Middle school students' understanding of non-technical vocabulary found in American science textbooks used in a Lebanese school.

Abstract

A fundamental component of scientific literacy is students' ability to read and understand from science texts (Norris and Phillips, 2003; Osborne, 2002). Yet this remains a major challenge for both native and non-native English language learners (ELLs) who struggle in understanding the specialized language of science found in science textbooks. Specifically, one of the challenging features of the language of science is the presence of non-technical terms which are identified as everyday terms that have specialized meanings in science. However, the difficulties associated with understanding non-technical terms are compounded for ELLs since they have to learn the language of science while still developing their reading and literacy skills (Tong, Irby, Lara-Alecio and Koch, 2014). The aim of this study was to investigate middle school ELLs' understanding of non-technical terms commonly encountered in American science textbooks used in a Lebanese school. Participants in the study included 167 middle school ELLs enrolled in a Lebanese private school in Beirut. All participants completed a test which examined the comprehension of 50 non-technical terms commonly encountered in their American science textbook. In order to further clarify student responses, five students were randomly selected to participate in semi-structured interviews. Results showed that students had a weak understanding of the majority of nontechnical terms. Specifically, students confused non-technical terms with words that look or sound the same, words that have imprecise meaning and words with opposite meanings. Results also showed that students' understanding of terms was inconsistent and did not improve systematically across grade levels. Furthermore, the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) was found to be a good predictor of students' understanding of non-technical terms.