A Comparison of Bilingual Education and Generalist Teachers’ Approaches to Scientific Biliteracy

• In Event: Perspective on Bilingual Teacher Education and Research

Abstract

The purpose of a mixed method study of scientific biliteracy was to determine if schools and educators were capitalizing on students’ use of their linguistic and cultural knowledge to acquire scientific literacy. The study explored four constructs using the Teacher Scientific Biliteracy Inventory (TSBI). Qualitative findings revealed that teachers’ were utilizing scientific biliteracy strategies in English, Spanish and/or both languages and that science experimentation using household items were encouraged by teachers as a way to incorporate the students’ cultural backgrounds. Quantitative findings indicated that the TSBI accounted for 17% of the variance on 4th grade reading exams. Mixed methods research findings indicated that a variety of scientific biliteracy instructional strategies were frequently used in both bilingual and general education classrooms.

Author

• Esther Victoria Garza, Texas A&M University - San Antonio