Can I Have a Word Please – Strategies to Enhance Understanding of Subject Specific Language in Chemistry by International and Non-traditional Students

Abstract

S. (2013) 'Can I have a word please Strategies to enhance understanding of subject specic language in chemistry by international and non-traditional students.', New directions., 9 (1). pp. 8-13. Further information on publisher's website:http://dx.doi.org/10.11120/ndir.2013.00012Publisher's copyright statement:Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractIn this paper we discuss the outcomes of our research into effective teaching strategies to enhance understanding of subject specific language by international and non-traditional students.Teaching strategies with an emphasis on improving scientific literacy were trialled over the course of the academic year 2010/11 in foundation level chemistry. The outcomes from this research led to the development of an E-glossary to support the development of subject language understanding. The E-glossary was trialled over the academic year 2011/12. It consists of student generated content (with over 100 contributions) explaining scientific terms and concepts in a variety of ways at an appropriate level for foundation students. The outcomes of this research are considered in relation to the development of scientific literacy and conceptual understanding.

Taiwanese English Majors’ Acquisition of Technical Vocabulary in TESOL Profession

“…Word cards are employed to teach technical vocabulary (Coxhead, 2000). Visual aids were regarded as the most useful by the 35 participants in Durham University's Foundation Centre (Bruce et al, 2013). Teachers can raise learners' awareness of technical vocabulary (Coxhead, 2000).…”

“…The empirical studies investigated technical vocabulary instruction in English as Specific Purposes (ESP) in different content areas, including chemistry (i.e., Bruce et al, 2013), hospitality (i.e., Hou, 2014); accounting and finance (i.e., Smith, 2015a), agronomy (i.e., Arno-Macia & Mancho-Bares, 2015); law (i.e., Arno-Macia & Mancho-Bares, 2015) or academic writing (i.e., Brun-Mercer & Zimmerman, 2015;Charles, 2012;Chi, 2010;Zhu & Flaitz, 2005). The empirical studies (e.g., Arno-Macia & Mancho-Bares, 2015) concluded that it is important for learners to acquire technical vocabulary for gaining disciplinary writing improving academic writing.…”

“…The questionnaire was designed based on Bruce et al (2013) and Brun-Mercer and Zimmerman (2015). The questionnaire included four parts.…”

Meeting the Challenge of Chemical Language Barriers in University Level Chemistry Education

“…Staged reading comprehension activities to develop analytical reading Wellington and Osborne [28] Rules of inference Developing understanding of information that can be inferred such as from chemical equations Herron [35] 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 modelling of atomic structures using classroom materials and via computer simulations. [33] Meanings of words with high demand in the similarity and multiple context dimensions can be taught by provision of opportunities to practise word usage. These include word games, dialogical approaches and peer feedback.…”

Utilising Data-driven Learning in Chemistry Teaching: a Shortcut to Improving Chemical Language Comprehension

“…As a consequence, we have undertaken work to develop pedagogical strategies that will assist students to develop their understanding of the language of chemistry. Initial work to assist students with vocabulary issues involved developing a suite of activities including a student generated online glossary (Rees et al 2013). In this article we describe the development of the FOCUS project (www.dur.…”