Abstract

Linguistic diversity in many schools is high such that science teachers face complex issues regarding appropriate ways of mediating social and academic language in multilingual classrooms. The relationship between these aspects and the task of teaching science (i.e., pedagogy) remains a mystery to many teachers. This paper provides a narrative and shared discoveries of the understanding of this differentiated instruction problem in order to forge the path ahead. Qualitative methods of lesson observations and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from four participants in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Analysis of data revealed a domination of English as a medium of discourse. The paper argues that teachers’ pedagogy and language of instruction are essentially related to the quality of science being taught in multilingual classrooms. The findings highlight the fundamental importance of the language of instruction within a multilingual science classroom and lay a foundation for further research.

摘要

许多学校的语言多样性很高，以至于理科教师面临着在多语言教室中调解社交和学术语言的适当方法方面的复杂问题。这些方面与教学科学任务（即教学法）之间的关系对于许多教师来说仍然是个谜。本文提供了对这种差异化教学问题的理解的叙述性和共享发现，以开拓前进的道路。课堂观察和半结构化访谈的定性方法被用来收集南非夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省的四名参与者的数据。数据分析表明，英语占主导地位。该论文认为，教师的教学法和教学语言本质上与多语言教室所教授的科学质量有关。这些发现突出了多语言科学课堂中教学语言的根本重要性，并为进一步研究奠定了基础。