basics in content and language integrated learning (clil) · content and language integrated...

Implementa)on of CLIL

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BASICS IN CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED

LEARNING (CLIL)

517181-LLP-2011-NO-COMENIUS-CMP

A piece of warning

p  “In communities struggling with language issues, undisciplined thinking can generate myths that are presented as fact, backed up with skewed logic, with circumstancial evidence, with the use of false and unsupported assumptions, and by the agendas of politics that smother real debate. All this makes it hard for objective more constructive well-researched realities to take hold.” Mehisto, P. 2009. “Managing Multilingual Education: structuring stakeholder dialogue and collaboration”. V. Pavón, J. Ávila (eds.), Aplicaciones didácticas para la enseñanza integrada de lengua y contenidos. Consejería de Educación, Junta de Andalucía-Universidad de Córdoba-CETA. 9-27.


Getting into the unknown…

p  Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is taking English language teaching by storm, but why? Is CLIL the new methodological revolution, comparable to the impact that the communicative approach had on ELT years ago? Or is CLIL simply a new teaching trend that is here today and gone tomorrow?


What does CLIL mean?

p  “CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) advocates

assimilating the academic content of nonlinguistic subjects via a foreign language, which simultaneously promotes the acquisition of content knowledge and the use of the target language. It involves a methodological style that encourages teachers and students to use the language as a means of communication, thus promoting language and content development in the process.” Gerdes, T. & Pavón, V. 2008. “Talking CLIL”, It’s for Teachers Magazine, 110: 14-17

p  There are many different ways of implementing CLIL, whatever the term is used (immersion, bilingualism, multilingualism, language across the curriculum, etc.) all the different models propose to teach content subjects through a foreign language in one way or another.


The different types of CLIL

Mehisto, P., Marsh, D., Frigols, M.J. 2008. Uncovering CLIL. London: McMillan


Implementing a CLIL programme: first decisions

p  “What is certain is that there is no single model for CLIL and that for approaches to be effective they have to be contextualised, evaluated and understood in situ and ‘owned’ by all those involved” Coyle, D. 2009. CLIL Across Educational Levels. Madrid: Richmond / Santillana, vii.


Implementation of a CLIL programme

p  Consider some fundamental aspects:

n  teachers’ linguistic and methodological competence; n  students’ linguistic knowledge; and n  the cognitive demands of the subjects involved.

p  The main concerns should be:

n  to give some flexibility in the selection of the subjects to be taught through the foreign language;

n  to progressively increase the time devoted to the instruction through the foreign language.


Results in Europe

p  1. Students in CLIL classes held significantly more positive attitudes towards language learning and showed higher overall competence in the TL. Merisuo-Storm, T. 2007. “Pupils’ attitudes towards foreign language learning and the development of literacy skills in bilingual education. Teaching Teacher Education, 23: 226-235.

p  2. CLIL classes can exert a positive influence on student’s desire to learn and develop their language competence in the foreign language. Marsh, D. 2000. Using languages to learn and learning to use languages. Finland: University of Jyväskylä.

p  3. CLIL students attain a foreign language competence well above that of students enrolled in regular courses. Dalton-Puffer, D. 2007. “Outcomes and processes in CLIL: current research from Europe”. In Delanoy, W. & Volkmann, L. (eds.), Future Perspectives for English Language Teaching. Heidelberg: Carl Winter; 139-157.


Results in Europe

p  4. CLIL boosts risk-taking, problem-solving, vocabulary learning skills, grammatical awareness, attitudes, linguistic spontaneity, and motivation. Marsh, D. 2008. “Language awareness and CLIL”. In Cenoz, J. & Hornberger, N.H. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Knowledge about Language, 2nd editon, Volume 6. New York: Springer Science and Business Media LLC; pp. 233-246.

p  5. Receptive skills, vocabulary, morphology, creativity, risk-taking, fluency, quantity and affective outcomes benefit more from CLIL. Genesee, F. 2002. “What do we know about bilingual education for majority language students?”. In Bhatia, T.K. & Ritchie, W. (eds.), Handbook of Multilingualism and Multiculturalism. Malden, MA: Blackwell; pp. 547-576

p  6. CLIL groups significantly outstripped their non CLIL counterparts in speaking (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, fluency and content) and writing (content, organisation, vocabulary, and use of language). Lasgabaster, D. 2008. “Foreign language competence in

content and language integrated courses”, The Open Applied Linguistics Journal, I: 31-42.

517181-LLP-2011-NO-COMENIUS.CMP

Results in Europe

p  7. Deficits in foreign language knowledge do not influence the learning process very much in CLIL. It is rather the limited interactional competence which can be a hindrance for learning, for meaning develops through interaction in CLIL contexts. Bonnet, A. 2004. Chemie im bilingualen Unterricht – Kompetenzerwerb durch Interaktion. Opladen: Leske und Budrich.

p  8. Exposure is not the main driver of higher linguistic competence but rather specific materials and methodological approaches present in CLIL. These factors play a more important role in the development of an LSP competence than exposure. Ricci Garotti, F. 2007. “Five methodological research questions for CLIL”. In Marsh, D. & Wolff, D. (eds.) Diverse Contexts – Converging Goals: CLIL in Europe. Frankfurt: Peter Lang; pp. 131-144.

p  9. CLIL students show greater awareness of language patterns, and a more efficient (strategic) use of the resources at hand to facilitate discovery, both at translinguistic and interlinguistic levels. Moore, D. 2006. „Plurilingualism and strategic competence

in context“. International Journal of Multilingualism. 3/2:125-138.


Implementa)on of CLIL

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