Chemistry Teachers’ Attitudes and Needs When Dealing with Linguistic Heterogeneity in the Classroom - Affective Dimensions in Chemistry Education - page 273

last few decades. Research on the influence of language in teaching and learning has
gained strength in the interim with some quite interesting results on this topic being
published. These have highlighted the crucial role which language plays in the
teaching and learning of chemistry. Today language is increasingly considered to be
one of the dominating factors which can either foster or hinder the learning of
chemistry as a discipline. Chemistry researchers and educators have become more
aware that language and the personal, linguistic skill of students are intimately
intertwined with the effective, motivated learning of chemistry topics in schools.
The studies by Lee and Fradd ( 1998 ) and Lee ( 2005 ) showed that poor linguistic
skills can result in difficulty with asking pertinent questions, an uncertainty when
investigating phenomena and insecurity which leads to summarising experimental
results in “school language” instead of scientific language. This can seriously
destroy student motivation when it comes to both participating in chemistry lessons
and learning about important chemistry phenomena and content knowledge.
We can recognise language as a negotiating process for learning in general. This
also applies to the specific case of chemistry lessons (Grabe & Stoller, 1997 ).
Effective communication and critical-thinking skills in the chemistry classroom
are two of the primary goals which have been stressed by national German
educational authorities. Thus, promoting general language skills and the specific
terminology of the scientific community remains one of the main objectives of
chemistry teaching. Students need to explicitly learn scientific language with all its
technical terms, formulae and patterns of argumentation. If scientific language
causes increasing difficulties for learners in the classroom, it will also result in
higher numbers of learning problems, increasing levels of misunderstanding and
spiralling levels of demotivated students. In order to understand and master scien-
tific language, students must first master and possess sufficient knowledge of the
primary language spoken in the country where they are living. Furthermore, the
subject-specific language of chemistry is necessary, if one wishes to deepen one

s
overall understanding of chemistry. On the other hand, knowledge of scientific
language also entails a shared understanding of the subject-matter content (Brown
& Ryoo, 2008 ). Last but not the least, content knowledge in chemistry will allow
students not just to be able to communicate in the scientific community but also in
society at large when it comes to participating in societal debates on socio-scientific
issues (e.g. climate change, sustainability, renewable energy resources, etc.).
There is also another justification which supports the statements above. Ever
since the 1990s, scientific literacy for all citizens has become a widely accepted and
popularised goal for formal science teaching at the primary and secondary school
level (e.g. AAAS 1993 ;KMK 2005 ; NRC 1996 ; UK government 2010 ). According
to the concept of scientific literacy , students at school should be able to communi-
cate with wide-ranging partners and be able to participate in public and open
discussions dealing with scientific, technological, social and ecological topics. In
achieving this aim, it is important that in chemistry, lessons emphasise the impor-
tance of language and linguistic competencies in and for learners. With scientific
literacy in mind, Wellington and Osborne ( 2001 ) declared that comprehending and
being able to use the scientific language is an essential component of successfully

'