This paper illustrates the role of metalanguage in an explicit literacy instruction to talk about the forms and functions of scientific genres, particularly the genre of explanation. In the context of science, metalanguage refers to the technical terms for talking about scientific language using words like law, hypothesis, and evidence. Despite many efforts to use literacy strategies to address the challenges of learning scientific language, the conventional genres commonly found in science remain implicit in most science classroom teaching. In order to explicitly discuss the nature of scientific genres and how they are linked to scientific practices, scientific metalanguage provides a potential literacy tool. To illustrate this argument, we draw on a case study where four teachers and their grade 9 students learned how to use a specific type of metalanguage to describe scientific explanation. Analysis of their classroom discourse showed that the use of the metalanguage facilitated explicit communication about the logical sequence, epistemic structure, and validity of scientific explanation. Based on the findings, we discuss the usefulness of metalanguage for teachers and students to describe and analyze scientific genres as well as how these genres are used to construct and communicate scientific knowledge.

本文阐述了元语言在明确的识字教学中的作用，以讨论科学体裁，尤其是解释体裁的形式和功能。在科学的背景下，元语言是指技术条款谈论有关使用法律、假设和证据等词的科学语言。尽管许多努力使用读写策略来解决学习科学语言的挑战，但科学中常见的传统类型仍然隐含在大多数科学课堂教学中。为了明确讨论科学体裁的性质以及它们如何与科学实践联系起来，科学元语言提供了一种潜在的读写工具。为了说明这一论点，我们引用了一个案例研究，其中四位教师和他们的 9 年级学生学习了如何使用特定类型的元语言来描述科学解释。对他们课堂话语的分析表明，元语言的使用促进了关于逻辑序列、认知结构和科学解释有效性的明确交流。