Translingual Science Learning: Understanding Language Border Transgression in Engineering Problem-Solving

• In Event: Translanguaging and Disciplinary Literacies

Abstract

Objectives. This paper investigates how bilingual youth of color negociate language when learning engineering and science. In recent decades, the number of bilingual speakers in the nation’s schools has increased due to demographic trends (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). For bilinguals, learning science, if it is taught at all, often means learning English in the context of science (Rosebery, Warren, & Conant, 1992). With the implementation of new frameworks for science education, such as the Next Generation of Science Standards (NGSS), students are expected to learn about engineering. These frameworks rarely consider the linguistic assets that students bring into the classroom. Rather, bilingual students are seen as in need of language-intensive practices to develop their English language.
Previous scholarship on bilingual populations in the United States often assumes a homogenous learning experience in schools. Scholars have argued that this type of research omits the various epistemologies within the speakers’ communities (Fox & Rivera-Salgado, 2004; S. Lee, 2015; Portes and Rumbaut, 2001; Stephen, 2007). The gap between student’s lived realities and their learning is particularly notorious in the science education research.

Methods and data. Linguistic inclusive environments are spaces where students have opportunities to draw on their language practices. Drawing on science education and applied linguistics approaches, this study contribute empirical data to the question: What happen when we create linguistic inclusive environments for learning engineering in the bilingual science classrooms? The events described here took place during a bilingual summer program with a focus on engineering at a university in California during the summer of 2017. The data included video and audio recordings and interviews. The researchers analyzed the recordings using a taxonomical analysis of language use (Brown & Spang, 2007) and the interviews through domain analysis (Spradley, 1980).

Theoretical framework. This study draws on scholarship from applied linguistics and science education. We integrate perspectives on translanguaging (García, 2009, 2017; Otheguy, García, & Reid, 2015; Poza, 2016) with the research focused on culturally and linguistically diverse populations in science education (Brown, Reveles, & Kelly, 2005; Lee, 2005; Licona, 2015; Lee & Fradd, 1996; Fang, 2005). Both of these perspectives help us understand how bilinguals draw and deploy their linguistic resources when inclusive environments for language use are created in science and engineering.

Results and significance. Three themes emerged from the data: (i) the availability of opportunities for language use or border transgression did not translate into students taking up those opportunities, (ii) students equated their vast repertoire with negative behaviors, and (iii) students expressed ideas around the stigmatization of Spanish and translanguaging.
Our research question sought an account of students’ language practices when learning science. We found that students know borders. They police their language interactions even after we created linguistic inclusive environments. Broader social constraints around language prevailed in students’ minds. This study unpacks the intricacy of language use by showing how pedagogical conditions afford distinct learning opportunities. The results provide a glimpse into the role of language boundaries in students’ negotiation of their linguistic resources in engineering and science.

Authors

• Greses Perez, Tufts University

• Karla Lomeli, Santa Clara University

• Alexander Mejia, Stanford University