Language and Science: Some Problems and Solutions

Abstract

In this chapter, I highlight a persistent gap in instruction in Indian (and global) STEM HEIs, enabled by the absence of reading and writing training in discipline-specific curricula. I show how language does not play only a functional role in STEM disciplines, specifically the sciences, but is integral to the very constitution and consolidation of any discipline. It encodes, embodies, and shapes the values, beliefs, and concepts that the discipline espouses and wishes to transmit. To exemplify this, I outline some key aspects of language in/of science such as genre and metaphor, and offer some pedagogic approaches to train science students to critically read and write within their disciplines. I argue that students should be, and can be, empowered through such approaches wherein they play the role of collaborators rather than passive recipients of instruction from the language teacher. I also suggest that since language is integral to doing science, training students to be conscious of language enables them to better situate themselves in the sociocultural and discursive realm of the discipline.