Learning Science Through Learning Language: Teacher Candidates' Integration of Academic Language in Science

• In Event: Roundtable Session 18
  In Roundtable Session: Disciplinary Literacy Across Teacher Education Contexts

Abstract

Due to recent shifts in student demographics and academic standards in public schools, our work focuses on the impact of a course in applied linguistics on preservice teachers’ abilities to integrate instruction on academic language into their content area lessons. Through an analysis of lesson plans and lesson reflections developed by three preservice teachers in a middle grades science field placement, we demonstrate the positive impact of integrating explicit instruction in the language of science in order to foster the understanding of scientific concepts.

Authors

• Alisa Leckie, Georgia Southern University

• Amanda Wall, Georgia Southern University