Understanding Discourses in Science and Science Education

Abstract

Language begins with words but how humans create and use words depends on lots of others factors. For example, language also contains linguistic resources; including grammar, which includes rules about how we combine words to form phrases, clauses, and sentences; semantic structure, which can be described as conventions about how we use words to identify objects and processes; and phonology, which is about speech sounds and rules about pronunciation. Such variety allows flexibility so that we can produce different texts in different contexts to make use of different linguistic features. However, this flexibility is limited by cultural rules about texts that are acceptable in a specific context. But language is not static. Experience with popular culture serves to highlight its dynamic nature as BFF (best friend forever), F2F (face to face), and TMI (too much information) become readily recognized and, in some contexts, valued ways of communicating. Of course, one implication of such development is that there can be a disconnect between the language children bring to science and the language of the Eurocentric science that often forms the basis of science education.