Previous research has pointed to the benefits for students’ learning when language and literacy perspectives are included in science teaching. This extends the level of specific scientific vocabulary, but can be understood in a broader sense as increasing students’ competence of dynamically using registers in different functional contexts. In this paper, we explore teachers’ understanding of the role of language in science instruction and investigate which aspects of this role teachers emphasize when discussing students’ learning. The data consists of observations and documentation of teachers’ discussions during an in-service training course about language and literacy perspectives in science teaching. The analysis reveals the existence of different approaches or categories when it comes to including language perspectives in teaching science. The results suggest that teachers tend to interpret the inclusion of language and literacy perspectives as an increased focus on scientific concepts. Another common approach was to prompt students to replace everyday expressions with scientific ones. However, language and literacy perspectives comprise a wide range of aspects such as creating a relationship between everyday expressions and scientific language, understanding the use of hybrid languages and highlighting a general vocabulary. We conclude that there is a need to continue discussing how different aspects of language and literacy may help strengthen students’ engagement and learning in science.