When teachers arrive in classrooms where they are unfamiliar with the linguistic norms and equally unfamiliar with their own linguistic privilege, it presents a language-identity dilemma in contemporary classrooms. This issue is particularly challenging in science learning, where the dependence on new words heightens conflicts of identity and privilege. In this interview, Stanford professor of teacher education Bryan Brown examines how science language may have an impact on students in both socio-affective and cognitive ways. Brown says that as educators focus on improving science teaching and learning, improving our use of science language must emerge as an important factor in our reform.
This interview followed Brown's SCOPE Brown Bag lecture "The Language-Identity Dilemma: How Language, Identity, and Cognition Impact Students' Learning" on January 27, 2014.
