Emociones y rendimiento académico en el aprendizaje bilingüe de las ciencias de la naturaleza

Language and education are two essential dimensions that go hand in hand when it comes to human beings. Neurobiologists and linguists share the idea that our ability to speak is innate and that we are pre-programmed from birth to learn any language almost unconsciously. However, in a school setting learning a foreign language requires substantial planning and methodology, involving an effort by the learner who is thereby affected by the process. This paper aims to determine the effects of bilingual teaching on students’ emotions and academic performance during the learning process of the subject of Science. To this end, a study was carried out in the 5th and 6th grades of Elementary Education, focusing specifically on the teaching-learning process of the subjects of Ciencias Naturales (natural sciences taught in Spanish, CCNN) and Science (bilingual school, natural sciences taught in English). The participants in the study were 286 students from the city of Badajoz (Spain), of whom 123 studied Science (bilingual school) and 163 studied CCNN in Spanish. The design of the study was descriptive, with use of a questionnaire to collect the data. The conclusions of the statistical analysis indicate that language is clearly an influential factor, as shown both in the lower grades and more negative emotions experienced by the students studying science in English. Conversely, the students from the non-bilingual school obtained the best grades and experienced the most positive emotions.