Beyond Language: English as an Epistemic Tool for Science Learning in Primary Education

Abstract

The claim that primary English instruction is being superseded by AI translation technology commits a categorical error: it treats English as a communication medium rather than as the epistemological substrate of modern scientific knowledge. Drawing on the concepts of cognitive neuroscience, bilingual education research, and scientific literacy scholarship, this article argues that primary English instruction oriented toward science constitutes an interdisciplinary cognitive development program that produces measurable cross-disciplinary transfer effects. Institutional observation of 87 students in an English-medium science integration program revealed a 22-percentile Kangaroo Mathematics Competition advantage, a 19.3-point American National Science League gain, and a 1.3-grade-equivalent Chinese-medium mathematics advance over 91 matched peers. The AI-substitution argument is neurologically untenable: the critical acquisition window coincides precisely with primary school years and cannot be reopened once closed. English-medium science instruction constitutes a cognitive development program, not a communication skills program, and the evidence here precisely documents how much this distinction matters.