Towards an inter-language of talking science: exploring students’ argumentation in relation to authentic language

Olander, Clas; Ingerman, Åke

doi:10.1080/00219266.2011.591414

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…This body of research (see also S. B. Heath, 1983;Olander & Ingerman, 2011;Varelas & Pappas, 2006) clearly demonstrates the importance of allowing students to build on their informal or everyday ways with oral and written language when moving towards the social language of science. The findings in Article II indicate that paying attention to these aspects might help situate school science literacy in inquiry-based contexts that are meaningful to students and provide them with a sense of ownership over the own science learning experiences.…”

Section: Students' Informal Literacies As Valuable Resources For Inquirymentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and Support When Teaching Science Through an Integrated Inquiry and Literacy Approach

Ødegaard

Haug

Mork

et al. 2014

International Journal of Science Education

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Section: Students' Informal Literacies As Valuable Resources For Inquirymentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and Support When Teaching Science Through an Integrated Inquiry and Literacy Approach

Ødegaard

Haug

Mork

et al. 2014

International Journal of Science Education

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“…We contend that learning scientific language presents teachers and students with a challenge that is cognitive and socioaffective in nature (Brown, ). From a cognitive perspective, learning new ideas in a new language can make understanding the ideas difficult (Arons, , , ; Brown, ; Olander & Ingerman, ; Rincke, ). The volume of new terms used to explain new ideas can make the concept difficult to decipher (Arons, , ).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As we learn science, our memories are challenged to retain the vast amount of information through the densely used academic jargon of science. Some argue that because traditional instruction is based on scientific language and fails to address this language learning challenge, many students fail to gain an initial understanding of phenomena (Arons, ; Brown, , ; Olander & Ingerman, ; Rincke, ). Although we need all students to master scientific language and content, we must recognize that how we present the language of science may limit students’ ability to understand the very ideas we are teaching.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Language and cognitive interference: How using complex scientific language limits cognitive performance

2019

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Language is seen as a gatekeeper to science learning for many students. This randomized experimental study explores how learning science through complex language reduces working memory capacity. A sample of 64 students aged 14-17 years was randomly assigned to two conditions. The control group watched an instructional video about the water cycle taught using complex scientific language. The experimental group watched the same video with simple scientific language replacing the more complex alternatives. After instruction, students were asked to complete a Stroop test and a Flanker test measuring cognitive capacity. There were no significant differences across the treatment groups in students' ability to answer questions correctly. However, the results revealed statistically significant differences in the rate of students' responses to complicated items. When students needed to answer questions with increased cognitive difficulty, the experimental group (everyday language condition) answered significantly faster than the control group. These results suggest that complex scientific language is a potential inhibitor of cognitive capacity for students.

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“…Interlanguage occurrence in 17-year-old Swedish students' discussion of evolution was investigated by Olander and Ingerman (2011). Three prominent conceptual notions in students' discussion were identified.…”

Section: Interlanguage-progression From Native To Target Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

The Development of Chemical Language Usage by “Non-traditional” Students: the Interlanguage Analogy

2018

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Students commonly find specialist scientific language problematic. This study investigated developments in chemical language usage by six non-traditional students over the course of 1 to 4 years. The students participated in semi-structured interviews and were asked to explain specific chemical scenarios. Interviews were transcribed and analysed for the correct use of macroscopic and sub-microscopic scientific language and occurrences of interlanguage. Results indicate that students experienced difficulties incorporating sub-microscopic language into their explanations. Students also demonstrated potential chemical interlanguage, which we characterise as transitioning from vague to defined use, combining everyday and scientific language, interchanging terms and omission of terms and formulaic phrases. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to science pedagogy.

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Towards an inter-language of talking science: exploring students’ argumentation in relation to authentic language

Cited by 14 publications

References 10 publications

Challenges and Support When Teaching Science Through an Integrated Inquiry and Literacy Approach

Challenges and Support When Teaching Science Through an Integrated Inquiry and Literacy Approach

Language and cognitive interference: How using complex scientific language limits cognitive performance

The Development of Chemical Language Usage by “Non-traditional” Students: the Interlanguage Analogy

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