An Exploratory Study of Reported Bilingual Pedagogical Practices in Science Class at Lower Secondary Level

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

Abstract

The main feature of bilingual teaching is to provide instruction through two different languages. This is an exploratory study about teachers’ attitudes, expectations and perceptions towards bilingual teaching in science at middle school level. Keeping in mind the cultural background, improving students learning with clear concepts is highly necessary especially in middle grades, if the achievement gap widens, students failed to achieve the learning objectives and in many cases these junior students continue to study below grade level. The prime concern of the study was to investigate teachers' attitudes, expectations and perceptions towards bilingual teaching at middle level in science class. The Informants in this research were from the private and public schools of Masroor, Karachi. In order to elicit data, a semi-structured interview was conducted. Data was analyzed using NVivo software. It was found from the responses of the informants that they have a positive attitude towards the adaptation and implementation of bilingualism in their classes.

Key words: bilingualism, bilingual teaching, effectiveness, concept building, science education.