Research from the fields of science representation, genre pedagogy and disciplinary literacy for adolescents indicates that achievement for students, including those from linguistically diverse backgrounds, will improve if they engage with the meaning-making conventions of disciplinary texts, but there is no current agreement on the nature of…

In content and language integrated learning (CLIL) classrooms, it is assumed that non-language content subjects provide more authentic communicative contexts for students to learn a foreign/second/additional language (L2). However, learning abstract concepts and academic language in an L2 simultaneously is also challenging for CLIL students. It is…

Vocabulary is a building block of understanding, especially in science classrooms where language abilities are mixed. To reduce academic inequalities, approaches to vocabulary instruction need to demonstrate benefits for students across learning contexts. We summarize the results from the first unit, "Earth Systems and Catastrophic…

This study addressed the intractable issue of ensuring that all students, including those who are linguistically and culturally diverse, have access to high quality science education. We explored the efforts of two organizations in the United States (one that supports science teachers and one that focuses on language development) to design…

Science teachers mediate social and academic language in science classrooms through teacher talk and classroom discourse. In multilingual classrooms, ways home and international languages are deployed can affect conceptual learning of science. This study investigates, through Bakhtin's dialogic perspective, multilingual language practices and…