Teaching High School Students the Language of Science in a University Laboratory

• In Event: Issues of Literacy and Science

Abstract

It is often assumed that teachers draw on scientific language in its pure state to teach students, who arrive in classes with their vernacular language. However, how can students understand and learn in a new language that they do not already know? This study investigates how science was taught in a high school students’ internship situated in a university laboratory. The analysis identifies three important language mechanisms that allow teaching and learning to occur during the internship—deictic reference, vernacular translation, and situated derivation. The findings suggest that science teaching and learning are heterogeneous processes that not only draw on science but also non-science language.

Author

• Pei-Ling Hsu, University of Texas - El Paso