Understanding multimodal representations of junior high school students when writing scientific explanations
I Budiman, I Kaniawati and D Rusdiana

1FKIP, Universitas Singaperbangsa Karawang, Jl. HS. Ronggowaluyo, Telukjambe Timur, Karawang 41361, Indonesia
2Pendidikan IPA Sekolah Pascasarjana, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jl. Dr. Setiabudi No. 229, Bandung 40154, Indonesia

Abstract

This research is an attempt to analyze the understanding of the concept of static electricity in junior high school students expressed in the form of scientific explanatory text from linguistic point of view, for the development of multimodal representation competence. Scientific explanations in the form of text made by 9th grade junior high school students through worksheets in static electricity studies provided by experienced science teachers are data from this study. The text created by the learner is analyzed by examining lexicogrammar through a systemic framework analysis of Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL). Our analysis identifies specific aspects of the language that students need to be appropriate in expressing an understanding of static electricity that is aligned with the scientific perspective and competence of multimodal representation of learners from the teacher-created worksheet. The findings of this study indicate that conceptual understanding is not sufficient to develop multimodal representations competence. The implications of this research are expected to assist teachers in overcoming linguistic challenges in explaining static electricity, and developing multimodal representations competence.

Keywords: Multimodal representations competencies, Static electricity concept, Systemic Functional Linguistic

Topic: 2. Science Education