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What Student Language Reveals About the Demands of Learning the Human Circulatory System

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Abstract

This study examined student language in learning the human circulatory system, to understand the challenges they face in representing the knowledge in this topic. Data for this study comprised students’ written responses to a range of structured test items. Responses to 17 test items from 70 students across four classes were analysed using tools adapted from the Systemic Functional Linguistics framework using the seven categories of: Process error, Participant error, Descriptor error, Circumstance error, Connective error, Missing word and Irrelevant word. The analysis revealed six problems in language use that occurred in all four classes taught by three different teachers. Students in the study encountered most difficulties with the use of Participants. Reasons for the prevalence of this error type are proposed. The problematic nature of student language use is discussed in relation to both the conceptual demands inherent in the topic and the scientific practice of language generation in science. Examining the student language illuminates the need for students to understand the rationale for the finely distinguished terminology found in this topic.

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Notes

  1. By ‘complex lexical taxonomy’, Halliday (2004) referred to the highly classified and/or hierarchical body of technical terms that are systematically built up to form a branch of science. For example, in the field of human circulatory system, the terms involved would include thrombin, thrombokinase, thrombocytes, thrombosis etc.

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Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to the teachers and students who participated in this study and would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the research team for their support in this study.

Funding

This study was funded by Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) under the Education Research Funding Programme (OER 16/14 SLH) and administered by National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

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  1. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore, 637616, Singapore

    Lay Hoon Seah

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  1. Lay Hoon Seah
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Correspondence to Lay Hoon Seah.

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All participants, as well as the students’ parents, gave consent in writing, as required by the university’s research ethics approval process [IRB-2014-12-018].

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Seah, L.H. What Student Language Reveals About the Demands of Learning the Human Circulatory System. Res Sci Educ 51, 1529–1547 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-020-09915-z

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