The Role of Language in Elaborating Explanations in the Science Class in Bilingual Contexts Through the CLIL Approach
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Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas
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El presente trabajo aborda la problemática en torno a la construcción de explicaciones de fenómenos naturales a lo largo de la clase de ciencias en contextos bilingües (español (L1)-inglés (L2)), donde se analiza el rol del lenguaje, su significado y su reconfiguración desde dos miradas: la dinámica comunicativa y la dinámica explicativa. Para llevar a cabo dicho análisis, el presente texto se centra en la categorización de las habilidades cognitivo-lingüísticas de los estudiantes durante los distintos momentos de la implementación didáctica, así como en analizar las expresiones usadas por ellos desde lo comunicativo. Este análisis nace de la creciente preocupación frente a la implementación del bilingüismo en Colombia y Latinoamérica. La metodología de trabajo es de tipo cualitativa-interpretativa y utiliza para el análisis instrumentos de recolección de datos como grabaciones de clase y diarios de clase de una muestra de veinticinco y diecinueve estudiantes pertenecientes a dos instituciones privadas de educación básica y media en Cajicá y Bogotá D.C., Colombia. Las siguientes categorías se describen a profundidad: habilidades cognitivo-lingüísticas, comunicación de ideas en la L1 como en la L2, los aspectos conceptuales, sociales, epistemológicos y organizacionales-didácticos del conocimiento. Ante esto, se encontró una estrecha relación entre la competencia en la segunda lengua (L2) y el nivel de profundidad en las explicaciones construidas, ya que a los estudiantes con mejor dominio del idioma se les facilita usar mejor el lenguaje científico y llegar a construcciones más complejas. Por otra parte, este trabajo redimensionó la perspectiva del contenido implementada por maestros cuando usan el enfoque CLIL (por sus siglas en inglés de Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenido y Lengua), situando al bilingüismo en las clases de ciencias en una dimensión epistemológica y pedagógica diferente a la de adquisición de vocabulario y expresiones en la L2, mostrándose como un medio que favorece los procesos comunicativos y explicativos al potenciar diferentes habilidades.
This paper covers the issue with respect to elaborating explanations about natural phenomena in the Science class in bilingual contexts (Spanish (L1) – English (L2)), in which the role of the language is analysed from two perspectives: communicative and explanatory. To do so, this article focuses on the categorisation of cognitive-linguistic abilities exhibited by the students throughout the implementation of the designed unit, as well as analysing the expressions used by them from the communicative perspective; this analysis is born from the upcoming and growing concern of bilingualism implementation in Colombia and Latin America. The methodology used follows an interpretative-qualitative analysis with an inductive analysis approach, analysing the collected information during the didactic implementation in recordings, products developed by students and class diaries from a sample of 25 and 19 students belonging to two private secondary schools located in Cajicá and Bogotá, Colombia. The document presents the reflections arisen from the analysis categories built to assess the collected information: socio-linguistic abilities, communication of ideas in both L1 and L2, the conceptual, social, epistemological and didactic aspects of knowledge. It was found a close link between the L2 proficiency and the depth of the explanations elaborated by the students, enabling the more competent students in L2 to communicate better using the scientific language and getting to more complex explanations. Moreover, the implementation re-dimensioned the content perspective applied by some teachers when using the CLIL approach, placing bilingualism in the Science classes in a dimension distant from transmitting information, being a medium that fosters communicative and explanatory processes by nurturing different cognitive-linguistic abilities.
This paper covers the issue with respect to elaborating explanations about natural phenomena in the Science class in bilingual contexts (Spanish (L1) – English (L2)), in which the role of the language is analysed from two perspectives: communicative and explanatory. To do so, this article focuses on the categorisation of cognitive-linguistic abilities exhibited by the students throughout the implementation of the designed unit, as well as analysing the expressions used by them from the communicative perspective; this analysis is born from the upcoming and growing concern of bilingualism implementation in Colombia and Latin America. The methodology used follows an interpretative-qualitative analysis with an inductive analysis approach, analysing the collected information during the didactic implementation in recordings, products developed by students and class diaries from a sample of 25 and 19 students belonging to two private secondary schools located in Cajicá and Bogotá, Colombia. The document presents the reflections arisen from the analysis categories built to assess the collected information: socio-linguistic abilities, communication of ideas in both L1 and L2, the conceptual, social, epistemological and didactic aspects of knowledge. It was found a close link between the L2 proficiency and the depth of the explanations elaborated by the students, enabling the more competent students in L2 to communicate better using the scientific language and getting to more complex explanations. Moreover, the implementation re-dimensioned the content perspective applied by some teachers when using the CLIL approach, placing bilingualism in the Science classes in a dimension distant from transmitting information, being a medium that fosters communicative and explanatory processes by nurturing different cognitive-linguistic abilities.
Palabras clave
bilingüismo, CLIL, construcción de explicaciones, enseñanza de las ciencias, lenguaje, CLIL, bilingualism, construction of explanations, language, science teaching