The role of language in students’ justifications of scientific phenomena

Constructing scientific arguments is an essential skill for members of society, especially in a world facing complex socioscientific issues. Educators can help students develop scientific argumentation skills; however, argumentation is a complex linguistic practice and little is known about how English language learners construct arguments in English. We investigated how undergraduate science students’ English language proficiency and history were associated with their level of reasoning in scientific arguments (N = 166). We found that participants’ English language experiences, including their proficiency and history, were associated with the level of reasoning demonstrated. These findings suggest a need to identify the associated barriers faced by students from diverse language backgrounds and design equitable educational supports and assessments.