Content And Language Integrated Learning Contexts Research Articles

Exploring content teachers' knowledge of language pedagogy: a report on a small-scale research project in a Dutch CLIL context

The relationship between language pedagogy and the content and language integrated learning (CLIL) classroom is a key issue for research into CLIL. In the Netherlands, as in other European contexts, non-native speakers of a target language with a non-language teaching background teach CLIL content lessons. Whilst CLIL teachers teaching their subject through the L2 are expected to support language learning in their lessons, little is known about these teachers' knowledge of language pedagogy. This article reports on a small-scale research project in a Dutch CLIL context, which explores experienced CLIL subject teachers' practical knowledge base regarding the actions and activities for language learning in their lessons. The study draws on recent educational research which focuses on teacher knowledge of the learning processes in their classrooms. It takes Long's (2009) methodological principles (MPs) for effective language teaching as the point of reference for describing the teachers' knowledge about pedagogy supporting language learning in their CLIL lessons.

Una propuesta fundamentada para analizar la interacción de contextos AICLE en la formación inicial del profesorado de ciencias

Este artículo plantea un enfoque teórico metodológico que permite caracterizar el discurso de la formación inicial del profesorado de ciencias de educación primaria desarrollado en un contexto AICLE(aprendizaje integrado de contenido y lengua extranjera). A partir de una perspectiva sociocultural y utilizando las orientaciones del análisis conversacional, logramos analizar el discurso producido a través de la interacción en pequeños grupos durante el desarrollo de una actividad experimental en el ámbito de la modelización de los seres vivos en la que los estudiantes utilizan tres lenguas: el catalán, el castellano y el inglés. Se presenta la fundamentación del enfoque teórico desde la sociología cultural y el análisis conversacional y se caracteriza el enfoque metodológico como micro, secuencial, multinivel e interdisciplinar. Las estrategias de análisis incluyen la identificación de acciones discursivas y procesos discursivos en cada uno de los tres campos que caracteriza la acción comunicativa de los estudiantes: el campo de la ciencia, el campo de la lengua extranjera y el campo de la didáctica de las ciencias. Finalmente se identifican preguntas que orientan el análisis en más profundidad dentro de cada campo y a través de los campos y que permiten abordar la pregunta inicial del trabajo: ¿Cómo se aprende didáctica de las ciencias en contextos AICLE?

Which score is adequate: Approximation to the assessment rationale used in a Science through English CLIL written test

Despite the surge of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) studies in many areas, assessment practices in CLIL contexts are considered to be much unaccounted for (Poisel, 2007; Hönig, 2009, Maggi, 2012). This paper intends to become a contribution to this area and addresses the issue by approaching to the case study of a Science through English CLIL unit implemented on a state-funded secondary school in Barcelona, Spain. The paper focuses on the written test of the unit and analyzes the students’ responses and degree of satisfaction of the teacher after implementing and correcting the test, which provides valuable insights in the light of teacher development and offers a snapshot of CLIL assessment practices and their effects. The results present a close look at the teacher’s attitude towards content and language errors and points out the lights and shadows of assessment in CLIL while highlighting the need of disclosing further assessment practices in similar contexts.

Which score is adequate: Approximation to the assessment rationale used in a Science through English CLIL written test

Despite the surge of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) studies in many areas, assessment practices in CLIL contexts are considered to be much unaccounted for (Poisel, 2007; Honig, 2009, Maggi, 2012). This paper intends to become a contribution to this area and addresses the issue by approaching to the case study of a Science through English CLIL unit implemented on a state-funded secondary school in Barcelona, Spain. The paper focuses on the written test of the unit and analyzes the students’ responses and degree of satisfaction of the teacher after implementing and correcting the test, which provides valuable insights in the light of teacher development and offers a snapshot of CLIL assessment practices and their effects. The results present a close look at the teacher’s attitude towards content and language errors and points out the lights and shadows of assessment in CLIL while highlighting the need of disclosing further assessment practices in similar contexts.

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL): state of the art in Europe and in Italy

The idea of a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programme was born around 20 years ago across Europe to meet the expectations of our globalized world, in which people need to communicate effectively. The programme foresees an international and multiple-skills approach, bringing in students to learn non-linguistic subjects through a foreign language. Over the years, CLIL has increasingly attracted attention from educational bodies at the primary, secondary and higher level. As a consequence, the research community has started analyzing the improvement of qualitative and quantitative language learning, as well as the positive effects on learning subject content in the CLIL context. It is undeniable that the project is still in its infancy. Its ambitions challenge the tower of Babel, and it has potentials or limits that are often unclear to both teachers and students. This manuscript is an overview on the CLIL research activities implemented to date and summarizes how specific pedagogic, educational and even neuroscience research has evolved in the field. Different research approaches are described and recent results highlighted.

CLIL in Sweden – why does it not work? A metaperspective on CLIL across contexts in Europe

Many studies show positive correlations between content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and the learning of English as a foreign language. However, findings from CLIL research in Sweden do not match those obtained elsewhere. The aim of this article is to show that some explanations for discrepancies in results obtained across CLIL contexts in Europe may be found in nation-specific contextual factors. Four such factors are focused on: policy framework, teacher education, age of implementation, and extramural exposure to English. The article gives an overview of these factors in four European countries: Finland, Germany, Spain, and Sweden. A coordinate system is created using four quadrants: the policy framework factor is paired with amount of research; the age factor is combined with amount of CLIL; the teacher education factor includes pre-service and in-service programs; and extramural English is considered in amount and range. From this coordinate system, nation-specific CLIL profiles emerge. It is argued that such national profiles will serve as an essential theoretical point of departure for comparisons of research results across nations. Furthermore, the profiles will facilitate policy-level discussions on CLIL implementation in individual countries.

Listening to learners: an investigation into ‘successful learning’ across CLIL contexts

This study is part of longitudinal research undertaken in 11 secondary schools across two countries, based in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classrooms with 12–15 year olds. The aim was to listen to learners, provide them with a ‘voice’ to analyse their perceptions of ‘successful learning’ and to undertake participatory research not only to find evidence of successful learning but also to encourage greater ownership of CLIL classroom events. We believe that this study due to the innovative ways of involving learners has a unique contribution to make to our understanding of ‘successful learning’ using French, German and Spanish in CLIL classrooms where English is the usual medium for learning. For the purposes of this study, ‘successful learning’ was considered to have two components: motivation and achievement or pupil gains. Three distinct data-gathering methods were used: questionnaires, ‘respectful discussions’ and classroom video analysis using the LOCIT (Learning-Oriented Critical Incident Technique) process. The findings reveal that whilst discussing successful CLIL generates useful data to trigger further research by learners and teachers, classroom evidence selected by the learners is less aligned. This study suggests that these data could not only be used to support learners' understanding of ‘successful learning’ more deeply but also to create their own class-based research agendas and to be part of changing classroom practice.

Investigating the coexistence of the mother tongue and the foreign language through teacher collaboration in CLIL contexts: perceptions and practice of the teachers involved in the plurilingual programme in Andalusia

In content and language integrated learning (CLIL), as in any other type of bilingual education, two languages are used to promote cognitive and language learning. Whereas in the bilingual classroom the two languages are always present, in CLIL they may appear together or be used in totally separate circumstances. Although the relationship between languages is different, in CLIL, where the foreign language is the minority language employed, we uphold that the purported benefits of combining both languages should not be underestimated in this type of education. The objective of this study is to find out if the collaboration among teachers, particularly between language assistants and content teachers, with the subsequent use of two languages in the same classroom, may result in the development of strategies that will ultimately contribute to the improvement of the teaching process, the learning of content matter and also the development of language skills and language awareness. By analysing the perceptions and reflection on the actual performance of teachers involved in CLIL programmes in Andalusia, a Spanish monolingual autonomous community, this article aims to identify the existence of collaborative work among teachers, the advantages of such collaboration and the benefits of using the two languages.

The European Framework for CLIL Teacher Education

The European Framework for CLIL Teacher Education (EFCT – http://clil-cd.ecml.at) is a conceptual tool for guiding the professional development of CLIL teachers. CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is a dual-focused approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language. The framework provides a set of principles and ideas for designing CLIL professional curricula. CLIL programmes differ widely from country to country in their organisation, content, intensity and choice of languages, and there are corresponding differences in how teacher education providers design and implement teacher training and development programmes. The EFCT aims to serve as a transnational conceptual tool for supporting the development of theoretically-sound educational practice in CLIL contexts. It is not intended as a prescriptive template.

Christiane Dalton-Puffer: Discourse in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Classrooms.

During the last two decades or so, the use of English in teaching different subjects, such as mathematics or music, which are taught at all levels of mainstream schools where English is not the first language of students/teachers, has been a very controversial issue. Some of the questions asked include: Where do we put the emphasis on in those classes, language or content? How about the role of foreign language in the construction of meaning? What are the roles of teachers? An in-depth analysis of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classroom instruction is therefore both necessary and inevitable. This book addresses this need by providing a comprehensive analysis of classroom discourse in CLIL classrooms. The manuscript is based on a research project that was designed, within the light of constructivist and participatory learning theories, as a predominantly qualitative study of naturalistic classroom interactions in CLIL contexts in Austria. Therefore, the book makes a significant attempt at answering several important questions regarding the features of CLIL classrooms by placing the main emphasis on language use.

A CLIL experience based on the use of tasks and different genre types

Normal 0 0 1 112 639 5 1 784 11.1287 0 0 0 Teaching English in the 21 st century poses the challenge of facing and adapting to the new status of the English language as a lingua franca. Accordingly, its teaching methodology and didactics have changed too. It is in this context that a new methodology Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has appeared. This paper aims to point out what the core features of CLIL methodology are and how task-based and genre-based pedagogies can complement it. It then presents the analysis of a classroom experience in order to show how problem solving tasks can help enhance CLIL contexts so that students can develop their linguistic competence as well as their content knowledge in English by means of reading, interpreting, and producing texts of different genre types.

L2 children and writing: a neglected skill?

This is a summary of an online discussion hosted by the IATEFL Young Learners Special Interest Group (SIG) in February 2007. Writing is not so much neglected in primary classrooms as not noticed and not adequately prepared for. It tends to take on a great deal of significance at later stages of primary and secondary education when it is increasingly used as a main vehicle for assessment or the demonstration of learning. The term ‘writing’ was seen as ambiguous and it was argued that teachers need to define the way they use the term ‘writing’ and consider whether they are concerned with: development of the motor skills of writing, writing to communicate, writing to learn, and/or writing to demonstrate other skills. Writing potentially performs many different functions in the L2 classroom but this will vary according to context, children's level, and teachers’ goals. For example, writing to learn is more likely to be a goal in an ESL or bilingual CLIL (content and language integrated learning) context. Consequently, some contributors argued for writing as a form of communication and viewed the integration of reading and writing with other skills as natural and appropriate in the young learner (YL) classroom in activities such as telling a story followed by children writing their own version in whatever way they can. However, in other contexts, writing is used more as a support skill (e.g. as a support for speaking in Korea) or as a means of demonstrating language knowledge.