The readability of the national grade 12 Lebanese biology textbook : a comparison between anglophone and francophone learning milieux

النوع : Mémoire

Science instruction relies heavily on textual material. However, reading science texts is a painstaking endeavor for many students, especially non-native speakers of the language of instruction. Hence, the usual comprehensional challenges faced by students when reading science textual material are accentuated by second language issues. In Lebanon, science instruction in high schools and universities occurs in either French or English, not in the country's native language, Arabic. Studies suggest the difficulties faced by native and non-native speakers lie mainly in syntactic and lexical features of scientific texts and students need to develop strategies to render their textbooks meaningful. The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the readability of the French and English versions of the Grade 12 Lebanese Biology textbook using readability tests as well as to examine and compare the problems anglophone and francophone students faced and the strategies they used to derive meaning from their Biology textbooks. The readability of the English and French versions of the Lebanese Grade 12 Biology textbook was assessed using the Flesch and the Cloze tests. The Cloze test was administered to seventy-five male and female Grade 11 students from anglophone and francophone sections from a school in Lebanon. Twenty students were probed for their reading strategies in semi-structured interviews. Apparently, both anglophone and francophone students found their textbooks rather difficult to read, which is consistent with the Flesch ratings for both versions. Students' performance on the Cloze test was comparable with regard to the number of correct responses, although francophone students left significantly fewer blanks unattempted. Both groups struggled with the vocabulary especially the technical terms. Anglophone and francophone students used very similar supervising, paraphrasing and establishing coherence strategies but employed support strategies differently. Recommendations for practice and for further research are suggested.