Genres in CLIL Subjects

The Genre of Science

Source: Llinares, Morton and Whittaker, The Role of Languages in CLIL, CUP, 2012

CLPA Primària – Carme Florit Ballester CLSA Secundària – Joan Alberich Carramiñana

Genres of Science at school

Reflect the process of building scientific knowledge

School science reduces, simplifies, generalises and idealises centuries of scientific activity, in order for students to assimilate important understandings and to move on to “real science”, i.e. empirical research and dispute.

Veel 1997:167

Students come into contact with three text types:

PROCEDURES: Texts which instruct them how to carry out the steps of an experiment or report how one was done.

REPORTS: Texts which organise scientific knowledge.

EXPLANATIONS: Texts which explain scientific processes.

PROCEDURES

A written procedure includes the following stages:

Aim & Equipment

+ Materials & Method

Example of PROCEDURES

Example of PROCEDURES

Example of PROCEDURES

Aim Comparing the carbon doixide content of inspired and

expired air

Equipment

and

Materials

You can use either lime water or hydrogen carbonate

indicator solution for this experiment. Lime water

changes from clear to cloudy, but hydrogen carbonate

changes from red to yellow when carbon dioxide

dissolves it.

Method 1. Set up the apparatus

2. Breath in and out gently through the rubber tubbing.

Do not breathe too hard. keep doing this until the liquid

in one of the flasks changes colour.

REPORTS: three types

A written Descriptive REPORT includes the following stages:

Classification

& Description (divided into Phases)

1. Descriptive reports: Classify a phenomenon and then describe its features.

Definitions: Planets are spherical bodies moving around the Sun or another star.

Example of Descriptive reports:

Classification: Viruses are very strange organisms. Description: Phase 1: They are not made of cells, but just some protein molecules. Phase 2: They can not do any of the things living things do, like breathe or grow. Phase 3: They can not do amnything until they get inside another living-cell where they begin to reproduce.

REPORTS: three types

A written Taxonomic (classifying) REPORT includes the following stages:

Classification System

& Types

2. Taxonomic (classifying) reports: Sub-classify a number of phenomena with respect to a given set of criteria.

Example of Taxonomic (classifying) reports:

Classifying: Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia (also called Metazoa). Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their lives. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently. All animals must ingest other organisms or their product for sustenance. Types: Animals can be classified according to different criteria. According to its body structure, animals can be vertebrate or invertebrate. Vertebrate animals are built along the basic chordate body plan: a stiff rod running through the length of the animal (vertebral column or notochord), with a hollow tube of nervous tissue (the spinal cord) above it and the gastrointestinal tract below. Invertebrate animals are animal species that do not possess or develop a vertebral column, derived from the notochord .

REPORTS: three types

A written Compositional REPORT includes the following stages:

Classification of Entity

& Components

3. Compositional reports: Describe the components of an entity, that is, part-whole relationships.

Example of Compositional reports:

Classification of entity: A house is a type of building in which people live. Components: Many houses have several large rooms with specialized functions and several very small rooms for other various reasons. These may include a living/eating area, a sleeping area, and (if suitable facilities and services exist) separate or combined washing and lavatory areas. Additionally, spa room, indoor pool, indoor basketball court, and so forth. In traditional agriculture-oriented societies, domestic animals such as chickens or larger livestock (like cattle) often share part of the house with human beings. Most conventional modern houses will at least contain a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen or cooking area, and a living room. A typical "foursquare house" occurred commonly in the early history of the US where they were mainly built, with a staircase in the center of the house, surrounded by four rooms, and connected to other sections of the home (including in more recent eras a garage).

EXPLANATIONS

A written EXPLANATION includes the following stages:

Phenomenon & Explanation

(in Phases) +

Extension

Example of EXPLANATIONS: Phenomenon In many flowers, pollination is carried out by insects.

Sequencial

explanation

Phase 1

Small insects come to the flowers attrracted by their colour or

sweet scent.

Phase2

The small insect follows the guide-lines to the nectaries,

brushing past the anthers as it goes. Some of the pollen will stick

to its body.

Phase 3

The insect will probably then go to another flower, looking for

mnore nectar.

Phase 4

Some of the pollen it picked up at the first flower will stick onto

the stigma of the second flower when the insect brushes past it

because the stigma is sticky.