How Bilingual Latino/a Fifth Graders Use Their Linguistic Resources During Science Instruction

This qualitative study examines how bilingual Latino/a students use their linguistic resources in the classroom and laboratory during science instruction. This study was conducted in a school in the southwestern United States, serving an economically depressed Latino population. The object of study was a fifth grade science class comprised of students transitioning out of bilingual education. Thus, English was the means of instruction. Classroom interaction was examined from a sociolinguistic perspective. The study was descriptive in nature, examining specific linguistic behaviors with the purpose of identifying the linguistic functions of students’ utterances. The results suggest that the students purposefully adapt their use of linguistic resources in order to facilitate their participation in science learning.