the effects of language on elementary students’ conceptions of force
The effect of language on thought has been a controversial issue for more than a century. Some researchers believe in general language effects where the acquisition of any language is said to affect thought. Some believe in specific language effects where a particular language is said to shape thought in a particular way. Others believe that neither of these two effects exists. Research on conceptual change shows that concept learning starts very early on and is affected by diverse factors. Language has been recently looked at as a possible factor affecting the concept learning process. Moreover, it is debated whether students’ early conceptions are coherent or fragmented. The current study engages with this debate in the literature between Ioannides & Vosniadou (2002) and Disessa et al. (2004) who disagree on the degree of fragmentation of early conceptions when considering Greek vs. American participants. Specifically, this study examines whether language influences the content, coherence and evolution of these early conceptual representations of force. Given the importance of students’ early conceptions for science learning and the possible effects of language on these conceptions, the purpose of this research study was to examine if language context - whether it is monolingual Arabic, monolingual English or bilingual Arabic and English - is one of the factors affecting the content, degree of coherence and evolution of students’ early conceptions of force, an important curricular concept. The participants were 185 elementary grade level students (57 at grade 1 and 64 at each of grade 3 and grade 5) selected from the three aforementioned language groups. The participants were individually interviewed to answer a 27-item questionnaire which has been designed to elicit students’ ideas about force and to determine the degree of coherence of these conceptions within individuals. Categorization, coding and model mapping were done on the participants’ responses. The questionnaire and coding procedure were adopted from Ioannides and Vosniadou (2002). Participants’ responses to the nine sets of the 27-item questionnaire were categorized to fit within one of seven meanings of force or a mixed meaning whenever students exhibited contradictory explanations. The categorization, coding and model mapping were done to examine the content, the degree of coherence and the evolution of the conception of force of participants coming from different language groups. The findings of this study showed that the content and degree of coherence of the conceptions of force held by elementary students differ as a function of linguistic environment: monolingual Arabic, monolingual English and bilingual English and Arabic. The findings also showed that these conceptions evolve differently for each language group over the elementary years as the evolution of students’ conceptions of force with respect to content and degree of coherence from grade 1 to grade 3 to grade 5 showed significant differences only across the different linguistic groups under study. These results were discussed in relation to recent research on language relativism, bilingualism and conceptual change. This research is important in that it addresses a fundamental question regarding the impact of language on the process of concept learning and in that it helps identifying the content, nature and evolution of the early conceptions of force that can help curriculum design from a learning progressions perspective. (Author's abstract)