A categorisation of the terminological sources of student difficulties when learning chemistry

ABSTRACT

This study consists of a categorisation of the vocabulary of chemistry, focusing on the terminological difficulties student face when learning this subject. Therefore, this classification intends to provide chemistry teachers an awareness of the language barriers students must overcome in their understanding of this scientific discipline. Two main groups of words have been considered: technical (i.e. chemistry-specific) and non-technical terms (i.e. general academic words). The first category is mainly centred on the analysis of chemical concepts. Among the main issues of technical terms that have been examined are the following: a) new coined specific terms of chemistry; b) historical evolution of metaphors and different science context meanings; c) daily & scientific meanings; d) nominalisation; e) mathematical terms; e) dual concepts. The second category is not restricted to chemistry as it is common to other scientific related areas. The four cases of non-technical terms analysed in this work are the following: a) general non-technical words in science school settings; b) meta-representational verbs; c) linking items; d) teleological or intentional terminology.

KEYWORDS:

• Language of chemistry
• technical term
• non-technical term
• classification
• learning obstacles

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. This text is part of an unpublished chemistry unit aimed at Grade-11 Spanish students that study this subject in English. It was designed under the theoretical CLIL framework (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010; Llinares, Morton, & Whittaker, 2012).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Juan Quílez

Juan Quílez graduated in chemistry in 1980, and in 1982 became secondary school teacher of Physics and Chemistry. Currently, he is the Head of the Department of Physics and Chemistry at IES Lluís Vives in Valencia (Spain). In 1995, he earned his doctorate for research into student conceptual understanding in chemistry. Dr. Quílez also taught Chemistry to prospective primary and secondary teachers at University Jaume I in Castelló de la Plana (Spain). Moreover, he was involved in official in-service programs for secondary chemistry teachers and also carried out duties as headmaster and vice-headmaster in several high schools. His research interests are: language of chemistry, history of chemical equilibrium and student difficulties when dealing with thermodynamic concepts.