Cover not available
Part of
Applied Linguistics Perspectives on CLIL
Edited by Ana Llinares and Tom Morton
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 47] 2017
► pp. 145–164

Multi-semiotic resources providing maximal input in teaching science through English

| The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
| The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
This chapter addresses the role of multimodal semiotic systems in teaching science through English as a second language. We argue that pedagogical concerns should focus on language and other semiotic choices that teachers use to scaffold their students’ learning. Through an investigation of the inter-relationship of different semiotic systems (modalities), we are able to develop models of best practice that can help inform teachers. We consider two broad educational contexts: one that is becoming more prevalent, where it may happen that English is neither the primary language for the students nor for the teachers, as in Hong Kong, and one that is commonplace in places, such as Australia, where there is a large proportion of students with English as an additional language studying in a country where English is the predominant language. We use video data from two secondary science classrooms in these two contexts to analyse how the teachers provide multiple access points to meaning and how they scaffold the learners into the disciplinary literacy of science.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Examining some characteristics of best practice
    • Classroom context 1
    • Classroom context 2
    • Activity 1 – Phase 1
    • Activity 1 – Phase 2
    • Activity 1 – Phase 3
    • Activity 2
  • Conclusion
  • Author queries
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 16 March 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.47.09for
References (50)
References
Bonnet, A. (2012). Towards an evidence base for CLIL: How to integrate qualitative and quantitative as well as process, product and participant perspectives in CLIL research. International CLIL Research Journal, 1(4), 66–78.Google Scholar
Byrnes, H. (2013). Positioning writing as meaning-making in writing research: An introduction. Journal of Second Language Writing, 22(2), 95–106. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Christie, F. (2005). Language education in the primary years. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.Google Scholar
Christie, F., & Martin, J.R. (Eds.). (1997). Genre and institutions: Social processes in the workplace and school. London: Cassell.Google Scholar
Coffin, C. (2006). Historical discourse: The language of time, cause and evaluation. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Coffin, C., & Derewianka, B. (2008). Multimodal layout in school history books: The texturing of historical interpretation. In G. Thompson & G. Forey (Eds.), Text type and texture: Functional linguistics (pp. 191–215). London: Equinox.Google Scholar
Dalton-Puffer, C. (2007). Discourse in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classrooms. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013). A construct of cognitive discourse functions for conceptualising content-language integration in CLIL and multilingual education. European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 1–38.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Darling-Hammond, L., Wei, R.C., Andree, A., Richardson, N., & Orphanos, S. (2009). Professional learning in the learning profession: A status report on teacher development in the United States and abroad. Stanford, CA: National Staff Development Council, Stanford University. <[URL]>.
Disadvantaged Schools Program. (1996). Write it Right project. Sydney: New South Wales Department of Education.Google Scholar
Evans, S. (2013). The long march to biliteracy and trilingualism: Language policy in Hong Kong education since the handover. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 33, 302–324. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gebhard, M., & Harman, R. (2011). Reconsidering genre theory in K-12 schools: A response to school reforms in the United States. Journal of Second Language Writing, 20(1), 45–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gebhard, M., Harman, R., & Seger, W. (2007). Reclaiming recess in urban schools: The potential of systemic functional linguistics for ELLs and their teachers. Language Arts, 84(5), 419–430.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (1967). Linguistics and the teaching of English. Reprinted in J. J. Webster (Ed.), 2007. Language and education, Vol. 9 in the Collected Works of M. A .K. Halliday (pp. 25–34). London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K., & Greaves, W. (2008). Intonation in the grammar of English. London: Equinox.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K., & Martin, J. R. (Eds.). (1993). Writing science: Literacy and discursive power. London: Falmer.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2014). An introduction to functional grammar (4th ed.). London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Hammond, J. (2012). Hope and challenge in The Australian Curriculum: Implications for EAL students and their teachers. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 35(2), 224–241.Google Scholar
Hattie, J. (2003). Teachers make a difference. What is the research evidence? Paper presented at the Australian Council for Educational Research Annual Conference on Building Teacher Quality. Melbourne, Australia.
(2006). Cross-age tutoring and the reading together program. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 32(2), 100–124. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hubber, P., Tytler, R., & Haslam, F. (2010). Teaching and learning about force with a representational focus: Pedagogy and teacher change. Research in Science Education, 40(1), 5–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jaipal, K. (2010). Meaning making through multiple modalities in a biology classroom: A multimodal semiotics discourse analysis. Science Education, 94(1), 48–72.Google Scholar
Kress, G., Jewitt, C., Ogborn, J., & Tsatsarelis, C. (2001). Multimodal teaching and learning: The rhetorics of the science classroom. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lemke, J. L. (1990). Talking science: Language, learning, and values. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
(1998). Multiplying meaning: Visual and verbal semiotics in scientific text. In J. R. Martin, & R. Veel (Eds.), Reading science: Critical and functional perspectives on discourses of science (pp. 87–113). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
(2004). The literacies of science. In E. W. Saul (Ed.), Crossing borders in literacy and science instruction (pp. 33–47). Newark, DE: International Reading Association and Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.Google Scholar
Linares, A., Morton, T., & Whittaker, R. (2012). The roles of language in CLIL. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Marsh, D., & Meyer, O. (Eds.). (2012). Quality interfaces: Examining evidence & exploring solutions in CLIL. Eichstaett, Germany: Eichstaett Academic Press.Google Scholar
Martin, J. R., & Maton, K. (2013). Cumulative knowledge-building in secondary schooling. Linguistics and Education, 24(1), 1–74. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martin, J. R., & Rose, D. (2008). Genre relations: Mapping culture. London: Equinox.Google Scholar
Martin, J. R., & Veel, R. (1998). Reading science: Critical and functional perspectives on discourses of science. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
O’Halloran, K. L. (2005). Mathematical discourse: Language, symbolism and visual images. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
O’Halloran, K., Podlasov, A., Chua, A., Tisse, C. L., Lim, F.V., & Smith, B. A. (2014). Challenges and solutions for multimodal analysis: Technology, theory and practice. In Y. Fang, & J. J. Webster (Eds.). Developing systemic functional linguistics: Theory and application (pp. 271–297). London: Equinox.Google Scholar
Polias, J. (2010). Pedagogical resonance: Improving teaching and learning. In C. Coffin (Ed.), Systemic functional linguistics (special edition). National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum (NALDIC) Quarterly, Autumn 8(1), 42–49.Google Scholar
(2011). English language teachers and subject teachers collaborating: recent changes in pedagogical practices in Hong Kong. Viden om læsning, September 2011. Copenhagen, Denmark: Nationellt Videncenter för Læsning.Google Scholar
(2016). Apprenticing students into science: Doing, talking and writing scientifically. Melbourne: Lexis Education.Google Scholar
Polias, J., & Forey, G. (2016). Teaching through English Maximal Input in meaning making. In D.R. Miller & P. Bayley (Eds.), Hybridity in Systemic Functional Linguistics – Grammer, Text and Discursive Context (pp. 109–132). London: Equinox.Google Scholar
Rose, D., & Martin, J. (2012). Learning to write, reading to learn: Genre knowledge and pedagogy in the Sydney School. London: Equinox.Google Scholar
Rothery, J. (1996). Making changes: Developing an educational linguistics. In R. Hasan, & G. Williams (Eds.), Literacy in society (pp. 86–123). London: Longman.Google Scholar
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2004). The language of schooling: A functional linguistics approach. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Schleppegrell, M. J., & Colombi, M. C. (Eds.). (2002). Developing advanced literacy in first and second languages: Meaning with power. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Shoenberg, R. E., & Turlington, B. (Eds.). (1998). Next steps for languages across the curriculum: Prospects, problems, and promise. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.Google Scholar
Shum, M. S. K. (2006). Developing an approach for teaching subject specific genres in Chinese-the case of post-colonial Hong Kong. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 29(1), 1–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Straight, H. S. (Ed.). (1994). Languages across the curriculum. Translation Perspectives VII 1994. Invited essays on the use of foreign languages throughout the postsecondary curriculum. Binghamton, NY: Center for Research in Translation, State University of New York.Google Scholar
Tang, K. S., Delgado, C., & Moje, E. B. (2014). An integrative framework for the analysis of multiple and multimodal representations for meaning-making in science education. Science Education, 98(2), 305–326. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van Leeuwen, T., & Humphrey, S. (1996). On learning to look through a geographer’s eyes. In R. Hasan, & G. Williams (Eds.). Literacy in society. London: Longman.Google Scholar
van Lier, L. (2004). The ecology and semiotics of language learning. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Veel, R. (1997). Learning how to mean-scientifically speaking: Apprenticeship into scientific discourse in the secondary school. In F. Christie, & J. R. Martin (Eds.), Genre and institutions: Social processes in the workplace and school. London: Cassell.Google Scholar
(2006). The Write it Right project: Linguistic modelling of secondary school and the workplace. In R. Whittaker, M. O’Donnell, & A. McCabe (Eds.), Language and literacy: Functional approaches (pp. 66–92). London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Cited by (8)

Cited by eight other publications

Lai, Cheng-Ji
2024. Examining the impact of multimodal task design on English oral communicative competence in fourth-grade content-language integrated social studies: A quasi-experimental study. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education 9:1 DOI logo
Qu, Zhihua
2024. Personalized Recommendation System for English Teaching Resources in Colleges and Universities Based on Collaborative Recommendation. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences 9:1 DOI logo
Salvador-García, Celina
2023. A Journey Into CLIL-Friendly Pedagogies to Inform Teacher Professional Development. In Handbook of Research on Training Teachers for Bilingual Education in Primary Schools [Advances in Early Childhood and K-12 Education, ], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Adams, Jonathon & Fei Victor Lim
2022. Raising Science Teachers’ Language Awareness: A Functional Literacy Approach to Teaching Science. In The Role of Language in Content Pedagogy [Studies in Singapore Education: Research, Innovation & Practice, 4], ► pp. 45 ff. DOI logo
Costa, Francesca & Olivia Mair
2022. Multimodality and pronunciation in ICLHE (Integration of Content and Language in Higher Education) training. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching 16:4-5 ► pp. 281 ff. DOI logo
Dare, Brian & John Polias
2022. Lessons learnt applying a systemic functional model to teaching and learning in school contexts over the last thirty years. Language, Context and Text. The Social Semiotics Forum 4:1 ► pp. 2 ff. DOI logo
Kakimova, M. E., E. V. Sabiev & G. Zh. Ensegenova
2021. THE ROLE OF METHODOLOGICAL SUPPORT (SCAFFOLDING) IN SUBJECT-LANGUAGE TRAINING: VISUALIZATION OF LEARNING THROUGH A SYSTEM-FUNCTIONAL MULTIMODAL APPROACH. Bulletin of Kazakh National Women's Teacher Training University :1 ► pp. 136 ff. DOI logo
Nikula, Tarja
2017. ‘What’s the Moment Thingy?’– On the Emergence of Subject-Specific Knowledge in CLIL Classroom Interaction. In Discourse Analytic Perspectives on STEM Education [Educational Linguistics, 32], ► pp. 11 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.