Unterrichtssprache im Fachunterricht – Stand der Forschung und Forschungsperspektiven am Beispiel des Textverständnisses

Language is constitutive of scientific activities. Therefore scientific literacy in its fundamental sense can be seen as an important aim of science education. To date research on teaching focuses on single, selected aspects concerning the role of language within teaching science, so that a coherent theoretical framework can hardly be seen. In this paper an attempt is made to present the main findings from science education, language teaching, linguistics, and cognitive psychology in an overview and also to identify gaps of empirical research. Based on existing findings and models from different research disciplines a comprehensive model is proposed referring on the interaction between different skills (knowledge and linguistic skills) and characteristic features of scientific texts. This manuscript thereby focuses on written expository texts and how students may develop understanding of those.