Meaning-making strategies for text reading during bilingual science teaching

Abstract

Abstract This article concerns how different meaning-making strategies are used and related to each other during text reading in bilingual science teaching. A qualitative case study approach was adopted in order collect data in a public school in Sweden. Non-participant observations were made when a Turkish-speaking nineth grade (15-year-old) emergent bilingual student received additional lessons in his mother tongue in addition to regular monolingual science lessons. The purpose of the bilingual science teaching was to support the student’s meaning-making of a text about atoms. A narrative analysis shows how five meaning-making strategies were used and related to each other in various ways, depending on the context. The conversations often started with the meaning-making strategy of questioning. In some situations, relating questioning to rereading without the teacher giving any additional information resulted in the student making meaning. In other situations, this was not enough, and further meaning-making strategies were needed, namely using examples, reformulating, and translating. The bilingual science teaching enabled the student to use his whole language repertoire to make meaning of the text content. Typically, the participants read the text in Swedish and then talked about it in Turkish. However, their discussions about the meaning of scientific concepts did not follow this pattern. Scientific concepts were sometimes kept in Swedish and sometimes translated into Turkish. The translations were continuously related to everyday situations by using examples and reformulation as meaning-making strategies. This detailed analysis of the strategies used contributes to an increased understanding of the meaning-making process in text reading during bilingual science teaching. Educators might draw on these findings to support emergent bilingual students in similar situations.