1. Literacy as a Barrier to Science Learning
Introduction
I have chosen to research how literacy can act as a barrier towards young adults learning
science. Literacy, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is the ability to read and write.
One in ten children in Ireland leave primary school without being able to read or write
properly with this number increasing to one in three in disadvantaged areas (11). Thus the
likelihood of these children progressing to a high science level in secondary school is
unlikely. Ireland has no national level literacy policy (11) and in 2009 the Children’s Rights
Alliance submitted a document outlining the lack of this policy and how literacy is the key
aspect to the underachievement seen in second level (11). The department of education has
outlined a national strategy to improve literacy and numeracy starting early and running
right through until the end of second level. It depends on schools setting goals and
monitoring the progress of their students achievements as well as input and help from
parents (12).
Singer (2003) provides us with another definition of literacy as ‘the ability to
participate in a conversation with a level of competence and confidence’ (9). This definition
of literacy incorporates speech. This in itself could be considered another barrier.
Furthermore The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) defines
scientific literacy as the required “understandings and habits of mind that enable citizens….
to make some sense of how the natural and designed worlds work, to think critically and
independently…” (9).
Research
When researching literacy in science I found there was a much greater focus at primary level
and mainly in the UK and America. It was much more difficult to find specific research for
second level. However I feel a lot of this could be transferred to junior cycle second level
especially for first years seeing how they are just out of primary school. At primary school if
children present with literacy difficulties they are usually helped with extra reading/writing
lessons, but in my experience of teaching so far this is less so at second level.
Romance and Vitale came up with the science IDEAS model. This model was
designed to accelerate student achievement in science, reading comprehension and writing.
The paper I reviewed deals with this science IDEAS model in America for children aged
between 8-11 years. In school the children would have normally received 30 minutes 2-3
times a week of science. In science IDEAS these children now get 1 ½ - 2 hours daily for
science but this is integrated with reading and writing. The Science IDEAS model includes a
set of six complementary instructional elements consisting of: hands-on experiments,
reading comprehension, propositional concept mapping, journaling/writing and application

2. activities, in which the teacher sequences across focused, multi-day lessons to support
student understanding of the science concepts being taught (3). This model would not be
viable in an Irish secondary school today, but with the implementation of the new
framework for junior cycle in the coming years, it may be beneficial. From the results of one
of their studies Romance and Vitale found that Science IDEAS students outperformed
comparison students by approximately one year’s grade equivalent (GE) in science
achievement (+.93 GE) and one-third of a GE in reading achievement (+.33 GE) (3).
A review of science and literacy by Pearson et al. discusses how we as teachers are
pressed for time and feel a need to give a more lecture style class to get content covered,
which impedes on the student finding things out of their own accord by inquiry. Then
moving swiftly onto practical work but not emphasising the importance of background
knowledge before beginning an investigation. As scientists we don’t just focus on the
practical side, we need to start by reading and build on the work of others to enhance and
find out new possibilities which we in turn then write about. They compare science and
literacy saying how they use many of the same reasoning processes. For example, setting
purposes, asking questions, clarifying ambiguities, drawing inferences from incomplete
evidence, and making evidence-based arguments (2). Pearson et al. review a number of
ways to improve literacy including the science IDEAS model. Another one I really like is
called “Seeds of Science – Roots of Reading”. The program is based on the fundamental
principle that literacy is best enacted as a set of learning tools that support knowledge
acquisition rather than as a set of independent curriculum goals (2). The seeds and roots
method is ‘Do it, Talk it, Read it, Write it’.
Cassels and Johnstone (1985) (5a) found that it was not so much the new science
terminology i.e. the technical language, but rather the way in which the vocabulary and use
of the normal English language was presented in a science context. These are words such as
volatile, constituent and relative. These words could be interpreted by students in different
ways. Learning the language of science is a major part of science education. Every science
lesson is a language lesson. For many students the greatest obstacle in learning science- and
also the most important achievement - is to learn its language (5). The Bullock report (1975)
is a report of language in general for all age groups including how teachers are trained. It
advocates that all teachers should see themselves as teachers of language (Bullock, 2006) .
So from this far back it has been known that language and literacy are important features in
all subjects, not just language classes but also in science. Students should learn the language
of science so that they can read critically and develop an interest in reading about science.
They should be able to distinguish a hypothesis from a conclusion (5c). Wellington and
Osborne deal with reading in science. From my own experience in the classroom so far, not
much reading takes place. A lot is practical work or interaction and discussion which is of
course extremely valuable but as Lesley Bulman points out “working scientists read journals
alone for about five hours per week. If we wish to give our pupils a taste of being a real
scientist then reading should play an important part in our science lessons.” (5b). Reading is

3. a scientific activity. To be capable of reading carefully, critically and with a healthy
scepticism is a vital component of being a scientist and is a key element of scientific literacy.
For the majority of students who will not become scientists they will far more likely read
about science than do it (5).
Observations, Planning and Implementation to lessen Literacy Barrier
From my observations teachers do acknowledge the difficulties students may have in
understanding new concepts and terminologies in science. A senior biology teacher when
introducing the term cohesion asked a student their understanding of it firstly then
discussed in greater detail. This teacher also allowed students some time in class to make
their own notes on the topic when the chapter was completed enabling them time to read
over the book, assess what they thought was important and ask questions if needs be.