{"title":"Languaging-as-practice in science education: an alternative to metaphors of language-as-tool","authors":"Maricela León, Catherine Lemmi, Quentin Sedlacek, Nickolaus Alexander Ortiz, Kimberly Feldman","doi":"10.1007/s11422-024-10228-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>This commentary proposes the metaphor of “languaging-as-practice” in science education as an alternative to “language-as-tool” metaphors. Describing language as a tool implicitly positions language as static and unchanging and assumes that named languages are distinct and bounded entities. In contrast, describing languaging as a practice acknowledges the multiple and advanced ways speakers draw on many aspects of their linguistic repertoires while often crossing purported boundaries between named languages. This approach is grounded in translanguaging theory and offers a dynamic understanding of language in educational settings. It envisions students constructing and expressing scientific knowledge by drawing on their complete linguistic repertoires. By advocating for this approach, we aim to promote practices that acknowledge and leverage the diverse linguistic backgrounds of students, fostering inclusive and effective learning environments. While this approach has gained some traction in language-education circles, we believe it needs more consideration in the science education community. We also critique the limitations of viewing language merely as a tool for reproducing predefined scientific concepts and discourses, proposing that a more expansive approach to language can enhance opportunities for scientific sense-making and knowledge construction. We urge science education researchers and practitioners to shift how we think and talk about language in the science classroom to adopt and act upon a metaphor of “languaging-as-practice.”</p>","PeriodicalId":47132,"journal":{"name":"Cultural Studies of Science Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cultural Studies of Science Education","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-024-10228-0","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CULTURAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This commentary proposes the metaphor of “languaging-as-practice” in science education as an alternative to “language-as-tool” metaphors. Describing language as a tool implicitly positions language as static and unchanging and assumes that named languages are distinct and bounded entities. In contrast, describing languaging as a practice acknowledges the multiple and advanced ways speakers draw on many aspects of their linguistic repertoires while often crossing purported boundaries between named languages. This approach is grounded in translanguaging theory and offers a dynamic understanding of language in educational settings. It envisions students constructing and expressing scientific knowledge by drawing on their complete linguistic repertoires. By advocating for this approach, we aim to promote practices that acknowledge and leverage the diverse linguistic backgrounds of students, fostering inclusive and effective learning environments. While this approach has gained some traction in language-education circles, we believe it needs more consideration in the science education community. We also critique the limitations of viewing language merely as a tool for reproducing predefined scientific concepts and discourses, proposing that a more expansive approach to language can enhance opportunities for scientific sense-making and knowledge construction. We urge science education researchers and practitioners to shift how we think and talk about language in the science classroom to adopt and act upon a metaphor of “languaging-as-practice.”
期刊介绍:
Cultural Studies of Science Education is a peer reviewed journal that provides an interactive platform for researchers working in the multidisciplinary fields of cultural studies and science education. By taking a cultural approach and paying attention to theories from cultural studies, this new journal reflects the current diversity in the study of science education in a variety of contexts, including schools, museums, zoos, laboratories, parks and gardens, aquariums and community development, maintenance and restoration.
This journal
focuses on science education as a cultural, cross-age, cross-class, and cross-disciplinary phenomenon;
publishes articles that have an explicit and appropriate connection with and immersion in cultural studies;
seeks articles that have theory development as an integral aspect of the data presentation;
establishes bridges between science education and social studies of science, public understanding of science, science/technology and human values, and science and literacy;
builds new communities at the interface of currently distinct discourses;
aims to be a catalyst that forges new genres of and for scholarly dissemination;
provides an interactive dialogue that includes the editors, members of the review board, and selected international scholars;
publishes manuscripts that encompass all forms of scholarly activity;
includes research articles, essays, OP-ED, critical, comments, criticisms and letters on emerging issues of significance.