away of children to boarding schools
as the event, or input that lead to two main consequences: One, the dis-
connection of children from their culture, and two, the loss of language
(Figure 2.2).
This graphic makes clear what has happened (Boarding Schools) and what
needs to be explained (how the input of the Boarding Schools led to the two
consequences: Disconnection from their culture and the loss of language).
Graphics like this are very useful in that they convey the disciplinary reasoning
that underlies the explanation and makes clear what exactly needs explaining.
Once we have established what type of explanation we want our students
to write, the next thing we need to do is think about the genre structure of
that explanation. At face value, the genre structure looks like an outline, but it
goes further in that the structure represents the purpose and function of each
stage or paragraph. As we saw above, it is not enough to give an outline that
goes, Introduction, Body Paragraph 1, 2, 3, Conclusion. Instead, each genre
stage names the purpose, function, or “job” of each part. Once the jobs are
established, the content can be mapped out to align with the stages (Table 2.2).
Next is to think about the content appropriate for the job of each genre
stage. By job we mean purpose or function. Note that these jobs describe the
content including the disciplinary reasoning. Later we will look at language
used to realize this content. Consider the following table which names the
stage and job on the left and then lists the content on the right. Notice how
the writer of the outline thought through the job of each stage. For example,
with the first stage they considered: What are the important pieces of infor-
mation I would need to include to identify the historical situation? Then, for
the second stage, they thought: How would I elaborate on the effects of this
event? What details should I include that I can expand upon?

31
Explanations

Table 2.2 Genre Stages Aligned with Content

What were the consequences of the boarding schools on the Ho-Chunk people?

Consequential explanation Jot down your ideas for content for each section
genre stages

I Input The historical situation – Boarding schools for indigenous

Job of this stage: Identify peoples
historical situation or event • 1880s Wisconsin
leading to change • the US government took children of many Indian
nations and sent them away to boarding schools
• Goal was assimilation – learn language and culture of
white people
• Focus – Ho-Chunk nation
II Consequence 1 Effects of the boarding school movement on Ho-Chunk
Job of this stage: Elaborate (part 1)
on the effects of the event Big idea consequence–Ho-Chunk kids lost their culture:
• forced to cut their hair
• taught new ways of farming
• had to give up their spiritual traditions
III Consequence 2 Effects of boarding school movement on Ho-Chunk (part 2)
Job of this stage: Elaborate Big idea consequence – Ho-Chunk kids lost their Ho-Chunk
on the effects of the event language:
• Forced to speak English only
• Couldn’t speak with their elders when they went back
home eventually
• Weren’t able to learn about their own history and how
to be a good member of their Ho-Chunk community
IV Reinforcement of Emphasize how bad the boarding school movement was for
consequences the Ho-Chunk people:
Job of this stage: • Kids couldn’t belong to their communities when they
Emphasize and/or evaluate went back
consequences • Wouldn’t let the kids do things important to their
culture – so kids forgot about it or ended up preferring
white culture
• Loss of language meant that kids couldn’t be connected
to their people
Evaluate the consequences: This led to …
• Loss of Ho-Chunk culture (only small numbers
understand the culture today)
• Loss of Ho-Chunk language (only small numbers of
people can still speak the language)

32
 Explanations

When you give students an outline for their written assignments, try
using the genre stages: Name them and state their jobs. What this does is
build student awareness of writing each section to carry out a specific pur-
pose. Once students understand what they are aiming to do in a section,
or the job of the section, then they can think about how to do that job with
content and language features.

2.2 Try it out

Look back at the Consequential Explanation of the Ho-Chunk Text.
How well does that text use language to express content that serves
the functions/jobs identified in the genre stages in Table 2.2. See if
you can map the jobs to the text. See Appendix for the whole text.

In this chapter, we focus on consequential explanations. As you move

on to other types of explanations, consult the descriptions and graphic
representations above to help you figure out what stages you would like
your students to address in their explanations.
Teaching students how to plan their writing using genre stages and
jobs for each stage will go a long way in improving students’ writing.
However, if we stop our writing instruction at this point, we have answered
the what part of writing, but we still haven’t addressed the how part of
writing. For example, how do we use language to “emphasize and evaluate
consequences” which is the job of the conclusion? How do we use lan-
guage to express our content? What kinds of language features do we
choose amongst? In the next section, we delve into the how by focusing
on the language writers use when expressing their ideas in explanations.

Part 2: What Language Do We Need to

Express Our Ideas? Language Features in
Social Studies Explanations
In the section above, we looked at explanations at the genre level,
studying the text-level characteristics and thinking about the functions of
explanations, which are primarily to express cause and effect. Our mentor
text is a specific type of cause-and-effect explanation, a consequential

33
Explanations

explanation. In this section, we will look at the language features occurring

at the sentence, word, and phrase level of explanations that communicate
cause and effect. We will go through each type of feature in detail and
give you exercises to try out and ideas for your classroom. Our goal is to
empower you to teach these features to your students. Most students will
need your support in making these features visible and in understanding
how they work to communicate the social studies content.
Before we get to the language features salient to the Consequential
Explanation that respond to the prompt, What were the Consequences of
the Boarding Schools on the Ho-Chunk People?, we will look at some lan-
guage features common to many explanations.
Now, let’s narrow down and focus on a group of features that expresses
cause and effect, which are going to be necessary in order to express the
content of our Consequential Explanation that responds to the prompt, What
were the Consequences of the Boarding Schools on the Ho-Chunk People?

Table 2.3 Language Features Common to Explanations

Possible language features common to historical explanations

Discourse (Text and Paragraph) Dimension:
• Causal connectives (as a result of, for that reason, as a consequence,
because of this, therefore)
Sentence (and Word Phrase) Dimension:
• Simple past tense to express generalizations (the goal of these schools was
assimilation)
• Dependent clauses to connect causes and consequences (because the chil-
dren had to cut their hair, learn new ways of farming, and a new religion,
they ended up being disconnected from Ho-Chunk culture)
• Passive voice to talk about the object undergoing the process (the children
were taught that Ho-Chunk ways of farming were backward) or to hide
agency (many children of the Ho-Chunk nation were taken from their homes
and sent away to boarding schools)
Word Dimension:
• General, topic-specific, nonhuman participants, abstract nouns (consequence,
assimilation, a political and social goal)
• Noun groups carry a great deal of meaning though through adjectives (severe
and lasting (consequences)) and prepositional phrases (from the cultural ways,
from Ho-Chunk culture)
Brisk (2023); Derewianka and Jones (2023).

34
 Explanations

At the register level, the group of features in Table 2.3 fits into the
metafunctions Field and Mode in the Trinocular Model of Register Figure
in Chapter 1. Field refers to ideational meanings in particularly how we
express and connect ideas. Mode refers to cohesion, or how we organize
our thoughts across a piece of writing. While there are language features
of Tenor, how we interact with our audience, also in Explanations, we are
going to focus on Field and Mode here. In Chapter 3, we focus on Tenor.
Consider the following table (Table 2.4). The left-hand column identi-
fies the function, purpose, or “job” of the language feature. In the middle is
the technical term for the features, and on the right we illustrate the feature
with examples from the text as well as some that are not in the text but we
felt would be useful.
We now will go into each of these features in detail inviting you to
deepen your understanding with examples for you to practice as well
as suggestions for how you can draw attention to these features in your
teaching. For each of this group of features that follows, we include an
excerpt from our mentor text that illustrates that example. You can find the
full text with features highlighted in the Appendix.

Language Features for Holding the Explanation

Together to Create a Cohesive Essay

This group of features functions to manage the cohesion of the essay, in

other words, to glue it together in a logical way. These are highlighted
below in an excerpt from our Consequential Explanation.

Paragraph Openers
In Wisconsin in the late 1800s, many children of the Ho-Chunk nation
were taken from their homes and sent away to boarding schools….
One consequence these boarding schools had was a
disconnection….
The second consequence these boarding schools had on the
Ho-Chunk was the loss of their language….
The consequence of sending Ho-Chunk children away to boarding
school was a devastating loss of the Ho-Chunk culture and language.

35
 Table 2.4 Language Features to Express Cause and Effect

Explanations
36

Metafunction Job of the language feature What it’s called Examples

Mode Hold the explanation at the whole text Paragraph openers One consequence …
level together to create a cohesive
essay
Field Organize the sentences within a Text connectives First, Second, Lastly
paragraph
Make cause-effect links Text connectives showcasing Therefore, consequently, for this
cause-effect reason, as a result, hence, thus, as a
consequence, accordingly, because of
this, so, then, due to
Verb groups Led to, ended up, caused
Noun groups Consequences, effects, result
Referring pronouns This
Causal clauses I had to work late because my coworker
called in sick
My coworker calling in sick resulted in
my having to work late
By not allowing the children to practice
their culture, the result was …
Provide details about the causes and the Extended noun groups A devastating loss of the Ho-Chunk
effects culture and language
Condense activities and evaluations Nominalizations Assimilation, disconnection, removal
 Explanations

We use paragraph openers to start each paragraph for the purpose of organ-
izing and connecting the paragraphs together in the essay. It’s most effective
when these are specific to the type of explanation. In the “The Consequences
of the Boarding Schools on the Ho-Chunk People” text, the first paragraph
opener sets the context, In Wisconsin in the late 1800s. The rest of paragraph
openers include the word consequences, for example, One consequence …
the second consequence … the consequences. Repeating consequence first,
creates a cohesive text that is neatly glued together, and second, explicitly
tells the reader that this is a consequential explanation. While this may seem
straightforward, students may not have learned to strategically use paragraph
openers to align with the purpose of their explanations. If this is the case, then
the students’ essays will not seem coherent, so it is important to teach students
to pay attention to paragraph openers.
Something you can do in your classroom is to have students collect para-
graph openers from model essays and readings. They can vandalize texts by
switching out the paragraph openers for different ones. They can also make
anchor charts with these paragraph openers to support their writing.

Language Features to Organize the Sentences

within a Paragraph

Text Connectives

These are single words or groups of words, including first, second, there-
fore, furthermore, in addition, for example, as a result, and so on used to
create logical connections between ideas. While paragraph openers pro-
vide a macro-level organization of a whole text and occur just at the begin-
ning of paragraphs, text connectives occur within paragraphs and provide
a microlevel organization. If you think of a piece of writing as a map, the
text connectives are the signposts that tell the reader which way to go next.

One consequence these boarding schools had was a disconnec-

tion of the children from the cultural ways of the Ho-Chunk, which
was achieved through systemic repression of the Ho-Chunk culture
with particular focus on appearance, farming practices, and spiritual
traditions. First, to make the Ho-Chunk children look more like white

37
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This is not always easy, but there are a few points on which a
diagnosis is based, namely: in a healthy woman (during the
reproductive age) the function of menstruation stops, together with
the morning sickness, and the enlargement of the breasts with dark
color around the nipples. These are early indications that pregnancy
exists. I am not going to take the time nor space to explain that all
three of the above named can exist in nervous women, even when
pregnancy does not exist. It is, as I said before, with the average
healthy girl I am dealing, not with the exception. The only certain
signs of pregnancy are the hearing of the heart-beats of the child
and its movements.
Another question which troubles a young woman is how to count the
time when she will be confined. This, too, is difficult to say, for an
error of two weeks earlier or later is possible, because the time of
conception is seldom definitely known. Experience has given a
method of arriving at an approximate date which is used and which
answers the purpose fairly well, though it is by no means perfect.
Add seven days to the first day of the last menstruation and count
nine months forward. For example: Mrs. A. menstruated last,
beginning October 5 add seven days; this brings the date to October
12; add nine months, which brings the date of confinement to July
12. It is well to have everything prepared two weeks before this date
so that the woman can be as much as possible in the open air
during the remaining waiting days.

The dress of the pregnant woman should receive serious attention.

In the first place, it should be simple and warm, without bands
restricting the circulation of any part of the body, like skirt bands,
round garters, corsets and tight shoes. The secret of a comfortable
outfit for the expectant mother is to have all clothing hang from the
shoulders. Combination underwear can be bought as reasonably as
the separate drawers and shirt. There should be no pressure on the
womb from above, rather let all support come from below. The
corset gets in its harmful work by pressing down the uterus into the
pelvis, thus displacing the abdominal organs and crowding them
together in such a way as to cause injury to the uterus as well as to
the child itself. The muscles of the uterus and abdomen are
weakened and from this results that horror of all women: the “high
stomach.” Some women, especially those having borne children,
prefer to wear in the latter days of pregnancy an abdominal
supporter. If it is well fitted to the body it helps to assist the
abdominal muscles in carrying the weight and affords great relief. If
women would devote to making themselves comfortable during
pregnancy as much time as they give on the baby's outfit, they
would profit by it. Instead of wearing any old worn-out dress, ill-
fitting and out of style, make one “maternity” dress to fit the figure.
This can, of course, be let out in size as the figure grows. It can be
made of some pretty, inexpensive material and gives such comfort
and ease to the mind as well as to the body that the woman who
has once had one will never again do without it.
The food also should be simple. In fact, there are few restrictions to
be placed on food unless so ordered by the physician. One common
mistake of women is that they believe they are eating for two
persons, and consequently, must gorge themselves, which, of
course, results in indigestion. Physicians advise a small amount of
meat once a day. Plenty of water, milk and cereals, fruit, vegetables
and especially fruit, which loosens the bowels. Rich pastry or
starches fried in fat should not be eaten, because they are hard to
digest. There is no reason why the diet should be at all strict unless
a woman is under the special care of a physician. She should take a
moderate amount of exercise every day, but should not get tired.
Walking in the open air in the sunlight is best. Avoid dancing,
swimming and all violent exercise; sewing on the sewing machine
should be restricted. Fainting in the early months is often caused
from bad air in overcrowded and overheated rooms, also from an
empty stomach when the woman is too busy to notice nature's call
for nourishment.
It is now generally agreed that alcohol taken by the mother during
pregnancy, has very bad effects on the offspring.
There is little more to be said here except that a pregnant woman
should be mentally and physically active, though not fatigued. And
of all things she should keep out of the hearing of old superstitions,
which have a sign for every act and keep a young woman constantly
worried. She should not be allowed to worry over her approaching
labor, and as far as possible be kept cheerful and happy. Another
question which concerns every expectant mother, is, if there is any
danger in sexual intercourse during pregnancy.
At the end of the period the child and the placenta are expelled from
the uterus. The uterus gradually returns to its former size. It
requires about six weeks for this to occur and it is very important
that there should be no heavy lifting and overwork at this time. As a
rule after childbirth, the woman's form becomes matured and more
developed. The facial expression takes on a kinder, a maternal look,
the whole nervous system is awakened to sympathy, pain or grief
bringing tears to the eyes quicker than ever before. Especially is this
true for the first few years following.
The important thing is that the care of the pregnant woman should
be begun in girlhood. If we are going to be and have mothers, then
we should give attention to the development of the organs which
make us mothers.
CHAPTER VI.
 SOME CONSEQUENCES OF IGNORANCE AND
SILENCE.—PART I.
When the boy arrives at the age of puberty, he is in greater danger
than a girl of being not only led astray by companions, but being
actually sent into unclean living by those nearest and most
interested in his welfare—HIS PARENTS.
The reason of this is that there has been and still is a false idea
clinging to many parents that as soon as the boy has seminal
emissions, it is a signal that he must have sexual relations or suffer
in health.
That the seminal emissions are not harmful and that they grow less
frequent as the boy grows older is a fact of which few mothers seem
to be aware.
We cannot blame the mothers of the past for not informing their
sons of this physical condition, for few of them knew it themselves.
Mothers have been as ignorant as the boys of their sex functions as
well as other functions of the body.
They accepted sickness, disease, and even death without a question,
placing their faith and confidence entirely in the hands of the
medical profession, who, like the rabbis and high priests, made a
church of their knowledge.
Fortunately this condition of affairs is changing, and the knowledge
of the human body, which for ages has been most carefully locked
within the medical libraries, is fast taking up its abode in the homes
of the people—where it belongs.
It is said that in Japan or China, the duty of a physician is to keep
his patients in good health, receiving payment only when they are
well.
Certainly this sounds like civilization.
Only a few weeks ago I had occasion to talk to a woman about her
oldest son, whom I considered sick from overwork and lack of
nourishment. She informed me, however, that this was not so, and
whispered confidently that he was 16 years old and “in that age
when he needs a woman.” She further remarked that she and “the
papa” had talked it over with the result that the father had told the
boy, when he had “the desire for a woman,” that he, the father,
“would give him money enough to get one.”
Think of that boy's attitude toward women, and the danger to
become affected with venereal diseases that he was likely to
contract. Yet both parents had the sincerest wish to do their best for
that boy; they gave the best advice they knew.
One of the most common errors I have found among people, even
those educated in other lines of thought, is that the sexual organs
will become useless unless they are used in early manhood. This is
considered untrue by the best authorities on the subject, for it is
known that the essential organs of reproduction are glands, not
unlike the tear glands of the eyes or the milk glands of the breasts.
The tear glands do not atrophy even if one does not cry for years,
nor the milk glands during the entire period of reproduction. The
same can be said of the sexual glands.
Another idea which is fast being uprooted is that the sexual act is an
appetite, not unlike that of hunger and thirst, which must be fed by
the boy sowing his “wild oats” first before settling down to marriage.
It is now a recognized fact that it is no more necessary for a boy to
“sow wild oats” than it is for a girl, and women are today demanding
of men the same cleanliness of body and mind which men have
heretofore considered necessary only in women.
It is now the unreserved opinion of the foremost medical men of the
day that a man does not suffer in health from living a continent life,
nor is he a “mollycoddle” from so doing.
Hutchinson says: “The belief that the exercise of the sex functions is
necessary to the health of the male at any age is a pure delusion,
while before full maturity it is highly injurious.”
Ruggles says: “Sexual abstinence is compatible with perfect health
and tends to increase virility (which means manhood) through the
reabsorption of the semen.”
The ancient Teutons were aware of this, for it is said that it was
considered a most shameful thing for their young men to have
sexual relations with a woman before their twenty-sixth year. From
observation and experience they were convinced that men were not
sexually mature much before this age, and no one will dispute they
were strong and manly.
Statistics show that 65 per cent. of men infected with venereal
diseases (which means diseases due to sexual intercourse) are
contracted between the ages of 15 and 21 years; and 25 per cent.
are contracted in the 21st and 23rd years.
Writers claim that from statistics they have found men are not
sexually mature before the twenty-fifth year and women not before
the twentieth year. Yet we find them both reeking with sexual
diseases before this age.
According to Sanger's “History of Prostitution,” it is claimed that
three-eighths of the prostitutes enter the life before the twentieth
year in New York City. It is safe to say this is a conservative
estimate, for the more recent investigations in Chicago and other
cities show a very much higher percentage. However, this, together
with the statistics of venereal diseases mentioned above, show that
it is before the boy and girl are sexually mature that there is the
greatest difficulty in directing the impulses and controlling the
passions.
Chassaignac says that the more healthy and normal an individual is,
the better can he not only control his passions, but the less likely is
he to be disturbed by continence.
Just one more word on the subject of continence, and that is that it
is not at all unusual to find men determined to remain continent until
they find their ideal woman. Nor for athletes in training engaged in
contests, nor for sailors on long sea voyages, and many others for
long periods of time is continence impossible; in fact, they are better
for it.
This knowledge was not lost sight of in ancient times.
Reference is made to it in the Bible, in the sending of women
prostitutes into the camps of the enemy the night before an
expected battle, in order to exhaust or decrease the vitality of the
soldiers.
When one finds an individual who realizes the force of the sexual
impulses and knows how to conserve them, you usually find a
person who does not drain or exhaust these forces, but uses them in
creative work.
Every girl should look upon the man who indulges freely in the
sexual relations without Social responsibility, as a prostitute far
more degraded than the unfortunate girl who is compelled to sell her
body to sustain life.
Every girl should know something about the physical makeup of a
boy as well as of her own, for upon the well-being of both does the
future race depend. To be a real mother a woman must understand
a boy's emotions and development, if she would sympathize with
him. And when she does understand, she will not send him to buy a
woman for physical satisfaction.
It is this ignorance of parents, together with the silence of the
medical profession, which is largely responsible for the terrible
spread of venereal diseases which exist today.
When a few years ago Dr. Morrow stated that there is more venereal
diseases among innocent, virtuous wives, than among prostitutes,
this statement should have resounded throughout the walls of every
home in the land, instead of which it is kept intact within the covers
of large volumes, where only those wearing cap and gown have
access to it.
It is claimed that out of 1,000 married men in New York 800 have
gonorrhoea, and 90 per cent. of these have not been cured and can
infect their wives. The result is that at least three out of every five
married women in New York have gonorrhoea.
This seems astounding and exaggerated, but the following quotation
is taken from an authority and is considered quite conservative:
“Over 90 per cent. of our young men stray from the path of virtue
before marriage; 60 per cent. contract venereal diseases which are
difficult to cure; more wives than prostitutes have venereal diseases;
one-eighth of all diseases in New York hospitals are venereal; 20,000
infected persons walk the streets daily.”
It seems to me that the above facts are sufficient to warrant every
girl and boy knowing something about these diseases.
 SOME CONSEQUENCES OF IGNORANCE AND
SILENCE.—PART II.
The two venereal diseases which I will tell you something of here
are those most commonly known to all—gonorrhoea and syphilis.
Gonorrhoea is an inflammation of the urethra (water passage)
characterized by redness, swelling, smarting pain on the passing of
water, and accompanied by thick purulent (poisonous) discharge, at
first creamy in color, and later a greenish yellow. It is considered by
the highest authorities as solely a sexual disease in adults,
depending almost exclusively upon sexual intercourse as its mode of
origin and infection. In children, however, it is not the rule, especially
in infants and little girls, who can be infected by the hands of the
mother or nurse being soiled with the discharge, also where the
fresh discharge is on towels, toilets, etc. It starts an inflammation of
the outer delicate parts but seldom enters the urethra.
In former days gonorrhoea was considered an ordinary catarrhal
inflammation, “no worse than a bad cold,” the old saying went. It
was thought to originate in women with the discharge at the end of
the menstrual period, or leucorrhoea; in fact any secretions from the
uterus, of an irritating character, were thought to be sources of
gonorrhoea. However, with the discovery of the microbe
“gonococcus”, in 1879, by Dr. Neisser, it is now an established fact
that the disease comes from a source where there is either latent or
chronic gonorrhoea, which, of course, means that the gonococcus is
present. It is considered a conservative estimate that at least 50 per
cent. of the adult population in this country have suffered from
gonococcal infection. More men than women have been and are
infected.
The first symptoms of the disease appear from three to seven days
after infection, and under proper treatment the discharge may
disappear in six or eight weeks.
If the man or woman places himself under the care of a specialist
within forty-eight hours after infection, the disease is often of much
shorter duration. When allowed to become chronic, it is called gleet.
Too much emphasis cannot be put upon the danger of placing any
one with this disease into the hands of the doctors who advertise so
conspicuously, claiming rapid and complete cures for all sexual
diseases. Experience has found that thousands of boys and young
men, attracted by such alluring promises as only the quack can put
forth, have been under such treatment, only to find later that the
disease was allowed to remain in the tissues, the discharge only
having been dried up. The germs were allowed to continue their
work on up into the bladder, kidneys, joints, heart and even to the
brain. The germs can live for years in the body hidden away in the
gland ducts, the mucous membrane of the organ first attacked being
in a normal state, yet when a condition arises when the vitality of
the tissues in which the germs are lodged is lowered, or which gives
the germs themselves more nourishment or stimulus, such as
alcohol or excessive intercourse, they almost always become active
again.
In women the small part of the womb (cervix), as well as the
urethra, are favorite places of attack. When the disease attacks the
cervix a woman may not be conscious of it, and so, unless
prominent symptoms attend it, she may infect many persons in the
meantime. In man, on the other hand, the disease cannot be
present without his knowing there is something wrong, and it should
be impressed upon him that it is a moral obligation on his part not to
have sexual relations until he has been examined and pronounced
cured by a specialist in genito-urinary diseases.
Your general practitioner will always recommend to you a specialist if
you ask him to. When the disease attacks the uterus and ovaries it
very often blocks the fallopian tubes and prevents the impregnation
of the ovum. It is said that over one-third of the childless marriages
are due to gonorrhoea in women, innocently contracted from their
husbands. Both men and women can become sterile from this
disease. The seminal tubes in the man become blocked, thus
disabling him from impregnating the ovum.
Again, when the disease attacks the organs of generation, unless
speedily attended to, the organs get into a chronic state of
inflammation. The disease is, therefore, more difficult to reach, the
chances of cure more difficult, and it usually means an operation for
the woman.
The great mass of ailing women who trace their misery back to
never seeing a well day since marriage, can be classed among those
suffering with this disease, as can also that army of women whose
illness is classed among “female disorders.”
A curious point to know is that a man may have a hidden or latent
gonorrhoea, of which he is not aware, for it gives him no trouble,
and may infect a clean, healthy woman during sexual relations, and
she in turn, can infect him with the same disease, acting like a fresh
infection, giving rise to pain and discomfort. The great majority of
infections in women are contracted from men who believe
themselves cured, being under the false impression that they are
cured because the discharge has ceased.
At a lecture given by a well-known physician in this city last winter,
the physician advised every girl whose sweetheart, lover or expected
husband had a history of inflammatory rheumatism of the joints,
back of him, that as she values her life and future health, not to
marry that man without a thorough examination by a specialist in
these diseases. He declared: No young man should have
inflammatory rheumatism. This statement is considered
somewhat exaggerated by some making more recent investigations,
yet all seem to agree that a very large majority of cases of
inflammatory rheumatism of the joints have the gonococcus present.
If the woman is not made sterile by the disease and is able to carry
the child to full term labor, then there is another danger of infecting
the child's eyes during the process of labor, when the secretions
lodge themselves into the delicate membrane of the eyes. Then,
unless quick action is applied, the sight of both eyes can be lost.
Over 80 per cent. of blindness in babies is due to this germ. It can
be carried into the eyes of both children and adults by any means
which can carry the discharge to the eyes. Upon the slightest
suspicion that this has been done, medical aid should be summoned
at once.
There is one fortunate thing to know, that the germ cannot live for a
great length of time outside its natural or proper environment,
though it can for years be hidden in the body. It dries up very
quickly, and special solutions of both bichloride and permanganate of
potash will kill the germs with which the solution comes in contact.
There is but one course to follow, that upon any of the symptoms
mentioned above, go at once to a reliable physician and follow his
instructions closely. And remember that the causes which retard
recovery are alcoholic drinks, lack of rest, spicy food and sexual
excitement. It is said there is no positive proof against this
disease, except continency until marriage and then monogamy.
A story is told of a young Irish physician, who, being asked how he
treated gonorrhoea, replied most tersely, “with contimpt.” That this
was for a time a general feeling is agreed, but with the knowledge
that so many persons, especially women, contract the disease, under
the moral, as well as legal, conditions of present society, the feeling
has changed. A woman is infected by her husband after the
marriage is sanctioned by the state and blessed by the church,
neither taking the interest in the woman's future to guarantee to her
a clean individual as a husband. Prostitution has been upheld and
women segregated for man's sexual use, the government going to
the extent of authorizing examinations of the women for venereal
diseases to insure man's safety from these diseases. Yet there has
been no such protection given either the woman prostitute or the
wife that the man's body is free from them. On the other hand,
every means to keep a married woman in ignorance of the source of
her infection is made by the church, state and society in general.
Every law to protect the man's crime is made for his use, while
women remain unprotected victims of his guilt. And this, they say, is
“to protect the family and the home.”
Dr. James S. Wood tells a story of his experience With a young
woman of 25, married five years, when she came to him. The
husband admitted having had gonorrhoea previous to marriage. The
doctor found her flowing excessively, the cervix badly torn, the
uterus sharply bent back and fixed, ovaries bound down and
adherent, the tubes thickened; a leuchorreal discharge was present
which contained gonococci, and other symptoms which made her
sick and miserable. The doctor operated upon her, scraping her
womb, sewing the torn cervix, opening the abdomen to remove the
thickened appendix and inflamed ovaries and tubes. She convalesced
beautifully, and had no bad or unusual symptoms for six months, at
which time she returned with a renewed infection. Careful
questioning extracted from the husband the confession that he had
been “out with the boys,” and had had a recurrence of gonorrhoea.
Most of the good which came from the operation was spoiled by this
second infection.
This is only one simple example of what is meant by preserving the
home and family at the terrible cost of women's lives. Women should
protest against the so-called medical secret which decrees that they
be kept in ignorance where their health, as well as life, is directly
concerned. That there are men in the medical profession in this
country, as well as in Europe, who have openly protested against
respecting the secret where another life is involved, seems a
cheerful signal of a general social awakening in this field.
In the Medical Record, April 20, 1912, Maude Glasgow says: “After
suffering for years a woman becomes a feeble, worn-out, nervous
woman; her life is a burden The operating table is her only hope,
and she leaves it deformed, mutilated and sexless.”
If women voluntarily exposed themselves to diseases which would
sap the husband's vitality, making him a dependent invalid, or
expose him to the shock of a mutilating operation, or death—would
men continue to suffer? Would they allow the medical secret to
protect women in this alleged “freedom”? Every girl knows he would
neither protect her nor continue to suffer. It is women only who have
allowed the double standard of morals to stand so long, giving men
the purest and best of their womanhood, but not demanding the
same from them. As soon as women realize the danger to
themselves and their children which they are likely to incur from
men who have lived promiscuously, they will revolt against such
standards.
Gonorrhoea differs from syphilis, and though it is not a disease
which can be transmitted from the parent to children, as syphilis
can, yet it is a subtle, wrecking disease and can do almost as much
harm to the individual.

WHAT EVERY GIRL SHOULD

KNOW
 BY ORDER OF THE

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT

 FEB. 9, 1913.
[From New York Call, after temporary suppression of article, “What Every Girl
Should Know,” by the postal authorities.]

[The particular part of the article objected to by the postal

authorities].
 SOME CONSEQUENCES OF IGNORANCE AND
SILENCE.—PART III.
Prominent medical authorities claim that syphilis was not known in
Europe before the discovery of America. Others equally as prominent
hold that it has existed for many centuries in Europe, but was
confused with other diseases such as leprosy. It makes little
difference to the girl or boy today just how long or where it came
from; the point we do know is that it is here in our homes and
workshops, and we should know what it is like and how to avoid it.
A story is told of a French nobleman whose son was about to leave
his home to live in a big city. Said the father to the son: “If you are
not afraid of God, fear at least syphilis.” This advice might be applied
today, for if boys or girls knew, or could see the appalling results of
syphilis, they would surely fear it, for it is humanity's most deadly
foe.
Syphilis is an infectious disease, caused by a special microbe which
is acquired by contagion or heredity.
It is chronic in course, varied and intermittent in character, and the
length of time it remains in the body is indefinite.
It is so widespread that no country in the world is free from it,
neither is any organ of the body exempt from its ravages.
Let us take a young man indulging in promiscuous sexual
intercourse, who cohabits with a syphilitic woman. He notices
nothing wrong for about five weeks, when he becomes aware of a
pimple on the sexual organs, to which perhaps he pays little
attention. This grows and becomes hard at the base and is ulcerated
on the top.
About ten days after the appearance of the ulcer (or chancre) the
boy notices that the glands of the groins begin to swell, but as there
is little or no pain attached he still pays no attention to all this.
After three, or sometimes four weeks the ulcerated opening heals,
but leaves the hard lump under the skin. In two or even three
months after the time of infection the first general symptoms appear.
His bones ache, he is mentally depressed, slightly feverish at night,
and a rash appears upon his body and sore spots in the mouth; and
throat. These symptoms usually decide him to consult a doctor, who
finds him in the second stage of syphilis. This condition lasts usually
about two and one-half years, the rash often lasting a short period,
and leaving, but to return again.
The blood within and the ulcers on the body contain the poisons of
the disease, and for three or four years the poison can be
transmitted by contagion, or by heredity.
The third stage is the most destructive, especially to the nervous
system, for this disease is recognized as the greatest factor in
organic disturbances of the nervous system.
It not rarely is the cause of cerebral and spinal meningitis, paralysis
of the legs, paralysis of one side of the body, and that most helpless
and terrible disease, softening of the brain and many other diseases
which affect the spinal cord, which are seldom ever cured. The
majority of those diseased are left with physical or mental infirmities,
rendering them public charges.
There have been cases where the third stage did not develop, and
as this stage is not distinctly separated from the second stage by a
definite line, it may not take place for months, or even years after
the first sore appeared. Again, this stage has been averted by
careful treatment in the early stages, and it is here the hope of all
afflicted lies.
Every case of syphilis begins with the characteristic pimple or
chancre, except inherited syphilis. The chancre always appears
where the infection enters, and the glands swell in the same vicinity.
For instance, if in using a pipe of a syphilitic, whose mouth contains
the sore patches, the victim finds the chancre will appear on his lips,
mouth or throat, and the glands of the neck will swell.
It is said that almost 10 per cent. of the infections are contracted
innocently, especially in European countries, where kissing and other
forms of endearment are much indulged in. In this country it is not
so common, but more women than men contract it innocently and in
this manner.
In women, too, the first symptoms are not so characteristic as in
men. She may pay no attention to the chancre for a month, even if
she does feel aches in the bones, she thinks she is run down, or
thinks she has malaria; even the rash does not alarm her, and often
only repeated miscarriages will be the only symptoms she can
remember of the early stages. She may continue for years before
the disease reaches the third stage. This is not always so, for in
every individual the disease differs in character and duration.
Gonorrhoea and syphilis differ in many ways. For instance, the
former shows itself in a week or ten days after infection, where
syphilis shows no signs for five or six weeks.
Gonorrhoea is considered a purely sexual disease, because infection
takes place only in sexual relations (except where the germ gets into
the eyes), while syphilis can be contracted in many other ways,
through forks, spoons, glasses or cups, towels, sponges, bathtubs,
toilets, pipes, dental and barbers' instruments, and kissing.
Gonorrhoea is considered a social danger because of its effect upon
the sexual organs, often rendering them sterile. Syphilis is also a
social danger, but it has direct effect upon the offspring, and upon
future generations because its effects are visited upon the child.
Sixty to eighty per cent. of the syphilitic offspring die at birth or in
early infancy. Someone has well said, “The greatest criminal is he
who poisons the germ cells.”
In hereditary syphilis there is more difficulty in gathering facts, for
the laws which control it are not so well understood, as yet.
There is no sore or chancre in hereditary syphilis, but other
symptoms appear which every physician recognizes and of course
attends to at birth.
Under proper treatment the danger of the father transmitting the
disease to the child should cease in from two to five years, while the
danger of the mother transmitting it to her offspring does not end at
any definite time, for there have been mothers known to give birth
to syphilitic offspring years after all disappearance of their own
symptoms.
The strongest features of the disease transmitted to the offspring
are the deformities which it imparts to the bones of the head as well
as of the body.
It is said on good authority that if a patient, at the end of five years,
has been two years without symptoms or treatment, he may be
guaranteed for marriage. Though he can never be wholly
guaranteed from relapses in his own person. These, however, are
considered noninfectious.
The cure of the disease depends upon the individual's environment,
constitution and his habits, chiefly as regards alcohol and tobacco.
Alcohol is considered the commonest and most active enemy of the
patient's recovery. Men addicted to the use of alcohol are the most
difficult to cure.
There seems to be no doubt that if the disease receives the proper
treatment there is every hope for the individual to live a normal life.
Fouriner, a French authority, says:
“Personally I could cite several hundred observations concerning
syphilitic subjects who, after undergoing thorough treatment, have
married and became fathers of healthy, good-looking children.” The
question, then, to receive some attention is what means are
available for the treatment of both syphilis and gonorrhoea.
Dr. Prince A. Morrow says: “Prompt curative treatment is not only in
the interests of the patients themselves, but especially in the
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