Science and language integration with English learners: A conceptual framework guiding instructional materials development

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to present a conceptual framework that integrates science and language learning for all students, including English learners (ELs). This framework is grounded in the mutually supportive nature of science instructional shifts, spurred by A Framework for K-12 Science Education (National Research Council, 2012. A framework for K-12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and language instructional shifts, informed by contemporary thinking in second language acquisition. First, we describe the conceptual framework that consists of our perspective and design principles. Then, we describe one approach for using the conceptual framework to develop NGSS-aligned instructional materials that promote science and language learning with elementary students, including ELs.Finally, we offer implications for future research for our own design research specifically and for the field more broadly. The conceptual framework highlights how substantive collaboration between content areas, such as science, and the field of EL education can help ensure that all students, and ELs in particular, are supported in meeting rigorous content standards while developing proficiency in English.

Preservice secondary science teachers’ understanding of academic language: Moving beyond “just the vocabulary”

“…This final principle asks teachers to provide opportunities for ELs to engage in the same kinds of activities and assignments they often reserve only for non‐EL students (Lee et al, ; Understanding Language, ). Cognitively demanding tasks require students to move beyond “detailed facts or loosely defined inquiry” (Lee et al, , p. 223) to focus on the science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas identified in the NGSS (NGSS Lead States, ).…”

“…Despite the central place of academic language in the recent Next Generation Science Standards ( NGSS , NGSS Lead States, ) and broad scholarly agreement that content area teachers must attend to the language demands of their courses (Bunch, ; Lee, Quinn, & Valdés, ; Lee, Llosa, Grapin, Haas, & Goggins, ; Lyon et al, ; Schleppegrell, ), few studies have documented how preservice secondary science teachers understand academic language or scaffolding academic language demands. In response to this gap in the literature, we investigated seven preservice secondary science teachers’ understanding of academic language, the types of instructional support they implemented to scaffold ELs’ academic language use, and the successes and challenges they experienced in teaching academic language to ELs in their secondary science classrooms.…”

Rethinking instructional strategies with English learners in the content areas

“…As "co-participants in the design" (Barab & Squire, 2004, p. 3), teachers implemented the curriculum in linguistically diverse science classrooms and worked collaboratively with our research team to make iterative improvements. A detailed account of the larger design-based study is reported in our other publications (e.g., Lee et al, 2019); this article highlights lessons learned from our curriculum development work in relation to instructional strategies with ELs.…”

Affordances of engineering with English learners

“…Through work on teams, the design and construction of devices foster teamwork and coordination across multiple modes of communication (e.g., physical, verbal, gestural, textual, and symbolic) for meaning‐making. Research suggests that providing a number of opportunities to use language through purposeful activity that involve multiple modes can support access by ELs (Lee et al, 2019; McFadden & Roehrig, 2019; Meskill & Oliveira, 2019; Paugh et al, 2018; Wendell et al, 2019). For example, Buxton and Caswell (2020) identified uses of visuals and models to offer meaning‐making opportunities for students and found that “engagement in multimodal and intertextual approaches helped students gain access to key ideas” (p. 574).…”