Adolescent English Learners’ Awareness of Disciplinary Writing and Academic Language in Science Classrooms: The Affordances of a Register-Functional Perspective

ABSTRACT

This article reports findings from a study that investigated English learners’ (ELs’) developing awareness of disciplinary writing and academic language in science courses in a U.S.-based high school. Based on an analysis of writing samples, this case study first introduces the situational and linguistic characteristics of two science writing tasks in forensics and oceanography. The author then explores ELs’ developing understanding of science writing and academic science language via ethnographically oriented interviews. Informed by the Register-Functional perspective and Academic Literacies frameworks, the analyses demonstrate higher EL sensitivity to vocabulary, but not grammatical structures yet. Writing practices in science classes shape ELs’ understanding of disciplinary writing in unexpected directions. The situational analysis of writing and ELs’ perspectives provide a systematic approach for understanding learner needs in writing and integrating language into content instruction. Implications for EL education in science and teacher collaborations are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic language
• disciplinary writing
• language awareness
• science writing
• situational analysis
• written science register

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Research and Project (ReaP) Grant by the Graduate and Professional Student Council at the University of Arizona.

Notes on contributors

Ali Yaylali

Ali Yaylali is an assistant professor in the Teaching, Learning, and Educational Leadership Department at Eastern Kentucky University. He holds a PhD in Language, Reading, and Culture from the University of Arizona. He taught English as a second language in the U.S. public schools. His academic interests are in second language acquisition, English learners’ writing development, content area and disciplinary literacy, transformative learning in college courses, corpus pedagogy, culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogies, and discourses of education and media. More information about his work can be found on http://www.alioyaylali.com.