Module 1 - Section 2 So what makes this so difficult to read?
There are four major features that make science texts linguistically challenging:
· The language is technical and the words are unique to science;
· The language is abstract and uses specific grammatical vehicles;
· The use of noun groups and clauses makes the language very dense;
· The use of pre and post modifiers adds to the complexity.
Let’s take a look at these one at a time in detail. (Much of this information comes from an excellent book "Reading in Secondary Content Areas: A Language-Based Pedagogy" by Fang and Schleppegrell. I invite all of you to get and read a copy of this!).
· The language is technical and the words are unique to science;
· The language is abstract and uses specific grammatical vehicles;
· The use of noun groups and clauses makes the language very dense;
· The use of pre and post modifiers adds to the complexity.
Let’s take a look at these one at a time in detail. (Much of this information comes from an excellent book "Reading in Secondary Content Areas: A Language-Based Pedagogy" by Fang and Schleppegrell. I invite all of you to get and read a copy of this!).
The language is technical and the words are unique to science. Language plays a very important role within the discipline of science. In this discipline, words are coined for certain purposes and their meanings can remain unique as to their use in science. First of all, words in science are used for specific reasons as seen below:
· Naming words (e.g. Cranium, cytoplast)
· Classifying words (e.g. igneous, sedimentary)
· Process words (e.g. metamorphism, ionization)
· Describing words (e.g. nocturnal, coniferous)
These words add precision to the science language and general meanings can be discerned within the context of the writing, if they are pointed out and taught. Students can become much more aware of the use of scientific jargon if teachers spend just a little bit of time pointing out that these types of words residing in the context of the sentence. A typical example might involve pointing out to the students that “this” particular word appears to be a word that seems to indicate a type of classification of a volcano. A short discussion could follow that centered on the indications within that sentence that seemed to make this true. What other examples could the students find? In fact, could the students find each kind of words – naming, classifying, processing, and describing – in the following pages of a text or article? Could it be a quick contest between groups? A little practice and prompting through the year could make this skill very achievable for all students and embellish their skills as a cognitive reader to boot. Additionally, many of these words are linked to Latin and Greek roots. Working with some of these word parts can be beneficial for students.
Another issue that can cause difficulty for science students is the fact that words that are used in everyday language may have different meanings when they are used in science. One particularly easy one to see is the word “medium”. In everyday life, students use this word to mean a helping size whereas in science, it has a totally different meaning and even changing meaning, as it pertains to the different disciplines. In biology, the word may refer to the type of biological environment that a bacteria is growing in. In physics, medium may refer to the type of substance that sound vibrations are moving through. Pointing these differences out to students as you see and use these words, moves students into the mindset that science has its’ own particular way to use words. This allows quicker shifting in students’ heads to allow for the fact that that word may mean something altogether different in this setting. After all, it is not as if this does not happen in other disciplines - “pigskin” in physical education will mean something that it does not mean in cooking class! Other important words to inform students about are words like “theory” which in science carries much more weight to it than its use in everyday language. The consequences of these words means much in terms of politics and science as seen with the “theory” of evolution or even the issues surrounding our warming world today.
Activity 1.1: Think about other words that are used in everyday life one way, but totally differently in science (e.g., theory). Make a note in your classroom text or in your lesson plan book to make a point of discussing these with your students when you get to them. Finding a few now and again and adding them into your teaching notes will make this a habit for you and build a deeper understanding of science vocabulary for your students!
· Naming words (e.g. Cranium, cytoplast)
· Classifying words (e.g. igneous, sedimentary)
· Process words (e.g. metamorphism, ionization)
· Describing words (e.g. nocturnal, coniferous)
These words add precision to the science language and general meanings can be discerned within the context of the writing, if they are pointed out and taught. Students can become much more aware of the use of scientific jargon if teachers spend just a little bit of time pointing out that these types of words residing in the context of the sentence. A typical example might involve pointing out to the students that “this” particular word appears to be a word that seems to indicate a type of classification of a volcano. A short discussion could follow that centered on the indications within that sentence that seemed to make this true. What other examples could the students find? In fact, could the students find each kind of words – naming, classifying, processing, and describing – in the following pages of a text or article? Could it be a quick contest between groups? A little practice and prompting through the year could make this skill very achievable for all students and embellish their skills as a cognitive reader to boot. Additionally, many of these words are linked to Latin and Greek roots. Working with some of these word parts can be beneficial for students.
Another issue that can cause difficulty for science students is the fact that words that are used in everyday language may have different meanings when they are used in science. One particularly easy one to see is the word “medium”. In everyday life, students use this word to mean a helping size whereas in science, it has a totally different meaning and even changing meaning, as it pertains to the different disciplines. In biology, the word may refer to the type of biological environment that a bacteria is growing in. In physics, medium may refer to the type of substance that sound vibrations are moving through. Pointing these differences out to students as you see and use these words, moves students into the mindset that science has its’ own particular way to use words. This allows quicker shifting in students’ heads to allow for the fact that that word may mean something altogether different in this setting. After all, it is not as if this does not happen in other disciplines - “pigskin” in physical education will mean something that it does not mean in cooking class! Other important words to inform students about are words like “theory” which in science carries much more weight to it than its use in everyday language. The consequences of these words means much in terms of politics and science as seen with the “theory” of evolution or even the issues surrounding our warming world today.
Activity 1.1: Think about other words that are used in everyday life one way, but totally differently in science (e.g., theory). Make a note in your classroom text or in your lesson plan book to make a point of discussing these with your students when you get to them. Finding a few now and again and adding them into your teaching notes will make this a habit for you and build a deeper understanding of science vocabulary for your students!
The language is abstract and uses specific grammatical vehicles. One grammatical device that is used repeatedly in science writing is the use of nominalization. Nominalization is the taking of a verb or adjective and making them into abstract nouns by typically adding “tion” endings in addition to other ending. These words end up being understood as possessing the qualities of the verb or adjective that it came from. Here are some examples:
Verb/Adjective Abstract Noun
Motive Motivation
Replicate Replication
Stagnate Stagnation
Discover Discovery
Significant Significance
When you add these sorts of “abstractions” into text writing, you distance the reader a bit from the meaning that you intend to send. Why do it then? Writers do it because the use of this vehicle allows the communication of tons of information in a short space. Consider this example:
Experimental verification of Einstein’s explanation of the photoelectric effect…. (Fang & Schleppengrell, 2008, p. 25)
In this example, there is one nominalization (verification) embedded in another (Einstein’s explanation) to form a very complex noun group (the entire phrase). The writer was able to give a tremendous amount of information in nine words. Good readers will slow down and reread if necessary to get all of the information. Poor readers or those who are not all that interested, will generally not gain the information that was presented…that it was Einstein's explanation concerning the photoelectric effect that was verified experimentally.
Activity 1.2: Skim through the textbook you use in your classroom teaching and find at least one good example of nominalization that you can use as an example for your students. Do some extra reading on nominalization so that you can explain the words transition and why it is used this way to your students. Having them find others is a great way to engage them in understanding the purpose of these changes from the science writers' viewpoint.
Verb/Adjective Abstract Noun
Motive Motivation
Replicate Replication
Stagnate Stagnation
Discover Discovery
Significant Significance
When you add these sorts of “abstractions” into text writing, you distance the reader a bit from the meaning that you intend to send. Why do it then? Writers do it because the use of this vehicle allows the communication of tons of information in a short space. Consider this example:
Experimental verification of Einstein’s explanation of the photoelectric effect…. (Fang & Schleppengrell, 2008, p. 25)
In this example, there is one nominalization (verification) embedded in another (Einstein’s explanation) to form a very complex noun group (the entire phrase). The writer was able to give a tremendous amount of information in nine words. Good readers will slow down and reread if necessary to get all of the information. Poor readers or those who are not all that interested, will generally not gain the information that was presented…that it was Einstein's explanation concerning the photoelectric effect that was verified experimentally.
Activity 1.2: Skim through the textbook you use in your classroom teaching and find at least one good example of nominalization that you can use as an example for your students. Do some extra reading on nominalization so that you can explain the words transition and why it is used this way to your students. Having them find others is a great way to engage them in understanding the purpose of these changes from the science writers' viewpoint.
The use of noun groups and clauses makes the language very dense. The packing of noun groups into clauses, makes science reading very dense and difficult to read. It is difficult because the reader must comprehend to what the information in the clauses is referring. For this reason, even good readers need to slow down to cognitively untangle the information given, so that the correct message is received. Let’s look at an example:
A pattern of evolution in which distantly related organisms evolve similar traits is called convergent evolution. (Fang & Schleppengrell, 2008, p. 27).
The main clause is the underlined part. The embedded clause is the rest. (Notice that the embedded clause cannot stand alone – it makes no sense. Also note that the main clause can stand alone). But it is important to identify the noun group because it relays significant information to the reader about a particular thing about evolution.
This writing technique allows a tremendous amount of information to be dispensed in a short amount of text; but the downside is it is somewhat cognitively difficult to get all the facts in the right place in the readers’ head. Those of us who are used to reading this type of material (as generally is the case with science teachers), have naturally put reading techniques into place that allow comprehension of the material. It must be remembered that this is usually not the case with your students. Students need to know that this type of reading takes practice and that slow and deliberate progression through the text is the norm! They are not stupid or slow if they must slow down – they are doing difficult cognitive work. Reading and rereading is the norm for this type of reading. It is the responsibility of the teacher to point out difficult passages, show the student why it is difficult, and demonstrate to the student how to move through the passage. This “Think-aloud” technique can go a long way in communicating to the student that everyone (including you) must work through passages in this manner and this is “how to do it”. After modeling to the student how to think through a difficult passage, allow them to practice with a partner with other passages. This will give the students confidence that they can work through difficult material. Perhaps bringing in examples of other technical text like instructions to fix a mechanical item or technical game rules will demonstrate to them that much of life involves this type of text. The fact that most of our future jobs will be in contact with such informational text will hopefully motivate them to practice with the science text at hand!
Activity 1.3: Skim through the textbook you use in your classroom teaching and find at least one good example of a noun clause that you can use as an example for your students. Use a "Think-aloud" in class to move through the difficult passage. Do some extra reading on these clauses and their structure, so that you can explain to your students how these are constructed and why it is used this way. Having them find other examples in the text is a great way to engage them in understanding the use of these clauses from the science writers viewpoint.
A pattern of evolution in which distantly related organisms evolve similar traits is called convergent evolution. (Fang & Schleppengrell, 2008, p. 27).
The main clause is the underlined part. The embedded clause is the rest. (Notice that the embedded clause cannot stand alone – it makes no sense. Also note that the main clause can stand alone). But it is important to identify the noun group because it relays significant information to the reader about a particular thing about evolution.
This writing technique allows a tremendous amount of information to be dispensed in a short amount of text; but the downside is it is somewhat cognitively difficult to get all the facts in the right place in the readers’ head. Those of us who are used to reading this type of material (as generally is the case with science teachers), have naturally put reading techniques into place that allow comprehension of the material. It must be remembered that this is usually not the case with your students. Students need to know that this type of reading takes practice and that slow and deliberate progression through the text is the norm! They are not stupid or slow if they must slow down – they are doing difficult cognitive work. Reading and rereading is the norm for this type of reading. It is the responsibility of the teacher to point out difficult passages, show the student why it is difficult, and demonstrate to the student how to move through the passage. This “Think-aloud” technique can go a long way in communicating to the student that everyone (including you) must work through passages in this manner and this is “how to do it”. After modeling to the student how to think through a difficult passage, allow them to practice with a partner with other passages. This will give the students confidence that they can work through difficult material. Perhaps bringing in examples of other technical text like instructions to fix a mechanical item or technical game rules will demonstrate to them that much of life involves this type of text. The fact that most of our future jobs will be in contact with such informational text will hopefully motivate them to practice with the science text at hand!
Activity 1.3: Skim through the textbook you use in your classroom teaching and find at least one good example of a noun clause that you can use as an example for your students. Use a "Think-aloud" in class to move through the difficult passage. Do some extra reading on these clauses and their structure, so that you can explain to your students how these are constructed and why it is used this way. Having them find other examples in the text is a great way to engage them in understanding the use of these clauses from the science writers viewpoint.
The use of pre and post modifiers adds to the complexity. Another grammatical device that is very common in noun groups found in science text is pre-modifiers and post-modifiers. This feature allows the nouns to be expanded by adding descriptors to them. Let’s look again at an example:
Easy: …the long, thin, finely-haired stem… (3 pre-modifiers)
Harder: Most algae plankton are one-celled organisms that float in the upper layers of the ocean where light needed for photosynthesis is found.
OK….the noun organism is pre-modified with what adjectival phrase?
and then it is post-modified with an embedded clause
…that float in the upper layers of the ocean….
Which continues to be further modified with another embedded clause
….where light needed for photosynthesis is found.
Fun, huh? Why do science writers do this? Simple - to allow as much descriptive information as one can in as short of space as possible. This is what we mean by dense text. As students move up in the sciences, this text becomes more and more dense with information. The thing that should be noted about modifiers is that the student must naturally stop after each modifier to see how the descriptors impact the visual that is being created. In the first example above, the reader visualizes the stem as the words add information about how it looks. If students are interested in the subject they will probably slow down and do the visualizing that is necessary. If the student is not, that visualization will not happen. This is another grammatical device that can be easily demonstrated with a “Think-Aloud” or with probing questions that ask about these conditions.
So what is the point of this discussion? The bottom line is to help your students understand what these grammatical issues are and how to engage with them to extract meaning. Students need to know that they are not dumb if they need to slow down and do this cognitive work because it is difficult! We live in a society that values speed – this is not necessarily the time for it. Opening your students' eyes to these text issues will make them better readers and make your job easier in the long run!
Activity 1.4: Again, search your textbook and locate several examples of pre and post- modifiers. Ask your students to slow down and visualize each word and quickly draw what they saw in their mind on a piece of paper. This activity will get them in the habit of slowing down and visually digesting this type of descriptive sequencing of words. Another quick engaging activity is having them find the most difficult string of modifiers among a certain selected pages. Now you have them looking to identify these descriptors instead of skipping over them.
Easy: …the long, thin, finely-haired stem… (3 pre-modifiers)
Harder: Most algae plankton are one-celled organisms that float in the upper layers of the ocean where light needed for photosynthesis is found.
OK….the noun organism is pre-modified with what adjectival phrase?
and then it is post-modified with an embedded clause
…that float in the upper layers of the ocean….
Which continues to be further modified with another embedded clause
….where light needed for photosynthesis is found.
Fun, huh? Why do science writers do this? Simple - to allow as much descriptive information as one can in as short of space as possible. This is what we mean by dense text. As students move up in the sciences, this text becomes more and more dense with information. The thing that should be noted about modifiers is that the student must naturally stop after each modifier to see how the descriptors impact the visual that is being created. In the first example above, the reader visualizes the stem as the words add information about how it looks. If students are interested in the subject they will probably slow down and do the visualizing that is necessary. If the student is not, that visualization will not happen. This is another grammatical device that can be easily demonstrated with a “Think-Aloud” or with probing questions that ask about these conditions.
So what is the point of this discussion? The bottom line is to help your students understand what these grammatical issues are and how to engage with them to extract meaning. Students need to know that they are not dumb if they need to slow down and do this cognitive work because it is difficult! We live in a society that values speed – this is not necessarily the time for it. Opening your students' eyes to these text issues will make them better readers and make your job easier in the long run!
Activity 1.4: Again, search your textbook and locate several examples of pre and post- modifiers. Ask your students to slow down and visualize each word and quickly draw what they saw in their mind on a piece of paper. This activity will get them in the habit of slowing down and visually digesting this type of descriptive sequencing of words. Another quick engaging activity is having them find the most difficult string of modifiers among a certain selected pages. Now you have them looking to identify these descriptors instead of skipping over them.
This module was written by Carmen Woodhall, Ph.D., East Carolina University, 2014.