An Exploratory Study of Kenyan Physics Teachers’ Approaches to and Perspectives on Use of Language during Teaching
The manner of use of instructional language during teaching by the science teacher as a factor in the quality of learning of school science is still a rare focus in science education research. This article reports and discusses findings in an investigation of Kenyan physics teachers’ perspectives on and approaches to the use of instructional language during teaching. Data were collected by use of direct classroom observations, interviews with school physics teachers (n=9) and content analyses of their verbatim classroom talk. The main findings in the study include 1) participant physics teachers’ lack of explicit awareness of the difficulty, nature, and functional value of everyday words in the instructional language; hence 2) the participant teachers’ overall classroom practices in the use of language were influenced by their perception of the nature, and difficulty of school physics as well as of their respective students’ general academic abilities and aptitude for physics. The implications of these findings on the initial preparation and continuing professional development of school physics teachers are considered as regards the important role of language, including the influence of science teachers’ classroom talk on students’ understandings and retention of scientific concepts.
