Chemistry Teachers’ Attitudes and Needs When Dealing with Linguistic Heterogeneity in the Classroom - Affective Dimensions in Chemistry Education - page 275

teachers view language and chemistry/science lessons as independent entities.
Furthermore, they don t recognise the connection between language skills and

chemistry learning. Some teachers have even accepted the faulty, stereotypical
idea that people who are good in chemistry or science in general tend to be bad
in (foreign) language classes and vice versa. However, several new studies in
chemistry education have underscored that a close connection between language
skills and science learning does exist (Lee & Fradd, 1998 ; Lee, 2005 ).
Modern theories of learning tell us that all learning processes in the classroom
can be understood as processes of information exchange and knowledge mediation
(Vygotsky, 1978 ). Furthermore, the information found in the classroom is not
simply supposed to be exchanged but should also be captured in written form. In
chemistry lessons students are required to express their ideas, explain their obser-
vations and debate the theories behind the experiments. All of these classroom
actions fall under a communication process which requires language skills. This
means that a very strong link exists between the issues of information and knowl-
edge, students

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personal linguistic skills and the careful selection and usage of
language and scientific language (Cassels & Johnstone, 1984 ).
In addition, constructivism represents the basic theory which is currently behind
the consideration of the role language plays in learning. Currently, constructivism is
the most commonly embraced learning theory in both modern education and
chemistry education (Bodner, 1986 ). Learning is an active process by the student,
who seeks to capture new information and connect it with pre-existing knowledge
structures in the mind. This process can only happen through the use of language.
Constructivism has also revealed that knowledge cannot simply be transferred from
one mind to another. Any information which is captured undergoes changes in the
mind of the new learner before it is stored. This can only occur through thought in
the form of either words or graphic representations. However, both of these are
linked to normal or scientific language.
Research indicates that significant differences exist in the daily, informal lan-
guage employed by young children and adolescents. Such informal language also
includes the academic language typically found only in schoolroom situations,
including the subject-specific language and jargon used in the natural sciences.
Scientific language in school lessons also possesses unique characteristics which
directly impact the learning effectiveness and the quality of discourse in science
classes (Snow, 2010 ; Yore & Treagust, 2006 ). Therefore, there is a clear need to
integrate language-based learning into chemistry lessons (August & Hakuta, 1997 ;
Chamot & O

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Malley, 1994 ; Lee & Fradd, 1998 ). Natural science classrooms in
general and chemistry in particular can serve as a platform for promoting the
acquisition of a language, but language classrooms cannot serve the same function
when it comes to learning scientific language (Casteel & Isom, 1994 ; Stoddart,
Pinal, Latzke, & Canaday, 2002 ).

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