A comprehensive literature analysis of empirical studies on language in geography instruction at the elementary and secondary school levels

Abstract

The growing linguistic diversity in today's schools has sparked interest in the role of academic language in geography instruction. Given that students' daily language is different from subject-specific language, language-aware geography education helps meet subject-specific language expectations. But there doesn't seem to be any comprehensive review or empirical investigation on the subject. In order to provide the groundwork for future studies in this area, this project will comprehensively examine papers that have conducted empirical research on the role of language in geography instruction. This research followed the PRISMA standards and assessed 38 papers from three literature databases: Scopus, Web of Science, and ProQuest. The subject-specific topics, conceptions of space, working techniques, and studied languages were used to classify the empirical investigations. The studies' primary results demonstrated that written language and the text/discourse level were the primary foci of the research. The majority of the research focused on reading abilities. In addition, the publications focused on physical geographical subjects. For studies examining the use of language in geographical education, this review offers theoretical and practical considerations for the future.