Naslov
Tertiary Chemistry Students’ Understanding of Language Items used in Chemistry Instruction

Autori
Vladušić, Roko ; Bucat, Robert ; Ožić, Mia

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Book of Abstracts / - , 2016, 87-87

Skup
European Conference on Research in Chemical Education (ECRICE)

Mjesto i datum
Barcelona, Španjolska, 07.09.2016. - 10.09.2016

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Language of chemical instruction

Sažetak
To communicate chemistry at university level, both teachers and students need to have rich science and everyday vocabulary. Wellington and Osborne (2001) noted that every science lesson is a language lesson. It implies that new terms can be introduced only if more basic terms are already understood. Teachers usually presume that students understand previously introduced words and symbolic representations. Awareness of the quality of students’ understandings of terms regularly used in chemistry can be of crucial importance in achieving learning outcomes. Following that idea, the research of tertiary chemistry students’ understandings of scientific and everyday words and symbols used in chemistry instruction was conducted at the Faculty of Science, University of Split, Croatia. The research is partially based on studies which provided evidence that non-technical vocabulary (Gardner, 1972 ; Cassels & Johnson, 1980 and 1985 ; Marshall, Gilmour & Lewis, 1991 ; Johnstone and Selepeng, 2001 ; Farrell and Ventura (1998), and especially technical vocabulary (Lynch et al., 1979 ; Meyerson et al., 1991) pose problems for students. The methodology used in the study reported here is specific in that understanding was investigated with several differently designed tasks, by two diagnostic instruments. The language of instruction was Croatian. Students were asked to create a sensible sentence that includes the key term ; explain the meaning of the key term in scientifically contextualized sentence ; recognize the most appropriate meaning of key terms in everyday context, explain meanings of key terms and symbols given without context and choose correct meaning of several symbolic representations and expressions. It was found that students involved in this study have problems with understanding of scientific words, everyday words and symbols used in chemistry teaching. There are considerable differences in level of understanding, from term to term. Several examples of language issues were recognized. Some of them are specific to the Croatian language. References Gardner, P. (1972). Words in science. Melbourne: Australian Science Education Project. Cassels J. R. T., & Johnstone A. H. (1980). The understanding of non-technical words in science. London: Royal Society of Chemistry. Cassels J. R. T., & Johnstone A. H. (1985). Words that matter in science. London: Royal Society of Chemistry. Farrell, M., & Ventura, F. (1998). Words and understanding in physics. Language and Education, 12(4), 243-254. Johnstone, A., & Selepeng, D. (2001). A language problem revisited. Chemistry Education: Research and Practice, 2(1), 19-29. Lynch, P. P., Benjamin, P., Chapman, T., Holmes, R., McCammon, R., Smith, A., & Symmons, R. (1979). Scientific language and the high school pupil. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 16(4), 351-357. Marshall, S., Gilmour, M., & Lewis, D. (1991). Words that matter in science and technology. Research in Science and Technological Education, 9(1), 5-16. Meyerson, M., Ford, M., Jones, W. and Ward, M. (1991). Science vocabulary knowledge of third and fifth grade students. Science Education, 75(4), 419-428. Wellington, J. and Osborne, J. (2001). Language and literacy in science education. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Kemija, Interdisciplinarne prirodne znanosti, Pedagogija, Obrazovne znanosti (psihologija odgoja i obrazovanja, sociologija obrazovanja, politologija obrazovanja, ekonomika obrazovanja, antropologija obrazovanja, neuroznanost i rano učenje, pedagoške discipline)

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