This two and a half year study examines how non-native English-speaking Burmese refugee students from first to third grades made meaning of scientific informational texts. The study is framed by sociocultural theory and transactional theory. Primary data were drawn from 160 student retellings of scientific informational texts. Secondary data included student interviews and classroom observations. This study contributes to culturally relevant pedagogy by revisiting what it means to read a scientific informational text. It was found that students’ understandings of scientific informational texts were informed by the sociopolitical contexts of their lives. The results of the study also suggest that non-native English-speaking students’ early language approximations should be valued, as they transact with the language patterns in scientific informational texts.
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