Science, Language, and Literacy: Case Studies of Learning in Swedish University Physics

Naturvetenskap, språk och ämneskompetens: Fallstudier av lärande på engelska och svenska inom högskolefysik

Syftet med avhandlingen är att undersöka undervisningen i fysik på högskolenivå. Det arbete som redovisas här har sitt ursprung i ett intresse för de två språk som används i undervisningen av högskolefysik engelska och svenska. Hur påverkas fysiklärande när lektionerna ges på olika språk? Under den tid då data samlades och analyserades utvidgades först forskningsfrågan till att omfatta tre språk : engelska, svenska och matematik, och därefter till mer övergripande frågor rörande tvåspråkig ämneskompetens (på engelska: bilingual scientific literacy) samt om huruvida fysikkunskaper representeras av fysikämnets diskurs.

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Science, Language, and Literacy: Case Studies of Learning in Swedish University Physics

This thesis presents an investigation of undergraduate student learning with respect to physics lectures attended in English and Swedish. The work studies three connected areas: student learning patterns, bilingual scientific literacy and disciplinary discourse.

Twenty-two physics students at two Swedish universities attended lectures in both English and Swedish as part of their regular undergraduate programme. These lectures were video-taped and used to contextualize in-depth, semi-structured interviews with students.

When taught in English the students asked and answered fewer questions and reported be-ing less able to simultaneously follow the lecture and take notes. Students adapted to being taught in English by; asking questions after the lecture, no longer taking notes in class, read-ing sections of work before class or in the worst case by using the lecture for mechanical note taking.

Analysis of student oral descriptions of the lecture content in both languages identified a small number of students who found it almost impossible to speak about disciplinary concepts in English. These students were first-years who had not been taught in English before. How-ever, the findings suggest that, above a certain threshold level of disciplinary language com-petence, it does not appear to matter which language students are taught in.

Finally, the thesis makes a theoretical contribution to educational research. The initial lan-guage perspective is broadened to include a wide range of semiotic resources that are used in the teaching of undergraduate physics. Student learning is then characterized in terms of becoming fluent in a disciplinary discourse. It is posited that in order to achieve an appropri-ate, holistic experience of any given disciplinary concept, students will need to become fluent in a critical constellation of disciplinary semiotic resources.