Content And Language Integrated Learning Science Research Articles

A review of a decade of scaffolding practices for learning in CLIL science classrooms

Abstract This systematic review examines scaffolding practices in science instruction within Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) environments, where English as a foreign language is the medium of instruction (L2). Adopting PRISMA guidelines, 1,052 records were identified, of which 19 were eligible for inclusion. Our analysis shows the essentiality of rediscursification (modifying instructional discourse) and transsemiotization (combining semiotic resources to enhance the message). It also shows variability in the discourse around translanguaging (the fluid use of languages) across contexts, and that preferences for scaffolding practices are shaped by cultural dispositions. The majority of the studies were non-experimental and focused on vocabulary, with only a minority applying heuristics designed for integrating content and language. We raise the question whether some multimodal resources and students’ first languages truly promote science literacy in CLIL. Finally, we provide research-based implications for science CLIL teachers and trainers to support deeper learning in the L2 science classroom.

Exploring the effect of mobile-assisted task-based learning on vocabulary achievement and student attitude

This study explores the effect of mobile-assisted task-based learning (M-TBL) on vocabulary achievement and student attitude among English as a in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) science lessons, the researcher focused on foreign language (FL) students. To investigate this, a quasi-experimental research design was utilized. In the first semester of the 2022–2023 academic year, 34 fourth-grade students from a private school in Istanbul took part in the study. During the course of 6 weeks, the experimental group engaged in six different M-TBL activities and were assigned a one-page worksheet as homework, while the control group completed only the one-page worksheet. Quantitative data for the study were collected through vocabulary achievement tests and a student attitude questionnaire. The data underwent analysis through paired sample t-tests and descriptive analyses. The results indicated a significant difference in vocabulary achievement between the experimental and control groups, and they also revealed a positive impact on student attitudes, igniting their interest in learning the target language. In light of these findings, it can be concluded that mobile-assisted task-based activities yield positive effects on both vocabulary achievement and student attitude in primary FL learners participating in CLIL science lessons.

The effects of using cognitive discourse functions to instruct 4th-year children on report writing in a CLIL science class

The present study analyzed how a group of young Spanish-speaking English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in a content and language integrated learning (CLIL) science class responded to an instructional unit integrating attention to functional language and an inquiry-oriented approach to science. Working in cooperation with the researchers, a year 4 primary school teacher implemented a teaching sequence on levers with 48 9-10-year-olds over three weeks. The sequence, which was intended to raise the children’s awareness of the demands involved in understanding (content goals) and expressing as written reports (rhetorical goals) how levers work, scaffolded their activity from item-based writing to the production of full texts. On completing the unit, each child independently wrote a report on levers, all of which were analyzed from the perspective of cognitive discourse functions and ideational meaning. The results of these analyses are discussed in terms of their significance for CLIL writing with young learners.

Translanguaging as a Scaffolded Practice in a Primary School Content and Language Integrated Learning Context During the COVID-19 Pandemic

<p style="text-align: justify;">Translanguaging enables students to communicate in multiple languages in an English-dominant classroom. It has received considerable attention from scholars in content and language integrated learning (CLIL). Its implementation in primary schools in European countries has been adopted in Asian countries, including Indonesia. This study employed a narrative inquiry investigating a teacher who taught first graders both content matter and English during the COVID-19 forced-remote learning. Furthermore, data were gathered using semi-structured interviews to guide the participant in narrating CLIL science teaching experiences. Virtual observations were carried out eight times to obtain evidence of translanguaging practiced. Due to forced-remote learning, the results indicated that the teacher had to find the most convenient ways to instruct the young students without adding to their burden. Furthermore, it was reported that scaffolding by translanguaging was planned systematically by valuing the students’ L1 and alternating it with English as the target language. The findings also discussed the practical implications of this study to maintain young learners' (YLs) engagement through translanguaging strategies.</p>

Analysis of Teaching Physics Through Interim Language as Preconditions for Humanitarian Training of Science Teachers for Differentiated Approach in CLIL

The paper studies the humanitarian component of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) science training of teachers by reviewing theoretical researches and practical approaches presented in scientific reports and analyzing the results of an experiment conducted with international first-year students of Volgograd State Medical University (VolgSMU) when studying physics in English as the interim language. The research design involves seeking the humanitarian components of CLIL science teachers’ training by studying scientific reports and analyzing the preparedness of international VolgSMU students in physics. Main findings include determination and the description of significant heterogeneities among the CLIL students related to their preliminary preparedness subject and language components. The research results can be applied to design the CLIL science teachers’ training for (1) conducting the educational process in a non-native language with the application of a differentiated approach and relying on integrated linguistic and methodical techniques, and (2) analyzing the preliminary preparedness of students for CLIL education on the example of teaching physics in English.

Can “Integrated Learning” with English support science education? A case study in Portugal

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is an approach used in different countries for learning foreign languages (FL) during non-language classes. Studies suggest that teaching methodologies aware of (verbal) language–such as CLIL–and other science modes (operational, symbolic, visual, etc.) can be beneficial for learning science. Within this PhD research, we aimed to understand science education practices and the influence of English (as a FL) on CLIL science teaching/learning. We designed a qualitative case study in a Portuguese school and gathered information through different methods. We found that, because English is present, a science teacher may become more open to the students’ (language) learning difficulties and to changing strategies/resources. Besides promoting FL proficiency, CLIL could represent a language-aware approach for enhancing science teaching/learning. This contributes to studies on CLIL and science education with a language focus and opens a reflection on teacher practices/education for the learning of science.

International Perspectives on CLIL. Hemmi, C., & Banegas, D. L. (Ed.) (2021). Palgrave, Cham, 300 pages, ISBN: 978-3-030-70094-2.

The content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is acknowledged as a dual-focused educational approach and practice for better access in both languages and content learning. In the last two decades, CLIL has been increasingly under close scrutiny, especially in Europe and Latin America (Pérez-Cañado, 2018; Banegas, Poole, & Corrales, 2020). However, it has been expanded globally and takes up a notable position in the field of ELT. Here comes the publication of this edited collection, signal of an increased need and interests in CLIL across the world.
 This book consists of four parts and fourteen chapters. Besides first part serves as introductory overview of CLIL’s theoretical development and last part as conclusional prospect of conduction of CLIL--both of which are presented by the editors of the book under review--this volume encompasses twelve papers falling under two headings: CLIL practice and CLIL professional development.
 The part of CLIL practice addresses a variety of cultural backgrounds and educational contexts where CLIL implementations are conducted. This part discusses assessment issue in CLIL Spanish history course and translanguaging in CLIL science class in Colombia, attesting to the authenticity (chapter 2) and engaging effect of CLIL. Shifting to a less explored contexts in Japan and Taiwan, there are 3 chapters in this part that investigate the possibilities of implementing CLIL in Asian EFL contexts. Chapter 4 investigates the students’ perception of being assessed in a CLIL programme in Japanese University, chapter 6 concentrates on the interaction between teacher and students that ficilitates both content and language learning in a CLIL classroom in Japan. Chaper 7 surveys students in a CLIL programme at a polytechnic university in Taiwan with CQS (Cultural Quotient Scale) and finds that CLIL approach effectively promotes learners’ cross-cultural understanding and CQ competence. This part empirically reveals the malleability and accessibility of CLIL in various cross-cultural educational settings.
 The part of CLIL professional development explores in what ways CLIL can be sustained across educational levels and types of education provision. Chapter 8 reflects CLIL models in Australian TESOL course, chapter 12 offers evidence that CLIL approach can also be utilized in coursebook for very young learners in tandem with second language learning in the context of schooling. This part also mentions language and content teachers’ needs for professional training that can provide instructions and strategies in both their pre- and in-service phases (chapter 9, 10, 11). Chapter 13 shows the significance of teachers’ awareness of possible hegemonic ideologies in CLIL class. It is crucial for people to realize that instead of being regarded as an elitist education/language learning approach (Van Mensel, Hiligsmann, Mettewie, & Galand, 2020), “CLIL can become the platform through which multilingual education is embraced as an option for anyone regardless of personal circumstances” (Hemmi & Banegas, 2021:306).
 Taken as a whole, this anthology helps language teachers to establish a comprehensive understanding of CLIL initiatives and contributes concrete pedagogical implications for language teaching researchers, as well as education policy makers, postgraduates, and language teacher educators all over the world.

Building science through questions in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classrooms

BackgroundThe growing population of students that are learning science through a Content and Language Integrated Learning approach (CLIL) has led to concerns about these students’ ability to fully participate in a rich classroom discourse to develop content knowledge. A lack of information about science development through classroom discourse in CLIL settings brought us to focus on the questions teachers ask in upper secondary CLIL biology classrooms. Our aim was to understand how these questions effect science content learning opportunities. A multiple-case study design was implemented to examine and understand the complexities of teacher-student interactions. Data were collected in three case studies, each located in a different school (two in Germany and one in Italy), where CLIL senior secondary science classrooms were observed and audio-recorded. Classroom talk transcripts were analyzed using a mixed methods approach to discourse analysis.ResultsFindings suggest that a teacher’s strategic use of questions has the potential to promote both science understanding and science language development. Questioning contingent on students’ answers was observed to both promote content understanding and to lessen the linguistic demand on CLIL students by splitting both reasoning processes and language production into more manageable units. In addition, a higher level of cognitive engagement was present only when students managed to participate in the classroom discourse with answers longer than single utterances. To allow students to actively participate in the classroom discourse, teachers were observed adopting and promoting translanguaging practices, that is, the flexible use of more than one linguistic code. Furthermore, teachers asked language-related questions that promoted both understanding and use of disciplinary language.ConclusionsThe questioning practices observed in this study offer both practitioners and researchers ways of understanding issues of content access in upper secondary CLIL science classrooms. We recommend STEM teachers in CLIL settings not to oversimplify the linguistic demand on students, as this leads to an oversimplification of content. To lessen the linguistic barriers, practical strategies are recommended to support both cognitively and linguistically productive questioning in STEM CLIL classrooms.

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in science class during covid-19 outbreak: A narrative inquiry

COVID-19 outbreak that has shifted face-to-face (f2f) to force­d remote learning challenged the CLIL Science teacher to thrive in a new teaching form. The f2f adaptation of the virtual meeting using video conferencing software has driven the teacher to have an effective and accessible synchronous learning environment, in addition to the asynchronous one. This research was a narrative inquiry participated by a CLIL Science teacher teaching the first-grader in a small town in Indonesia. By employing an in-depth interview, the data were collected and then analyzed by emotional geography frameworks. The findings showcased the f2f adaptations made by the teacher that synchronous mode of delivery was conducted in thirty minutes by careful attention on CLIL frameworks, the language (s) use, and students’ engagement. Her sociocultural, moral, professional and political geographies led her to decide what to do to make the students learning feasible. An implication of this is the possibility that the experience of how the CLIL Science teacher taught the young learners using English would be a new insight for other teachers in dealing with real-time live lesson delivery during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Exploring content and language co-construction in CLIL with semantic waves

ABSTRACT In content and language integrated learning (CLIL) classrooms, it is assumed that non-language content subjects provide more authentic communicative contexts for students to learn a foreign/second/additional language (L2). However, learning abstract concepts and academic language in an L2 simultaneously is also challenging for CLIL students. It is thus important for CLIL teachers to unpack and repack both abstract concepts and academic discourse for the students. ‘Semantic waves’, which model classroom practices of both unpacking and repacking, is arguably a key to understanding cumulative knowledge-building. Applying the concepts of semantic profiles and semantic waves, this paper analyses the classroom discourse of two CLIL science lessons in Hong Kong. In one lesson, the semantic profile mainly consists of downward shifts. The teacher adopted various useful strategies to unpack science concepts, especially with multimodalities, everyday L2 and students’ L1 resources. Yet, there was limited repacking. In contrast, some repacking was observed in another lesson, where the teacher provided explicit instruction on academic language and guided students through academic writing tasks. A semantic wave can thus be observed there. These findings on strategies for unpacking and repacking provide significant insights into knowledge building in CLIL contexts, and may hence illuminate CLIL pedagogical practices.

TEACHERS’ VIEW OF LANGUAGE(S) IN (CLIL) SCIENCE EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY IN PORTUGAL

The development of meaningful environments at school for the learning of Science as well as of foreign languages is an educational concern. CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), aimed at the students’ acquisition of both the foreign Language and specific subject Content, is an approach that may promote the learning of English in use during subject classes and could result in the improvement of conditions and practices of Science education. Research, actually, reveals that teaching methodologies aware of language – such as CLIL – and other semiotic modes implied in Science are beneficial for the learning of Science. Studying a CLIL programme (“English Plus” project, EP), in which Science is taught/learnt with/in English, is thus relevant. A case study on the EP project and its participants (English and Science teachers, students involved in different school years) in one lower secondary state school in Portugal was carried out. In the present research, qualitative data collected through teacher interviews are presented and discussed, with the goal of understanding the role of Language(s) (verbal language in the mother tongue or English and other representation modalities) in the teaching of Science for EP teachers, both in conventional and project classes. A greater teacher awareness and use of Language(s), when an additional language (English, here) is also present for Science education, results from this work. This contributes to research on CLIL Science studies and teacher reflections on adopting a language-focused approach for Science education, also when the mother tongue is spoken. Keywords: CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), EFL (English as a foreign language), language-focused science education, qualitative design, reflections on teaching.

Scaffolding for cognitive and linguistic challenges in CLIL science assessments

AbstractIn Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programmes, students learn some non-language content subjects through a second/foreign language (L2), and their content knowledge is often assessed in their L2. It follows that students are likely to face challenges in both cognitive and linguistic aspects in assessments. Yet, there has been limited research exploring whether and how CLIL teachers help their students cope with those challenges. This multi-case study seeks to address this issue by investigating the instructional and assessment practices of two science teachers in Hong Kong secondary schools. The two teachers presented an interesting contrast – one teacher incorporated both implicit and explicit language instruction in her lessons, so her students were well prepared for the assessment tasks; the other teacher’s instructional and assessment practices were heavily content-oriented, and it is not sure whether students mastered both content and L2. These findings illuminate CLIL pedagogy and teacher education.

Teacher language awareness and scaffolded interaction in CLIL science classrooms

AbstractTeacher language awareness (TLA) constitutes the teacher’s self-reflective knowledge about the operation of language systems in pedagogical practices. This study focuses on teachers’ understanding of learning of language and learning through language in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) contexts, exploring how teachers proceduralise their knowledge of language to facilitate science learning in Hong Kong. By analysing the reflective relationship between TLA and scaffolding strategies of two teachers (studentsn = 31; 32) during a set of lessons in a secondary school, this paper suggests that it is critical to re-orient the TLA focus from teachers to the act of learning and learners’ needs. This expanded conceptual framework of TLA sheds light on how to transform teachers’ implicit knowledge of language into explicit awareness of scaffolding in class. The TLA-filtered, scaffolded interactions can therefore promote the use of language not merely for pedagogical purposes but also as a cognitive learning tool.

The positioning of Japanese in a secondary CLIL science classroom in Australia

AbstractIn Australia, content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is commonly implemented as a way to encourage innovation in language teaching. This paper explores how Japanese can also be used to innovate the teaching of content. Qualitative data are drawn from a Year 8 science Japanese CLIL classroom in a secondary school with an opt-in CLIL program. In the class, a monolingual (in English) science teacher was co-teaching with a Japanese language teacher. Findings from observations, after-class reflections, teacher and student interviews, a student survey and work samples revealed that students were highly engaged with the Japanese component of their science lessons. Kanji was further positioned as a way for students to deepen their understanding of scientific concepts. However, there also appeared to be a separation in the way both teachers and students spoke about Japanese language use and learning science. Implications of these findings are discussed in the paper.

Doing CLIL in the Science Classroom: a Critical Sociolinguistic Ethnography in La Mancha Secondary Schools

This study examines CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) science education in two bilingual (Spanish/English) schools in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), a region which has recently implemented «Bilingual or Plurilingual Projects» under the provisions of the new «Integral Plan of Foreign Language Teaching in Castilla-La Mancha». By taking a critical sociolinguistic ethnographic perspective, the article explores how CLIL is understood and accomplished in an actual science classroom through English as the medium of instruction. This empirical approach serves as the framework to reflect upon the pedagogical transformation of traditional core areas, such as science, and the ideologies circulating among science teachers regarding their own practice. By looking into interactional events in situated classroom practices, the analysis sheds light on three key issues: 1) the role of language(s) in the process of meaning-making negotiation; 2) the way content is organised, taught and acquired through English; and 3) how teachers and students construct both academic and linguistic knowledge. From a CLIL perspective, the study examines daily teaching and learning practices and how teachers struggle to appropriate this methodology to integrate content and language while facing multiple institutional, pedagogical, logistics and behavioural challenges in the science classroom. Data comprise CLIL science interactions in two 1st grade of compulsory secondary education (CSE) classrooms at two state-funded private bi/plurilingual schools in La Mancha City (pseudonym), as well as semi-structured interviews carried out with the science teachers involved in the bilingual programme. For this purpose, the CSE lens contributes to better understand how CLIL science education works by establishing links between language policies, teachers’ ideologies and situated practices in relation to wider social processes.

Explaining Hooke’s Law: Definitional Practices in a CLIL Physics Classroom

This article examines how a teacher in a Content-and-Language-Integrated-Learning (CLIL) program engages in various definitional practices during a plenary episode in a physics class taught in English in Finland. The episode focuses on explaining Hooke’s law, which involves defining its key concepts and their relations as instructable matters. Using multimodal conversation analysis, the article shows how the teacher accomplishes definitions and definition-related actions through talk and a range of embodied and material resources. The different configurations of resources are coordinated to elucidate the key concepts, to contextualize them in relation to the larger activity, and to situate them in the domain of physical laws. The teacher’s actions occasion recipient responses from students that contingently shape the evolving lesson. The findings contribute to understanding how the installation of knowledge about a physical law is accomplished as the teacher’s professional work in a CLIL setting. Thus, for CLIL science teacher education, the study indicates the indispensable need to attend to the artful coordination of multilingual and multimodal practices that teachers employ to define and contextualize physical phenomena.

The linguistic impact of a CLIL Science programme: An analysis measuring relative gains

The present study seeks to contribute new evidence regarding the linguistic progress achieved over one academic year by Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) secondary education learners, enrolled in an English-medium Science course. It gauges the relative linguistic gains resulting from the CLIL programme in contrast with a formal instruction (FI) programme developed in the same school. Participants were followed longitudinally with a pre-test, post-test design. Tests used to elicit data were modelled on the type of tasks used both in FI and CLIL. They tapped into the productive and receptive skills of the learners. The sample included 2 groups of bilingual Catalan/Spanish participants, English being their L3 (N = 50 each). One group had FI plus CLIL in the Science course, (experimental group), the other had FI only (control group). Results obtained confirm that larger relative gains are obtained by the FI + CLIL programme, however not in all domains and to the same degree: relative higher gains accrue in reading, as expected, but not in listening. Similarly, their writing ability, and particularly so their accuracy, shows higher relative gains, and so do their lexico-grammatical abilities. In sum, in the CLIL programme analysed, reading and grammar seem to benefit the most.

Hands-on tasks in CLIL science classrooms as sites for subject-specific language use and learning

Abstract This paper is concerned with content and language integrated learning (CLIL), i.e. classrooms where a foreign or second language (L2) is used as the means of instruction and where content and language learning objectives merge. More specifically, it explores the potential of hands-on tasks in CLIL chemistry and physics lessons to serve as sites for using and learning subject-specific language, conceptualised as both special concepts and terminology as well as subject-specific ways of constructing meaning. Using discourse analysis, attention was directed to hands-on tasks as well as pre-task and post-task phases. The findings indicate that despite the evident content orientation in the tasks, language matters feature in the handling of the tasks. The pre-task and post-task phases seem more conducive to students engaging in subject-specific language use than the action-oriented hands-on tasks that involved highly indexical language use. Overall, the orientation to language of the subject remained implicit rather than explicit throughout. This indicates the importance of awareness raising so that CLIL teachers can better come into terms with their specific remit in language education as ones in charge of making the language of their subjects visible and approachable to students.

‘Do you know Actimel?’ The adaptive nature of dialogic teacher-led discussions in the CLIL science classroom: a case study

This interpretive case study is framed within recent sociocultural conceptualisations of learning. It draws on research on teacher-led classroom discussions, and investigates the conversational intricacies through which ‘dialogicity’ is accomplished in adaptive ways in one content and language integrated learning (CLIL) science classroom. Multimodal conversation analysis (CA) is performed in order to describe how classroom interactional competence (CIC) is enacted by participants while developing a teacher-led discussion. The data come from a bilingual Catalan-Spanish secondary school classroom in Barcelona in which 16 12-year-old students learn biology in English as a third language. The analysis reveals that: (a) the teacher's systematic deployment of multimodal resources ensures comprehension and favours the emergence of learner-initiated turns; (b) as a result, a highly interwoven set of sequences of ‘mediation’ and ‘remediation’ occurs, jointly providing the students with opportunities for the appropriation of language and content; and (c) this abundance of resources contrasts with the scarcity of teacher moves aimed at eliciting more elaborated learner interventions. The study contributes to further understanding of the relationship between language, interaction and learning. It also shows how multimodal CA may offer valuable tools for tracing the process of integrated learning.

Learning to become a CLIL teacher: teaching, reflection and professional development

This case study is part of a larger project which aims to determine the usefulness and validity of a model of a pre-service content and language integrated learning (CLIL) teacher education programme inserted in a Master's degree, whose main pedagogical option is to achieve teacher empowerment through cycles of collaborative teaching and shared reflection. More specifically, the two-fold goal of the study is to describe the nature of the student–teacher's main accomplishments on her teaching practice, if any, as well as on the quality of her reflection on that teaching practice; and to identify and characterise key stages in her developmental process throughout. The analysis adopts an ethnographic perspective and explores fragments of videotaped CLIL science lessons in English/L3 and other multimodal data (student–teacher's journal, academic reports and instructor's field notes) collected in a master's degree for secondary teachers in Barcelona, where Catalan and Spanish are co-official. Through Multimodal Conversation Analysis and Ethnographic Content Analysis, the study reconstructs the developmental process undertaken by the informant throughout one academic year. The analysis traces the student–teacher's progress both in the practical handling of the specific challenges of the CLIL lessons and in her progressive understanding of key issues in the domain of Second Language Acquisition (SLA); it also shows how teaching practice and reflection shape and fuel each other. In addition, it illustrates how CLIL teachers may benefit from tools developed in the field of Applied Linguistics in order to improve their professional skills.