The role of academic language in the development of scientific understanding

Abstract

Misunderstandings of scientific concepts are commonly attributed to students’ lack of knowledge or ineffective instructional practices. However, such an interpretation remains incomplete. A growing body of pedagogical and interdisciplinary research demonstrates that many learning difficulties in science arise not only from conceptual gaps but also from language-related challenges. Scientific knowledge is communicated through specialized terminology, complex syntactic structures, and abstract forms of representation, all of which may hinder comprehension, particularly for learners who are still developing proficiency in academic language. This article argues that misunderstanding science is fundamentally both a cognitive and a linguistic phenomenon. Drawing on insights from cognitive psychology, second language acquisition, and content and language integrated learning, it examines how language shapes comprehension, contributes to the formation of misconceptions, and influences students’ engagement with scientific knowledge. Particular attention is given to the role of terminology, the interference of everyday language, classroom discourse, and multilingual learning contexts. It is argued that effective science education requires the systematic integration of and language instruction in order to support meaningful and sustainable understanding.