Classifying and analysing the terminological problems associated with the learning of chemistry: obstacles to overcome

Abstract

This paper reviews the main difficulties associated with the vocabulary of chemistry. This task has enabled to classify those terms in two main groups: technical terms and non-technical words. The main feature that makes difficult the language of chemistry to students is its polisemy. Not only are there both everyday and scientific meanings corresponding to the same term, but also many scientific words have experienced an historical evolution in their meaning. Mathematical terms and dual concepts are additional linguistic barriers that chemistry students must overcome. Furthermore, many academic non-technical words are present in both descriptive and argumentative scientific discourses. These words are usually unknown by students in their first encounters with chemistry, which produce new obstacles in their learning of this scientific discipline.