In Lebanon, science is taught in an international language (French or English) based on a language-in-education policy rooted in Lebanon's colonial history. Given the intersection among social/socioeconomic class, educational equity, and science performance, learning science in a language other than one's own raises concerns around…

Following a theoretical framework that recognizes the potential of promotive and inhibitive effects on children's development, this study explored child-, family-, classroom-, and school-level factors as predictors of Latinx (N = 4,590) students' early elementary science achievement. Research Findings: Employing a path modeling approach with…

The quality of education is a predictor of a country's economic performance -- which is why comparative international education surveys are important. South Africa performed poorly in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2019. The score of 374 for mathematics and 324 for science is poor compared to the mid-point of…

The language used as a medium of instruction (MOI) has implications for learning outcomes. In most African classrooms, an international language is solely or dominantly used as an MOI. There is a debate about how this practice is associated with students' learning outcomes. This study uses Zambian PISA for Development 2018 data and school fixed…

This study investigated the reading demands of restricted-use items administered to South African grade 9 learners as part of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015. The method proposed by Mullis, Martin and Foy (2013) was used to categorise items into low, medium and high readability groups. The 'knowing' domain…

The present study examined the roles that language of assessment, language dominance, and teacher language use during instruction play in Dual Language Learner (DLL) science scores. A total of 255 Head Start DLL children were assessed on equated science assessments in English and Spanish. First overall differences between the two languages were…

This study describes multilingual students' authentic use of their multiple languages in a science classroom in Viljoensdrift, South Africa. There has been a broad scope of research conducted by several researchers with regards to translanguaging and all have proven it to be an effective pedagogical tool that can be used in the process of teaching…

One of the objectives of the South African science curriculum is to provide equal access to science for students from all backgrounds. However, this goal remains elusive as many students, particularly those from low socio-economic backgrounds, continue to perform poorly in science. One of the reasons for the persistent differential achievement in…

Education for multilingual Physics students in South Africa still has a monolingual bias despite such pedagogy being repeatedly identified as the key factor in students' academic underachievement in the subject. The paper reports on the pivotal role language plays in the comprehension and subsequent academic performance of students in science…

Across Europe we can observe the reinforcement of monolingual education policies, despite increasing multilingualism. Recent research has shown that the emphasis is on language proficiency in the socially dominant language. This is viewed as the key to educational success. The use of other languages or linguistic repertoires is not valued in…

This article reports analysis of data collected from a quasi-experimental study in 2 Canadian late French immersion science classes. We examine if, how, and when the first language (L1) is used when students in the first years of their second language learning talk about complex science concepts. We compare differences in groups following a…