A multilingual approach to conceptual development in technical contexts

Abstract

The focus of this paper is a multilingual intervention in Mechanics I, a core subject in the Mechanical Engineering curriculum. The multilingual intervention, which involved the subject and communication lecturer in a co-teaching process, encouraged students to use their first language (L1) for purposes of conceptual development. The findings indicate that when students learned concepts in their L1, their general understanding was enhanced. The findings also show that students’ acquisition of academic and technical English (an additional language for most students in the study) was improved when they were able to use the L1 to think through calculations, problems, diagrams and the other mathematical applications which form the basis of Mechanics I. The study highlights the relationship between the students’ conceptual development and their access to an appropriate language for conceptualisation. It shows that students were unable to respond to required tasks at an adequate level when they had limited linguistic resources for the processes demanded in advanced learning. When students were able to draw on the resources of a familiar language they were better able to develop higher order concepts.