”En tröskel in i ämnet” - Biologilärares beskrivningar av flerspråkiga elevers språkliga utmaningar och lärarnas undervisningsstrategier i gymnasiets biologiundervisning

Abstract

This study examines how upper secondary biology teachers perceive the linguistic challenges multilingual students encounter in biology education, and which teaching strategies teachers use to support students' understanding of the scientific language of biology. The study has a qualitative design with a phenomenographic orientation. Data were collected through semi structured interviews with five biology teachers working at two upper secondary schools in the Gothenburg region, and the material was analysed through thematic analysis. The results show that teachers perceive the linguistic challenges as multidimensional and deeply intertwined with subject content. The main challenges concern the conceptual density and abstract nature of biology, words with different meanings in everyday- and scientific language, the need for precision in biological explanations and the gap between students' oral and written abilities. Teachers report using strategies such as explicit concept teaching, laboratory work, multimodal resources and oral activities, alongside a permissive attitude towards students' multilingual resources. However, these strategies appear to be largely experience-based rather than systematically planned. Translanguaging emerges as an area of underused potential, where teachers tend to allow rather than actively plan for students' multilingual resources. The study also identifies a gap between the forms used in teaching and what is formally assessed. Language-developing work is further constrained by structural factors such as lack of time, insufficient teaching materials, and limited collegial collaboration.