Diferencias en el dominio de la organización discursiva y en el uso de recursos léxico-gramaticales en explicaciones científicas producidas por estudiantes de 4° básico

Abstract

Although there are studies about discursive and lexicogrammatical resources displayed in explanations produced by school students, less research has been developed about them in Spanish on disciplinary genres written by primary school students. In this article we will describe, compare and relate discursive organization, resources linked to writing -length measured in amount of words and clauses, lexical diversity and syntax complexity-and those resources specific to academic language -academic vocabulary, scientific vocabulary, nominalizations and causal links-included in scientific explanations produced by Chilean fourth-graders of three schools from different socioeconomical groups. Three hundred twenty-six explanations were transcribed and analyzed using CLAN (Computerized Language Analysis) for the automated and semiautomated measures. The explanations were compared according to the following variables: sex, socio-economical group, and topic of the explanation. T and ANOVA multifactorial tests were applied for the data analysis. The findings show significant differences in the use of different lexicogrammatical resources when compared using the mentioned variables. Regarding discursive organization, the explanations produced by the students integrate affirmations, but not evidence, the latter being the distinctive discursive phase of this disciplinary genre. Consequently, this research highlights the need to design explicit teaching proposals that promote the development of epistemic writing skills in the school context in order to foster the learning of academic language and disciplinary literacy.

The moderating effect of metalinguistic reflection on the linguistic resources used in written scientific explanations / Efecto moderador de la reflexión metalingüística en los recursos lingüísticos empleados en explicaciones científicas escritas

“…Explanations are authentic practices that facilitate the representation and understanding of natural phenomena (Rubio & Meneses, 2021), so they are one of the discursive genres that students frequently read and write in order to learn. The linguistic resources that are the most likely to be chosen to construct scientific explanations are related to the objectives and phases of this genre.…”

“…The first model included a direct effect of MR level and linguistic resources. The second model included these direct effects and interactions between the MR level and the resources for each unit (Ávalos et al, 2017;Meneses et al, 2018;Rubio & Meneses, 2021).…”

“…. ] Nominalization Result of a process of transforming an adjective or verb into a noun to express quality or process (Ávalos et al, 2017;Fang et al, 2020;Meneses et al, 2018;Rubio & Meneses, 2021).…”

“…Las explicaciones son prácticas auténticas que facilitan la representación y comprensión de fenómenos naturales (Rubio & Meneses, 2021), por lo que se constituyen como uno de los géneros discursivos que frecuentemente los estudiantes leen y escriben para aprender. Los recursos lingüísticos más proclives a ser seleccionados para construir explicaciones científicas se relacionan con los objetivos y las fases de este género.…”

“…Evidence tends to be introduced via evidential markers which reveal where the information came from. Nominalizations that synthesize information abstractly are also used (Ávalos et al, 2017; Rubio & Meneses, 2021).…”