Developing Oral Science Explanations: Secondary School ELs’ Experimentation with Intertextual Linkages

Abstract

We present a case study of a 10th grade teacher with extensive Teacher Language Awareness (TLA) training as she guides students through a unit on density. The setting for the study is a Newcomer High School whose student body is made up of a range of English learners (ELs) from different countries, whose levels of English language proficiency range from low-beginner to intermediate. The aim of the case study is to examine the way in which the teacher and students develop scientific language and make intertextual linkages across activities as they engage in a process of appropriation of scientific knowledge and discourse. We further examine the relationship between the teacher’s strategies and the EL students’ subsequent abilities to provide explanations, a type of discourse practice that relies heavily on the ability to employ scientific discourse. Our findings suggest that a focus on teachers’ awareness of language in conjunction with their understanding of academic content are key to supporting the academic development of ELs in content area classrooms.