Why Do Minoritized Students Deploy More Than One Language During a Physics Inquiry?

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Alternative Worldview of State Religious High Schools in IsraelHanna Ayalon and Abraham YogevHanna Ayalon Search for more articles by this author and Abraham Yogev Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Comparative Education Review Volume 40, Number 1Feb., 1996Special Issue on Religion Sponsored by the Comparative and International Education Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/447353 Views: 8Total views on this site Citations: 28Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1996 The Comparative and International Education SocietyPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Najwan Saada Teachers' Perceptions of Islamic Religious Education in Arab High Schools in Israel, (Jan 2020): 135–163.https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-8528-2.ch008Achim Rohde Teaching History in Israel–Palestine, (Feb 2018): 353–370.https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95306-6_19Pascale Benoliel, Anat Barth The implications of the school’s cultural attributes in the relationships between participative leadership and teacher job satisfaction and burnout, Journal of Educational Administration 55, no.66 (Sep 2017): 640–656.https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-10-2016-0116Ron Blonder, Shelley Rap, Rachel Mamlok-Naaman, Avi Hofstein QUESTIONING BEHAVIOR OF STUDENTS IN THE INQUIRY CHEMISTRY LABORATORY: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SECTORS AND GENDERS IN THE ISRAELI CONTEXT, International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education 13, no.44 (Oct 2014): 705–732.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-014-9580-7Yariv Feniger Jewish ethnicity and educational opportunities in Israel: evidence from a curricular reform, Race Ethnicity and Education 18, no.44 (Mar 2013): 567–588.https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2012.759928Miri Yemini, Audrey Addi-Raccah School principals’ agency as reflected by extracurricular activities in the Israeli education system, International Studies in Sociology of Education 23, no.44 (Dec 2013): 358–382.https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2013.832524Galit Hagay, Ayelet Baram-Tsabari, Ran Peleg THE CO-AUTHORED CURRICULUM: HIGH-SCHOOL TEACHERS’ REASONS FOR INCLUDING STUDENTS’ EXTRA-CURRICULAR INTERESTS IN THEIR TEACHING, International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education 11, no.22 (May 2012): 407–431.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-012-9343-2Oren Pizmony-Levy Bridging the Global and Local in Understanding Curricula Scripts: The Case of Environmental Education, Comparative Education Review 55, no.44 (Jul 2015): 600–633.https://doi.org/10.1086/661632Yariv Feniger The Gender Gap in Advanced Math and Science Course Taking: Does Same-Sex Education Make A Difference?, Sex Roles 65, no.9-109-10 (Aug 2010): 670–679.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-010-9851-xMathew Mathews Educational Attainment and its Relationship to Singaporean Clergymen's Belief Models About Mental Illness Causation, Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health 12, no.11 (Mar 2010): 63–77.https://doi.org/10.1080/19349630903495384Boaz Shulruf, Dominic Keuskamp, Dulcie Brake The impact of course-taking on academic achievements a systematic review and Meta analysis, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 2, no.22 (Jan 2010): 3401–3406.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.523Shira Iluz, Yisrael Rich Internal and external factors shaping educational beliefs of high school teachers of “sacred” subjects to girls, Teaching and Teacher Education 25, no.11 (Jan 2009): 42–51.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2008.06.004Audrey Addi-Raccah, Hanna Ayalon From High School to Higher Education: Curricular Policy and Postsecondary Enrollment in Israel, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 30, no.11 (Mar 2008): 31–50.https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373707313775Elana Sztokman To be an Arab Jewish girl in a state religious school in Israel: Navigating gender, ethnicity and class in religious Zionist identity and culture, International Journal of Children's Spirituality 11, no.22 (Aug 2006): 217–235.https://doi.org/10.1080/13644360600797222Audrey Addi-Raccah Accessing Internal Leadership Positions at School: Testing the Similarity-Attraction Approach Regarding Gender in Three Educational Systems in Israel, Educational Administration Quarterly 42, no.33 (Aug 2006): 291–323.https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X05284042Hanna Herzog Trisection of forces: gender, religion and the state – the case of state-run religious schools in Israel, The British Journal of Sociology 57, no.22 (Jun 2006): 241–262.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2006.00108.xHanna Ayalon Nonhierarchical Curriculum Differentiation and Inequality in Achievement: A Different Story or More of the Same?, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education 108, no.66 (Feb 2022): 1186–1213.https://doi.org/10.1177/016146810610800604Hanna Ayalon Nonhierarchical Curriculum Differentiation and Inequality in Achievement: A Different Story or More of the Same?, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education 108, no.66 (Apr 2022): 1186–1213.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9620.2006.00690.xDiana Silberman‐Keller State faith‐based education in Israel: a messianic‐nationalist model of interpretation, Journal of Beliefs & Values 26, no.22 (Aug 2005): 157–170.https://doi.org/10.1080/13617670500164304Audrey Addi‐Raccah* Gender, ethnicity, and school principalship in Israel: comparing two organizational cultures, International Journal of Inclusive Education 9, no.33 (Jul 2005): 217–239.https://doi.org/10.1080/13603110500075255Marc M Wasserstein‐Warnet, Joseph Klein The Impact of World‐view on Teachers’ Perception of Human Nature and Relationships: A Comparative Analysis of Secular and Religious Sectors, British Journal of Religious Education 25, no.33 (Jun 2003): 226–244.https://doi.org/10.1080/0141620030250306Hanna Ayalon Mathematics and Sciences Course Taking Among Arab Students in Israel: A Case of Unexpected Gender Equality, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 24, no.11 (Nov 2016): 63–80.https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737024001063Jo-Ann Harrison School Ceremonies for Yitzhak Rabin: Social Construction of Civil Religion in Israeli Schools, Israel Studies 6, no.33 (Oct 2001): 113–134.https://doi.org/10.2979/ISR.2001.6.3.113Abraham Yogev Bringing order to chaos? Educational policy in Israel in the postmodern era, Israel Affairs 7, no.44 (Apr 2007): 209–234.https://doi.org/10.1080/13537120108719621Yisrael Rich, Malka Almozlino Educational goal preferences among novice and veteran teachers of sciences and humanities, Teaching and Teacher Education 15, no.66 (Aug 1999): 613–629.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(99)00010-4Ken Shaw Traditional society and modern teaching, Teacher Development 2, no.22 (Jul 1998): 179–191.https://doi.org/10.1080/13664539800200053Hanna Ayalon, Abraham Yogev Students, Schools, and Enrollment in Science and Humanity Courses in Israeli Secondary Education, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 19, no.44 (Nov 2016): 339–353.https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737019004339Karen Bradley, Maria Charles UNEVEN INROADS: UNDERSTANDING WOMEN’S STATUS IN HIGHER EDUCATION, (): 247–274.https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3539(03)14011-6

Vojvodina, an autonomous province in northern Serbia, is a historically multilingual and multicultural area where multilingual education forms a cornerstone of linguistic, educational and social policy and practice: in addition to the majority language, five minority languages are also in official use and speakers of these languages may receive education in their L1. However, such a situation does not warrant positive attitudes toward the majority language. In fact, attitudes toward the majority population have been shown to be less positive among minority group members who receive their education in their L1 (Veres 2013). In addition to this, the effect of environment (compact vs. diffuse) has been shown to interact with attitudes. The paper examines the language attitudes of 423 Hungarian L1 grammar school pupils towards (1) their (minority) mother tongue (Hungarian), (2) Serbian as the majority language and (3) English as a foreign language, based on their value judgements and taking into account numerous variables which might prove to interact with their attitudes. The results of the research are expected to add to the study of language attitudes in a multilingual context, to help us understand better language situations in areas where bilingualism is promoted and to aid the implementation of coherent language policies.

The study reflects on language policies and the teaching of majority and minority languages in Brazil. With that aim, the study investigates the beliefs of two foreign-language teachers working in public schools in a Pomeranian community in the State of Espirito Santo. The languages chosen for analysis were English as an international and majority language and Pomeranian as a minority and immigration language. After reviewing the language policies for teaching foreign languages in Brazil, the study offers an analysis of the beliefs of foreign language teachers collected through questionnaires with two teachers, one who teaches English and another who teaches Pomeranian, in a community of Pomeranian immigrants in the state of ES. The results of the analysis suggest that both teachers believe that there is not enough time to develop all language skills properly, and that teaching materials and school curricula should be reviewed. On the other hand, the Pomeranian teacher believes that the teaching of Pomeranian is capable of improving the self-esteem of students in relation to their sense of belonging to a historical context, and local and family community. In the case of the English teacher, she believes that her students still do not realize the importance of English for their academic and professional lives. The study concludes that language policies should be reviewed so as to guarantee the teaching of minority and majority languages, stimulating multilingualism in Brazil.

The current study investigates the level of students’ motivation in Arab schools in Israel to study science subjects. In addition, we examined whether there was a difference in motivation: (1) between students in different types of schools (elementary, middle, and secondary schools), (2) between boys and girls, (3) between students according to the educational achievement, and (4) between students studying with male or female teachers. The study included 838 students from the different schools. The convenience sample method was used in which 25 items assessed five motivational categories: intrinsic, career, self-determination, self-efficacy, and achievement. The findings of the study showed that the motivation level among students to study science subjects was significantly high in all Arab schools (p≤0.05), but there were significant differences between the three types of schools (p≤0.05). In addition, the study revealed that the motivation level to study science was significantly higher: (1) among girls than among boys (p≤0.05), (2) among students with a high level of achievement than among students with medium/low levels (p≤0.05), and (3) among students whose teachers are females than among students whose teachers are males (p≤0.05).

In the last two decades science studies and science education research have shifted from an interest in products (of science or of learning), to an interest in processes and practices. The focus of this paper is on students’ engagement in epistemic practices (Kelly in Teaching scientific inquiry: Recommendations for research and implementation. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, pp 99–117, 2008), or on their practical epistemologies (Wickman in Sci Educ 88(3):325–344, 2004). In order to support these practices in genetics classrooms we need to take into account domain-specific features of the epistemology of genetics, in particular issues about determinism and underdetermination. I suggest that certain difficulties may be related to the specific nature of causality in genetics, and in particular to the correspondence between a given set of factors and a range of potential effects, rather than a single one. The paper seeks to bring together recent developments in the epistemology of biology and of genetics, on the one hand, with science education approaches about epistemic practices, on the other. The implications of these perspectives for current challenges in learning genetics are examined, focusing on students’ engagement in epistemic practices, as argumentation, understood as using evidence to evaluate knowledge claims. Engaging in argumentation in genetics classrooms is intertwined with practices such as using genetics models to build explanations, or framing genetics issues in their social context. These challenges are illustrated with studies making part of our research program in the USC.

The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education has become crucial for enhancing learning, broadening access to resources, and building digital skills. While numerous studies have explored the impact of parental attitudes on online and remote learning in elementary and middle schools, there has been little focus on high school students' parents, especially within the Arab and Bedouin sectors in Israel. This study examines how parents view the implementation of ICT in Arab high schools in northern and southern Israel and how these views affect the integration of ICT in teaching, learning, and school management. The research sheds light on social and cultural barriers, as well as the challenges posed by inadequate infrastructure and traditional educational perspectives. Using a qualitative approach, information was gathered through interviews with 22 parents of high school students across 11 schools. The main findings showed that, while parents have positive views about the educational potential of ICT, they also identified challenges such as limited digital skills, inadequate infrastructure, and cultural barriers. The study’s recommendations emphasize the need to address these challenges through parent-focused training programs, resource allocation, and improving cooperation between schools and parents via digital platforms. The study also highlights initiatives aimed at encouraging communication and collaboration within the community, supported by local councils or Ministry of Education programs, such as funding competitions, parent training courses, or youth-targeted programs.

The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education is vital for enhancing learning, expanding resource access, and fostering digital skills. This study explores parental attitudes toward ICT implementation in Arab high schools in Israel, focusing on its impact on learning, teaching, and school management processes. The research identifies key barriers, including cultural perceptions, limited infrastructure, and insufficient digital skills, which hinder effective ICT adoption.Using qualitative research methods, data was collected from interviews with 22 parents of high school students across 11 schools in northern and southern Israel. Findings indicate a dual perspective among parents: while recognizing the potential of ICT to enrich educational experiences, they express concerns about over-reliance on technology, health risks from prolonged screen time, and the erosion of traditional teacher-student interactions. A significant digital divide was also observed, disproportionately affecting underprivileged households. This study introduces a novel focus on high school parental perspectives within the Arab sector, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions. Recommendations include parent training programs to improve digital literacy, enhanced infrastructure support, and culturally sensitive strategies to bridge the gap between digital and traditional learning. These efforts can foster a balanced and inclusive educational environment, leveraging ICT’s benefits while addressing its challenges.

Motivation: This millennium constitutes an important context for any analysis or any intervention in policies of language at the level of states and regions and globally worldwide.  Objectives:The objectives of this work were to examine the concepts  of expansion or limitation of language planning and language policy and the scope of such concepts in specific linguistic situations such as in Nigeria with international languages. Methodology:It describes the hierarchy and functioning of languages in the world and in Nigeria in particular. It also focuses on the two strongest trends characterizing the current dynamic: the displacement of minority languages as the case in Nigeria and the expansion of English, French and Chinese as the sole world languages. In addition, this article studies the main strategies employed by various actors to oppose these trends, including in particular the representatives of the major national languages such as Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa in Nigeria as an example, whose presence is threatened in several strategic geographical areas. Findings: The reinforcement of local languages  weakens national languages that are obstacle for the expansion of English. The reverse is observed in Nigeria where minority languages are not revitalized and where only major languages are thought in schools therefore neglecting minority languages and as a consequence reinforcing the expansion of English. This tendency can only be reversed if anything like a major language is wiped out, therefore giving a chance to every language to prosper and this will also help to stop other languages to disappear. Research Outcomes: This study highlights the role of stakeholders and emphasizes the importance of an expanded concept of language planning that takes into account all the competing forces so as to ensure the success of language policies. Future Scope: It is clear that States, families and enterprises learn languages of  higher statuses in the hierarchy and this explains the progress  and the expansion of the English circle but also of other super central languages such as Spanish but more importantly the new attractive pole which is Mandarin but also Nigerian languages.

Background Discourse is the teacher’s principal pedagogical tool in class. Studies stress the importance of research on discourse in science education and demonstrate its cruciality for understanding science. Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate characteristics of the classroom discourse in lessons on physics. Sample Classroom discourse was studied in five classes at five high schools in Israel, 110 students in all. Altogether, seventeen lessons comprising 373 discourse episodes and 1,892 questions were analyzed. Design and Methods The discursive characteristics examined were patterns of discourse episodes and their frequency in each lesson, the initiator of discourse (teacher or student), and the types, frequency, and initiators of questions asked. Results The findings show that despite variance in teachers’ and students’ traits, all lessons were similar in various parameters of discourse. Most classroom discourse was dynamic and continual; many questions were asked and were of diverse types that induced large numbers of discourse episodes. The lessons differed mainly in the number of teacher-initiated higher-order thinking questions and the number of open discourse episodes – elements indicative of dialogic teaching. However, even among teachers who asked more high-order questions and initiated open discourse with higher frequency, the discourse episodes were brief and rarely led to meaningful discussions and deep thinking. Conclusions Investing more in dialogic discourse may be useful in building knowledge and effective learning of abstract ideas in a challenging subject such as physics.

This paper presents a thematic analysis of public sector discourse on the values assigned to regional minority and community languages within the UK and Finland. This paper draws from semi-structured interviews conducted in Manchester, Cardiff, Helsinki, and Rovaniemi. Two key themes emerged from the interview data: Language as a Resource for Integration and Language as a Resource for Employment. The findings demonstrate that the concept of language as a resource is multidimensional and complex, as majority, regional minority, and community languages are valued differently within macro-policy and service provider discourse. In the public sector discourse, the majority language skills were positioned as necessary resources for migrants’ integration into society. However, the regional minority languages, Welsh in Wales and Swedish in Finland, were framed as providing additional integration benefits. Community language skills were acknowledged as resources for meeting the diverse language needs of the public sector. However, both regional minority and community languages were positioned as ancillary to the majority languages for employment opportunities. Overall, these patterns reveal a hierarchical attribution of value based on underlying ideologies that emphasise the civic and economic benefits of multilingualism.

Contemporary theories of linguistic justice still tend to deal with a simple dichotomy between majority languages, assumed to be the best communicative or instrumental tools (thus the best tools in terms of socio-economic justice and political participation), and minority languages, assumed to be basically markers of identity (relevant only in terms of ethno-cultural interests when competing with the former). Two problems, intrinsic to the concepts used, shape such a duality. Firstly, it requires an empirical contextualisation of what is meant by majority and minority language. Secondly, it presupposes a sharp detachment between communication and identity in which communication tends to be understood as a simple information transfer. In this paper, I argue that, when both empirical context and an enriched notion of communication focused on effectiveness are considered, local languages, even if categorised as minority languages, do have an instrumental value which has received little attention up to now. Such an approach has normative and policy consequences. From a normative perspective, it strengthens the rationale for supporting linguistic pluralism, highlights the fact that linguistic preferences of multilinguals matter on instrumental grounds (even if languages learnt are local languages) and suggests that assuming the communicative superiority of most widely spread or majority languages entails a deviation from liberal neutrality, regarding the kinds of good life an individual can pursue. For language policies, it points to fostering a broad individual and institutional multilingualism aimed at sustaining plurality and based on a double enabling of people, in terms of both their linguistic skills and their fair opportunities to use local and wider languages.

This study aims to clarify the role of visual representations (VR) on the promotion and development of students’ epistemic practices (EP) in the physical sciences (PS) classroom. The use of VR is crucial for supporting and developing students’ EP (student work in inquiry context). Research questions: (a) how do teachers trigger the use of VR by students in the classroom? (b) What functions can be attributed to VR in PS classrooms? (c) What is the impact of VR on students’ EP? In all questions the dependence on the context and teacher experience will be analyzed. This is a multicase study with five PS teachers, with different teaching experience, from Portuguese basic schools (students aged 13-15 years). Multimodal narratives were used (a description of what happens in the classroom, using several types of data collected). Using open coding analysis, categories were found and then cluster analysis was used to find patterns. Main findings: (a) teacher’s efforts are the triggers for the use of VR by students, especially the task proposal; (b) VR can be used as an illustration (does not increase students’ EP) or as epistemic mediator (increases students’ EP); (c) all these aspects are dependent on teacher experience. Key words: Epistemic mediators, students’ epistemic practices, teacher mediation, visual representations.

ABSTRACTIn bilingual settings, the communication between majority and minority language speakers usually takes place in the majority language. This paper examines whether majority language speakers, who receive positive feedback from minority language speakers when accommodating to them, use the minority language more frequently for authentic purposes. We propose positive feedback from L1 users as a potential facilitator of L2 use. We report the development and the properties of the scale we utilised to assess L1 user feedback (L1FB). We embedded L1FB into the socio-contextual model of L2 communication and tested four hypotheses regarding the effect of L1FB on L2 use among majority language speaking high school students in bilingual Finland. All the hypotheses were supported by the data. Most importantly, L1FB significantly moderated the effect of L2 confidence on L2 use. L2 confidence had a larger effect on L2 use among those who received positive feedback. In the absence of positive L1FB, however, confident L2 learners used their L2 as little as their more anxious and less competent peers did. We discuss the relevance of L1FB with regard to authentic L2 use in general and the promotion of lesser used languages, in particular.

Chaklader (1981) argues for adopting a definition of minority languages at the state level. A ‘minority language’, in the most straightforward sense, is simply one language spoken by less than 50 percent of a population within a specific geographic region which is different from the language of the majority community and the language of the state. The crucial point is the proportion of speaker population in the given region or country. In other words, a minority language might be only a minority language in this specific region, but a majority language in other region (Grenoble, 2014). For example, Spanish is the majority language in a group of south American countries, however, it is a minority language in the USA in general. Mongolian, is also an example of this kind of minority language.

The current government of Ethiopia believes that the unity of the various ‘nations, nationalities and peoples’ of the country fundamentally depends on the protection of both the individual and group rights of its citizens. As part of the protection of group rights, the government has enshrined in its constitution the rights of nations to self-determination, including and up to secession. As part of this right it has included what is known as language rights. Every ethnic group has now the right to use and develop its language. For this purpose, over 25 languages out of the more than 80 languages of the country have become the language of schooling. The question is: in spite of the non-existence of clear discriminatory policy against national minorities today, can we say that language equality has been guaranteed? The central contention made is since the de facto requirement to get job in Addis Ababa is Amharic, and since the rural-urban migration of school age children (especially from the Wolaita) is increasing at an alarming rate, the development of the languages of national minorities will seriously be constrained unless minorities are provided with positive support to be engaged in the same process of nation building as the national majority in their own historical places. Due to the assimilative pressures that emanate from the mainstream society, the languages of minorities will be endangered for two main reasons: (1) If the new arrivals continue to live in the city for life, then they will most likely transmit to their children not their languages but the language of the national majority; (2) Because of the economic significance of Amharic as the lingua franca and the privileged status that it has continued to hold, it has a competitive advantage over other languages. I argue thus that more “enabling conditions” need to be there to ensure genuine language equality. The work is based on the reading of books, journal articles, interviews (formal and informal) and personal observation. Keywords: national minority, national majority, ‘choice-enabling conditions’, ‘endangered language’