Getting to Argumentation With English Learners: The Intersection of Academic Language and Science Inquiry Practices

• In Event: Argumentation in Scientific Meaning-Making

Abstract

The Next Generation Science Standards signal new expectations of students and teachers, raising the bar in terms of both conceptual and linguistic skills. Nowhere is this truer than in the practice of engaging in argument from evidence. As part of a broader three-year study of science teaching and learning with middle school English learners, we explored the science inquiry and academic language practices that may serve as necessary tools for engaging in scientific argumentation. While the goal of all students learning to engage in argument from evidence is a critically important shift in NGSS, we view getting to argumentation as a journey that will require the acquisition of many new linguistic skills.

Authors

• Cory A. Buxton, University of Georgia - Athens

• Martha A. Allexsaht-Snider, University of Georgia

• Youn-Jeng Choi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Jeremy Edge, University of Georgia - Athens

• Susan Harper, University of Georgia - Athens

• Rouhollah Aghasaleh, University of Georgia - Athens

• Shakhnoza Kayumova, University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth