The perception and experiences of teachers about language issues in the biology classroom

Language helps to decode and make meaning of the message that we receive in audio or written form from others (Buck, & VanLear, 2002). According to Halliday (1993) language learning is a continuous process and every discipline has its language which students have to acquire for the sake of in-depth understanding. Some language students learn consciously like English and Urdu languages. Likewise, language discipline is also the major element that has tremendous effects on teaching and learning. Hence it needs lots of attention for getting knowledge and making meaning out of the messages and conversations. Language allows its users to select the most appropriate words for conveying their message. It also supports organizing thoughts in a good manner.

Similarly, scientific literacy is very important for learning science (Allchin, 2014). In science, there are three types of literacies. Fundamental literacy means students should be able to read, write, pronounce scientific concepts and construct the accurate meaning of the scientific terminology. The second most important scientific literacy is derived literacy which means that students should hold some understanding of scientific knowledge and concepts (Norris & Phillips 2003). Then we have functional scientific literacy which enables the students to see the role of science in the broader sense. Like how science is helping to resolve social issues and fix curiosity. Functional literacy helps people to acquire information about science on the World Wide Web. So, in the function of scientific literacy, people investigate science in the border aspects (Tabak, 2015).

Language as a Way to Construct Personal Knowledge/Understanding

Knowledge is a wider term. There is no single definition of how knowledge gets transferred. As everyone has their way of understanding the transmission of knowledge from one source to another. In addition, Roberts (2000) has broken the word knowledge into three main categories. First is Data that is “a series of observations, measurements, or facts”. Second, information is “data that has been arranged into a meaningful pattern”, whereas, knowledge is “the application and productive use of information, it involves an awareness or understanding gained through experience, familiarity or learning (p.15). These main elements of language help to construct understanding and develop knowledge about any phenomena.

Language is also used as a mode of thoughts transmission from one person to another. As Vygotsky (1962) described every child begins to learn the language for the construction of knowledge and understanding about anything. Language is an essential way to communicate thoughts effectively and understandably. Moreover, conceptual and language development are two interdependent terms. One element cannot function without the support of another element. Further, daily life experiences require language competencies for sharing thoughts and knowledge. Therefore, language is the main source that helps to convey your ideas and construct knowledge effectively.

Essential Role of Language in Science Learning

According to Yore, Bisanz, and Hand (2003), the relationship between language and science learning is based on cognitive science. Additionally, language is a basic component of science learning that provides an advanced understanding of science. Mercer (2002) states that pupils use language to communicate every day, but the main goal of the language is to think collectively and then take action. “Language is a tool for carrying out joint intellectual activity” (p.9) Similarly, Phillips and Norris (2009) described that the main role of language in science learning is to capture the crucial nature of scientific reasoning. Moreover, the scientific language is textured and structured. The textured means “true, probable, uncertain, false” and the structured mean, “cause, effect, observation, hypothesis, method, motivation” (p.20). However, both forms of scientific language help to learn science logically and reassuringly.

Scientific literacy plays a very important role while learning science. In contrast, scientific literacy is different from English literacy and having no understanding of scientific language could creat hurdles for both teachers and studnets. English literacy has two main aspects: one is reading and writing and the other is knowledge ability. A knowledgeable person can be good at English without having the skill of writing and reading. In contrast, in the case of scientific literacy, the ability of reading and writing is tightly connected with the knowledge of science. Hence, if a person cannot read and write in science, he cannot get the knowledge of science in depth. Moreover, the National Research Council (1996, p. 22) highlights, “Scientific literacy entails being able to read with understanding articles about science in the popular press.” The science language has particular scientific aspects that are structured vocabulary and difficult terminologies. Therefore, reading and writing long terminologies generate issues and scientific language itself becomes the barrier in the learning of science. Teachers required to addres these issues as scientific language is like a door to scientific knowledge and concepts (Yore & Treagust 2006).

Science Teaching and Learning: Language Challenges

Language is a crucial element of science learning. It supports as well as hinders the way to learn science. As Wellington and Osborne (2001) mentioned, the language of science is the factor that creates difficulties in the learning of science if it is not treated in routine teaching. Science is dense in words, scientific terms, and vocabulary. Scientific texts contain lots of scientific words which have specialized meaning, pronunciation, and spellings. Science has its language and it is important to develop that language of science while teaching it. Therefore, language is conceptualized as a key to develop an understanding of subject matter knowledge. In addition, every teacher of any discipline must consider a language teacher. For instance, if we talk about the word “biology”, and if students do not pronounce, spell, understand and elaborate so it will not be biology for them because they don’t know the meaning of it. According to the report of Koss and Bullock (1975) that every teacher should pretend to be a language teacher. It is also highlighted in Byrne et al. (1994) that science is based on logical reasoning which is developed with the help of language. If students do not understand and express themselves in the science language they will face more difficulties in the reasoning of science. Language expertise could develop good reasoning skills in students (Rillero, Thibault, Merritt & Jimenez-Silva, 2018). The findings of Seah (2016) suggests that teachers acknowledge that the scientific language used in science is difficult and different from the other disciplines. The main difference is the structured and difficult terminologies of science disciplines. Findings of the same study also revealed that the precise nature of scientific language creates obstacles in students' learning.

Language Issues in Biology Classroom: Scientific Writing

Scientific writing is important but it also creates obstacles in the learning of science. Likewise, the biology discipline has its writing style that is crucial to teach and learn by the students. Scientific writing is a bit different from the other styles of writing. It contains many scientific words and styles. As mentioned in Seah (2016), writing scientific explanations is a skill that students learn in the biology classroom. Many teachers address the conceptual demand of the topic but they do not pay more attention to the language demand. According to Fang (2005), scientific writing has unique features that are based on scientific knowledge, beliefs, and values. In addition, scientific writing is essential because students do not have any idea of how to write a scientific paragraph. It will be problematic for students to read and develop a conceptual understanding of science without the knowledge of scientific literacy. Students cannot understand the language of science because reading and writing are most important in science. If a person is not able to read the scientific paragraph, Conceptual knowledge cannot be gained about the science. Moreover, science requires critical thinking and reasoning so literacy is very important and science has specific terminologies and vocabulary so without reading, writing, and understanding that terminology the science remains a mystery for anyone who's not able to read and write.

The current situation of the world mainly focuses on scientific inquiry which is the need of everyone. It can be developed with the full involvement of the participant in daily life experiences where students get the chance to develop and test the hypothesis (Haerazi, Vikasari, & Prayati, 2019). On the other hand, Wellington and Osborne (2001) said that the biggest issue faced by students while learning science is the language of science. It is also mentioned that secondary school teachers consider science as a practical and theoretical subject. Although, language and literacy are the main parts of science learning which are neglected in the schools while teaching science subjects.

Specialized aspects in scientific writing hindered the students' learning. For instance, when students get involved in the writing of scientific concepts and they explain it in ordinary writing which changes the concept and meaning of the topic. Therefore, scientific writing is useless without specific scientific vocabulary. Lack of scientific vocabulary could stop student’s critical thinking because they don’t know the ways which are used to express ideas (van Driel, Slot, & Bakker, 2018).

Scientific dense vocabulary

Vocabulary plays a crucial role in acquiring subject matter knowledge. Hence, each subject has its unique vocabulary. Likewise, science also has its scientific vocabulary which plays an important role in science learning. According to Shanahan and Shanahan (2008), the challenge which students face is understanding the meaning of the words. A scientific word has general as well as specific meaning which creates a problem for the students. Such as breathing and respiration have specific and exact definitions. But in daily life, these words have different meanings. Scientific vocabulary creates barriers to the learning of science. Students do not remember the scientific vocabulary because the words have long spellings and different meanings in science from daily life experiences. When students relate science learning with daily life experiences they become unable to create connections. Likewise, Tobias (1994) emphasizes that connection helps to build a bridge between new learning and prior knowledge. If there is no bridge, the acquired knowledge will not make meaningful connections and there will be no accommodation and assimilation. According to Allen (1999) vocabulary is not a big problem but the teaching of vocabulary creates many issues. Most teachers provide the vocabulary lists to the students for memorization. Hence, the students just memorized the words without getting an understanding of the contextual and conceptual meaning of the words. Moreover, the basic purpose of vocabulary is to enhance the student’s reading, writing, speaking, and understanding skills. However, most students use general vocabulary which is used in daily life experiences at the place of scientific vocabulary in scientific writing.

Lack of active reading practices in the biology classroom

In the biology classroom, active reading is most important as it engages students in the pronunciation and understanding of the contextual meaning of difficult words. In active reading, students read the content between the lines then stop and break the content for further explanation. It means that students try to acquire the whole understanding with the help of active reading. The spellings and pronunciations also improve when students relate words and develop contextual meaning. The visualization helps the students further to comprehend the content. Active reading develops the skill of making mind maps or graphs of the topic and relates it with daily life practices. In active reading, the student’s also involved in predicting the concepts. They predict what the next text will say (Shanahan & Shanahan 2008).

Scientific spellings/pronunciation

Scientific spellings and pronunciation are the most important and key parts of scientific language. If students are unable to pronounce the scientific word correctly, they will be unable to write the accurate spelling of a particular word. The lack of good pronunciation practice leads to more spelling mistakes. The scientific spellings and pronunciation of terms are interconnected. If one is not developed then it affects the other one. Similarly, Ehri and Rosenthal (2007) explained that it’s required to pronounce the word before writing its spellings. Therefore, students have to use scientific words for producing more scientific write-ups.