The moderating effect of metalinguistic reflection on the linguistic resources used in written scientific explanations

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyse the moderating effect of metalinguistic reflection (MR) on linguistic resources to predict the quality of the scientific explanations produced by 359 fourth-grade students who participated in an instructional proposal on scientific explanations of two different scientific processes. The students’ MR level on the changes in their written explanations was assessed at the beginning and end of each unit according to three dimensions: conceptual, discursive and textual. The results show that in the first unit, the effect of metadiscursive resources on quality was diminished by the moderating effect of MR. In the second unit, the moderating effect of MR increased the effects of nominalization on the quality of the texts. The results show that the relationships between MR, linguistic resources and writing explanations are complex and dynamic. More studies are needed to grasp their development and their effects on disciplinary learning and writing.