Timing of pedagogical intervention: Oral error treatment in EFL vs. CLIL contexts in primary education in Spain

Abstract

This study stresses the major circumstances in terms of timing of pedagogical intervention in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) contexts within the same school setting in Madrid (Spain). The rationale of the research lies in the EFL and CLIL Primary Education teachers’ preferences for online and offline correction (Pawlak, 2014). In order to gather significant data, classroom observation took place to list teachers’ timing of error correction in oral communication –i.e., whether EFL and CLIL teachers perform immediate, delayed or postponed correction. As for content and language integration, recent literature (Coyle, 2010; Wewer, 2017) stands out that CLIL practice should reflect upon alternative teaching methods different to EFL instruction (i.e. focus on language forms). Contrary to the expectations, the results highlight that there are no major differences of timing of pedagogical intervention between EFL and CLIL teachers: Mostly all oral errors committed during EFL and CLIL courses were immediately intervened. In the light of the results, some recommendations are proposed concerning the focus on language functions; i.e, being able to develop communicative competence and collaborative work along with language teachers.