School Academic Language Demands for Understanding Functional Relationships: A Design Research Project on the Role of Language in Reading and Learning

Susanne Prediger; Carina Zindel

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2017.00804a

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Susanne Prediger ¹ ^* , Carina Zindel ¹

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¹ TU Dortmund University, Germany^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Acquiring conceptual understanding of functions is far from being trivial for most students, especially language learners. The article reports on a design research project with students in Grades 8-11 (n = 94) that fostered academic language learners’ development of conceptual understanding in the interplay of different semiotic representations. Theoretical and qualitative analyses of students’ learning pathways and obstacles allowed the specification of school academic language demands based on concept demands for dealing with functional relationships. The strong interplay between concept and language demands can be described by the correspondence of conceptual compaction of conceptual facets and the language-related condensation of their verbalizations.

Keywords

communicative and epistemic role of language
conceptual understanding
design research
functions
topic-specific academic language demands

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2017, Volume 13, Issue 7b, 4157-4188

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00804a

Publication date: 21 Jun 2017

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Article Downloads: 1897

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How to cite this article

APA

Prediger, S., & Zindel, C. (2017). School Academic Language Demands for Understanding Functional Relationships: A Design Research Project on the Role of Language in Reading and Learning. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(7b), 4157-4188. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00804a

Vancouver

Prediger S, Zindel C. School Academic Language Demands for Understanding Functional Relationships: A Design Research Project on the Role of Language in Reading and Learning. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2017;13(7b):4157-88. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00804a

AMA

Prediger S, Zindel C. School Academic Language Demands for Understanding Functional Relationships: A Design Research Project on the Role of Language in Reading and Learning. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2017;13(7b), 4157-4188. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00804a

Chicago

Prediger, Susanne, and Carina Zindel. "School Academic Language Demands for Understanding Functional Relationships: A Design Research Project on the Role of Language in Reading and Learning". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2017 13 no. 7b (2017): 4157-4188. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00804a

Harvard

Prediger, S., and Zindel, C. (2017). School Academic Language Demands for Understanding Functional Relationships: A Design Research Project on the Role of Language in Reading and Learning. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(7b), pp. 4157-4188. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00804a

MLA

Prediger, Susanne et al. "School Academic Language Demands for Understanding Functional Relationships: A Design Research Project on the Role of Language in Reading and Learning". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 13, no. 7b, 2017, pp. 4157-4188. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00804a