Science and Language Experience Narratives of Pre-Service Primary Teachers Learning to Teach Science in Multilingual Contexts

Abstract

The command of at least three languages is considered one of the most important basic educational competences in Europe. In response to this demand, new teaching approaches have been promoted, such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). A CLIL approach to science education implies the need of teachers capable of teaching both science and foreign language. This is a study on a specific group of pre-service primary teachers who are enrolled in an English-mediated primary education degree in Catalonia. The aim is to characterize and compare pre-service primary teachers’ science and language experiences enacted in their science and language experience narratives (SN and LN) that might have shaped their beliefs, practices, and expectations about science and languages teaching. A content analysis is performed on these narratives grounded on a two dimensional space narrative structure defining the Fields of Experience. The results indicate that SN are mostly rooted in school contexts, and associated to learning difficulties. This is in strong contrast with LN which appear to be anchored in a wide variety of contexts, for purposes that go beyond school, and associated to progressive and positive learning trajectories. The question for science teacher education lies in how to help pre-service primary teachers make connections between both life trajectories and how to increase experiences of a social nature emphasizing the presence, value and utility of science, and science education.