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Language and Science Competences of Nigerian and South African High School Learners in Test on Processing Variant Terminology

Language, Literature and Culture
Vol.3 , No. 1, Publication Date: Feb. 4, 2020, Page: 1-7

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Authors

[1]	Richard Awoshiri Kamai, English Department, Federal College of Education, Yola, Nigeria.
[2]	Jude Valentine Badaki, English Department, Concordia College, Yola, Nigeria.
[3]	Pierre Williams, Western Cape Education Department, Cape Town, South Africa.

Abstract

It has been widely reported that high school learners in Sub-Saharan Africa perform poorly in science subjects in public examinations. From the stand-point of linguistics, research has shown that, complexity arising from dense and varied terminology load and textual flaws in school textbooks impede the optimal processing of scientific texts by learners. There is also the issue of poor understanding of the linguistic features of the language of science. However, the use of variant terminology which may obfuscate the meaning of words in science textbooks has not been adequately studied. This study, therefore, examined term variation in the context of learners’ engagement with written science in order to determine the relationship between achievement in tasks on identifying and resolving term variation and learners’ language and science competences. Data for the study was derived from the aggregate scores of learners in an achievement test administered to Nigerian and South African high school learners. Results of the analysis indicated that language proficiency of learners was not a correlate of achievement with a coefficient of (p-= -0.7603) but that a weak positive correlation exist between the science competence of learners and achievement in tasks on processing variant terminology with a correlation coefficient of (p value = 0.2056). The study therefore concluded that, language proficiency is not a correlate of achievement in test on processing variant terminology but that achievement of learners in the test administered can be predicted by learners’ competence in science. To this effect, the study recommends the broadening of the scope of language proficiency to include a range of meta-linguistic skills, e.g. Thematic Pattern Analysis; Transitivity and Clause Relational Analysis and knowledge of scientific texts as self-organizing systems.

Keywords

Processing Variant Terminology, Language Proficiency, Science Competence, Nigerian and South African Learners

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