Study guidance practices in science with Turkish speaking recently arrived pupils : A study focusing on scaffolding and meaning making

Abstract: Recently arrived pupils are part of the school population at schools in Sweden as well as in other European countries. In Sweden these pupils might receive study guidance support in their first language in various school subjects including science. My dissertation aims to provide insights into Swedish study guidance practices for recently arrived pupils, with a focus on science study guidance, by investigating interactions between recently arrived Turkish-speaking pupils (grades 3–9) and their tutors. My theoretical framework draws on an approach to interactions from sociocultural theory: in particular, the theoretical concepts of meaning-making and scaffolding. The data are based on observations of interactions between the pupils and their tutor from 14 study guidance sessions in seven Swedish cities. The multimodal analysis method is used to analyze video recordings of interactions. I found three different ways that tutors used scaffolding to assist their pupils’ meaning-making of science content: translations, reformulations, and questions and answers. Science content was translated, reformulated, and investigated through questions and answers through interactions in Turkish and Swedish. The tutors used Turkish and Swedish as well as other multimodal resources in study guidance interactions as a way to increase the opportunities for pupils to make meaning around various phenomena and concepts in science. The pupils showed evidence of their meaning-making by, for example, associating the science content with their personal experiences in their homeland, by recalling previous knowledge, or by joining in scientific discussions using their first language. However, not every attempt at scaffolding using translations, reformulations, and questions and answers led to successful acquisition of the desired science content. In some cases, the pupils’ opportunities to gain access to more advanced scientific discussions about scientific texts in Swedish were limited, because the discussion between pupil and tutor addressed a simplified scientific content. In some other cases, tutors made incorrect translations, reformulations and questions and answers in respect of the scientific content, something that could make the pupil’s meaning-making about science challenging.