Using Informational Picture Books to Integrate English Learning and Curricular Content: CLIL Pedagogical Framework and Activities for EFL Primary Schools

Abstract

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is an educational approach in which the target language is used as the medium to learn and teach both content and language. The widespread interest in CLIL can be seen in the increasing popularity of adopting it as a viable approach to promoting both content and language learning in Europe (Garcia, 2017; Ioannou Georgiou, 2012) and many English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) countries, for instance- Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam (Lee & Chang, 2008).In this paper, we show how informational picture books are quality CLIL materials. The engaging narrative writing and meaningful illustrations in such books convey accessible factual and content knowledge, an important feature in line with CLIL-related goals. The powerful text-illustration synergy in picture books provides a supportive platform upon which to develop learners' language skills as well as to expand subject knowledge. Next, informed by CLIL theories and practices, a CLIL pedagogical framework is proposed to provide a simplified representation of the complexity and scope of the CLIL instructional sequences and content. The framework strives to achieve a balance between the content and language components in CLIL lessons. Based on the framework, a sample CLIL lesson is provided with instructional examples of how teachers could incorporate an informational picture book into their lessons to scaffold students' development of language, content knowledge, and learning skills. It is hoped that the framework and activities presented will encourage primary subject and language teachers in Taiwan and serve as a springboard for them to incorporate informational picture books in their CLIL lessons.