The use of non-technical English words in science at SEC level

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether there are any differences based on the type of school environment, gender, language spoken at home and/or the geographical area of the students when it comes to the understanding of particular English non-technical terms used during Science lessons. In order to reach this intent, a quantitative research methodology was adopted. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire that tried to identify the students’ understanding of 25 non-technical words commonly used in Science lessons. Data was gathered from 320 Form 4 participants studying Physics, and/or Chemistry, and/or Biology. Questionnaires were distributed in 16 schools, 8 being Church schools and 8 being State schools. For both Church and State schools, there was an equal distribution of girls’ and boys’ schools. The results gathered show that statistical significant difference between males and females were observed for just one non-technical term even though in most of the questions male students seem to have performed better. Differences were more pronounced when comparing the performance of students coming from Church schools with those coming from State schools. This was also observed for the language variable, where those who speak English at home appear to have performed better than those who speak Maltese. For the district variable, no statistical test was carried out due to the composition and variety of the sample and a qualitative evaluation was carried out in order to observe possible variations in performance. Ultimately, a number of non-technical terms that caused major difficulties were identified.