Observing a bilingual science teacher accommodating both language and content objectives

This study examined in detail the manner in which a bilingual elementary school teacher accommodated both language and science objectives while delivering instruction to students in the second language. Through microethnographic methods, data were gathered in order to understand (a) the negotiative nature of the bilingual science event; and (b) how the needs of the students were met through the teacher's on-line monitoring.;The study revealed that fourth and fifth grade bilingual science was a negotiated learning event between the students and their teacher. Further, the findings in this study confirm that a laboratory and inquiry-based approach provides valuable opportunities for comprehensible input and communicative language use.;Of paramount importance in this study was the teacher's ability to adjust her lesson plan on-line or midlesson according to the moment-to-moment needs of the students. The adjustments occurred in one of four ways. One way was to attend to specific features of the second language. Another type of adjustment was to attend to a particular aspect of science content. A third type of adjustment was a combination language and content adjustment. That is, a particular feature of the second language impeded understanding of the content and had to be overcome before the science material could be discussed. The final type of adjustment was nonverbal in that the language was avoided altogether in order to, in some way get at the content. Such adjustments reflected the decision making process of the teacher and how it was influenced by the students in the negotiative process.;End of the year assessment tasks revealed that the teacher's use of hands-on materials combined with specific scientific lexical items endured over time and appeared in students' written output several months after the material was introduced. Hence, in the bilingual setting the teacher served as the absolute model for how science and language features intermingled. Although science content positively influenced the performance of classroom activities, the language that accompanied those activities did not always match the quality of the performance.