Abstract Students’ knowledge construction and language development will be directly affected by teachers’ classroom language. Based on the semantic wave theory, this paper developed a semantic density identification framework appropriated for the secondary school chemistry classroom. Taking the classroom language of novice teacher and expert teacher as the research object, this paper identified the semantic density level and drew semantic wave images, compared the differences to explore the growing points for novice teacher professional development. Semantic density analysis revealed that novice teacher’s classroom language had a high semantic density and was more complex, emphasizing on abstract extraction of knowledge and on the use of chemical terminology, while expert teacher was skilled at utilizing low semantic density language, which made it easier to grasp. Following an analysis of the semantic waves, it was discovered that the novice teacher’s semantic waves were repeated in the ascending band, presenting a symbolic/conceptual-conceptual explanatory pedagogical mindset, focusing on professional explanations of knowledge, and lacking the process of elaborating and generalising knowledge in relation to daily life. The expert teacher semantic wave replicated the descending wave, presenting a symbolic/conceptual-phenomenal-conceptual interpretation of the pedagogical mindset, focusing on the concrete application of knowledge. Finally, it was suggested that novice teachers enhanced the language of teaching, provided more real-world examples and constructed a phenomenon-conceptual close linkage of pedagogical mindset.
CAO Shu-Ting, SHEN Dian. Comparative Study on Novice and Expert Chemistry Teachers’ Classroom Language Based on Semantic Wave Theory[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Education, 2024, 45(23): 60-69.
