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20 April 2021 Using English as the Language of Science: An International Peer Video Exchange on Ecology
Nina Meyerhöffer, Daniel C. Dreesmann
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Abstract

This article presents the development and testing of a content-based video exchange model as a motivating means to introduce lower secondary English learners to English as the language of science. The central goal was that students reach the required curricular content knowledge despite learning some of the content in a foreign language. The model was tested in German seventh-grade classes (n = 133), in which the students communicated with U.S. eighth-graders on the topic of ecology. Following field trips to a forest and a desert ecosystem, students presented and compared biotic and abiotic data in videos. The German students' content knowledge and their motivation were assessed in a pretest/posttest design. They met the curricular outcome requirements, and their motivation was remarkably high at both test times. We discuss implications for further application of the exchange model.

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Nina Meyerhöffer and Daniel C. Dreesmann "Using English as the Language of Science: An International Peer Video Exchange on Ecology," The American Biology Teacher 83(3), 154-160, (20 April 2021). https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2021.83.3.154
Published: 20 April 2021
JOURNAL ARTICLE
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KEYWORDS
bilingual education
biology CLIL
content and language integrated learning (CLIL)
language of science
out-of-school learning
science education
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