TÍTULO DEL PROYECTO: Introducción al diseño curricular de 4to año: Inglés
FORMATO DE CAPACITACIÓN: Curso
DESTINATARIOS: Docentes de Inglés de Educación Secundaria
LOCALIZACIÓN: Provincia de Buenos Aires
MODALIDAD: Presencial
RESPONSABLES: Dirección de Capacitación
AREA: Lengua Extranjera (Inglés)
Unit 1:
REFLECTION TASK: We are going to analyse two activities that we would
normally find in 4º ES.
Consider the following two examples. See if you can fill in the gaps.
What differences can you find between them in terms of format, focus,
language, audience?
1. In the UK some twenty per cent of the population is of pensionable age. It
is a proportion that is increasing. The map, (Figure C) shows that the life
expectancy at birth is over 70 years in the developed world, __________ in
the developing world it is much lower.
2. In the UK there............ (be) a lot of pensioners because elderly people
............ (live) 70 years or more now.
Anchor Point: Language teaching flaws
We said ... that language teaching seems to have problems related to its content. The
basic flaw seems to reside in the fact that its conceptual content – topics, themes,
stories – all of which can occur in a wide range of media, are subordinated to the
underlying linguistic objective. The content that gives life to language, that illustrates it,
that advertises it, that nurtures it – is all too often sacrificed on the altar of language
practice. And of course, how can it be any different? If our objective is to assess
language items and structures, then it is those aspects that we must teach.
Anchor Point: Subject teaching flaws
But what about the other world of subject teaching? If we say, for now, that a major
flaw in language teaching is one of content, we might be further tempted to suggest
that language teachers, on the whole, are accustomed to dealing with content from a
linguistic perspective, and not so much from a conceptual perspective. This is surely
true. Language teachers are trained to use thematic content in a certain way (so that it
becomes a vehicle for the illustration of language use), and we are arguing that the
conceptual aspects (non-'linguistic') of that content are too often
'disposable'. Remember? Who cares about the Amazon rainforests as long as I can
use the 2nd Conditional? Because that's what the teacher's going to test me on!
Anchor Point: Subjects and their language
Subject teachers, on the other hand, are trained to do exactly the opposite. For them,
no part of their syllabus content is either throwaway or disposable. A teacher of
Biology will teach the concept of photosynthesis using all the content and procedure
that is required to make that concept understood. What this teacher might not have
considered are the language elements.
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How can we talk of 'subject related skills' unless we also mention language? Surely,
language is in itself 'content', and should be an explicit part of all subject-teaching?
Scientific discourse is different from the discourse of social science. Talking about art is
very different from talking about mathematics. The differences exist on both a lexical
and a structural basis, and even in primary school children are expected, to some
extent, to understand, master and manipulate this language. This language is often
referred to as text-type, and it is the crucial building-block in the conceptual
architecture of any academic discipline.
Anchor Point: Lexis and grammar
You will have noticed, if you filled in the gaps successfully, that the examples use
words that occur in many topical contexts. But the grammar of those examples shows
how these words are used in the specific discourse style of the subjects, in these cases
Science and Geography. In example 1, the gap could be filled by various verbs (write,
put…) but the word 'record' is a more accurate reflection of the academic function
required, in the context of a (basic) scientific experiment. To 'record' is not the same as
to 'write'. In example 2, 'but' might be acceptable as the missing word, but the less
common word 'whereas' is the better, more text-appropriate answer.
Students do not simply 'pick up' this type of language, to then use it immediately and
correctly. By reading and working with the examples, they are being inducted into the
world of subject-specific discourse, but the question of whether they learn to
understand and then to use this type of language depends on many factors. Subject
teachers need to be trained in order to make this language salient, to make it stand out
and to help it do its conceptual work.
Ball´s ideas relate to what Mohan and Slater (2005: 155-156) say about the
relationship between content and language:
What is content? A traditional view of language does not offer a way to theorize content
or meaning in text or to engage with the relations of language and content. A traditional
view of language, as Derewianka (2001) described, is concerned with the form and
structure of language. It operates at the level of the sentence and below and does not
recognize context as significant. It sees language as a set of rules which allow us to
make judgments of correctness, and it sees language learning as the acquisition of
correct forms. Consistent with this view, a focus-on-form perspective would look at a
content classroom and ask whether the students are engaged in tasks and topics that
highlight certain features of the grammar which may be considered problematic for
students (Long & Robinson, 1998) and offer opportunities for students to practice these
difficult constructions. Similarly, Pica (2002) proposed that content-based language
teaching should include more opportunities to focus on intervention strategies which
would assist in the noticing and correction of grammatical errors.
Derewianka noted that, in contrast to the traditional view of language, a functional view
is based on the functions that language serves within our lives. It emphasizes the text
or discourse as a whole in relation to its context, and recognizes that lexis and
grammar vary with text and context. It sees language as a resource for making
meaning and provides tools to investigate and critique how language is involved in the
construction of meaning. It sees learning language as extending one's potential to
make meaning in a broadening range of contexts, including academic discourse in
schooling. Consistent with this view, we will examine how a teacher helps young ESL
learners to understand and talk about a simple theory or model of magnetism in an
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appropriate scientific register and to apply the theory to reinterpret their practical
contexts of experience. In particular, we use a functional perspective to examine the
role of scientific theory and practice in teaching and learning language and science.
A functional view of language offers a way to characterize content and language.
Broadly speaking, content is the meaning of a discourse and language is the wording
of a discourse. Consider the following text, an ESL child's explanation of magnetism:
“North and north doesn’t go together because it's the same. If north and south go
together, because it's not the same, they will attract” (Slater, 2004, p. 169). Reading
this explanation for content, a science teacher might see this as a causal explanation of
magnetism. Reading it for language, a language teacher might note the “if” and
“because,” and the technical terms “north,” “south,” “attract.” Bringing the two together,
a functional view of language could say that the meaning of this discourse is a causal
explanation of a science topic, and this meaning is expressed in the wording (e.g.,
causality is expressed by “if” and “because,” and technical terms of magnetism are
used). If we look beyond the text or discourse to a larger unit of meaning, the social
practice of doing science, the relation between content and language can again be
seen as a link between meaning and wording.
How can content and language be integrated in an English class through
teaching practices? How are meaning and wording linked in our teaching
practices in ES 4º?
ANALYSIS TASK:
PART A:
Sabrina is planning her classes for 4º ES. She is teaching in a school in La Plata
that is oriented to social and natural studies. She has chosen a number of texts
to work with during her lessons with the social studies group.
Analyse Sabrina´s choices.
In what ways are these examples of language-content integration?
a. What challenges are posed to the teacher in order to teach the language
using this text?
b. Use the curriculum design. Draw the content that you think will be taught
during the lessons (from a linguistic perspective). What language are
students expected to have already?
c. What content from social studies is being developed here?
PART B:
Now Sabrina is starting to plan her classes. She has decided to develop a first
unit on social geography called “Population and development”. This unit will
take her approximately 14 classes plus test.
Sabrina is considering the following directives from the curriculum design:
Se sugieren los siguientes pasos teniendo en cuenta los tres elementos a trabajar en
el enfoque AICLE:
Procesamiento del texto:
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
El docente guiará a los alumnos para que analicen la ilustración, los títulos y
subtítulos y lleguen a la comprensión global del tema del artículo. (Estrategias
de aprendizaje)

Identificación y organización del contenido: Los alumnos discutirán el contenido
del artículo teniendo en cuenta los conocimientos que ellos tienen del tema
estudiado en biología. (Contenido)

Explotación de la lengua extranjera: El docente se concentrará en los
contenidos gramaticales presentes en el artículo (E.j. Uso de Present Perfect
para expresar acciones que continúan hasta el presente, will para expresar
predicciones, etc.) y la explotación de los contenidos léxicos y fonológicos.
(Lengua extranjera)
Tareas a realizar por los alumnos:
Los alumnos realizarán tareas que les permitan seguir profundizando el contenido y
practicando la lengua extranjera (Ej. realizar un mapa conceptual resumiendo el
artículo, debate sobre el contenido del mismo, etc.)
How is Sabrina going to organize the first classes using pages 8 and 9 from “The
New Wider World” Manual? Plan the first 2/3 lessons in groups of 4 using the
directives above.
Principle 2: The Primacy of task
Methodological frames: the primacy of 'task'
If you study history in a foreign language, for example, then you are immediately faced
with a large amount of text. The text has often been designed for L1 consumption. In
this example, for Spanish sixteen-year-old students, the activity attempts to
differentiate between Socialism, Communism and Marxism. Here is an extract from the
text:
The German philosopher, Karl Marx, went further than socialism.
He thought that Liberalism was 'false liberty' and thought that the
famous 'Declaration of the Rights of Man' of 1789 was focused too
much on the individual. The individual had liberty, but to do what?
Marx wanted society to be communal and controlled, not
individualised. He thought that eventually the proletariat would
come to dominate the bourgeoisie and then control the means of
production.…
The above is an intimidating text for a native speaker, let alone a CLIL student. But the
reigning philosophy of CLIL would appear to be that there is no such thing as a difficult
text.
This is easily illustrated. Look at the possible questions that could follow (or precede)
the above (partial) text on Marxists, Socialists and Anarchists. Which of the four
questions do you think is the 'easiest' to do, and why?
Q1. Read the text on Socialism, Marxism and Anarchism. Compare and contrast the
three ideologies.
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Q2. Define the three movements in terms of their principal ideological bases.
Q3. Read the text on the three movements and answer the questions that follow.
Q4. Do not read the text yet. Below you will see various opposites to the philosophies
of socialism and communism.
Now read the text, extracting the word or phrase that opposes the idea expressed
below. The first one is done for you.
Opposite idea
Socialist or communist idea
Working alone, to improve your life.
Working together
Individuality
Solidarity
Privileges
Class-based society
Wealth for the minority
A society of individuals
A 'free' society
The bourgeoisie control the proletariat
The bourgeoisie control production
If you chose Q4 as being the most accessible, then you will have thought about various
reasons for your choice. But whatever you thought, it should be very clear that it is not
the text itself that is the problem, but rather the relative complexity of the tasks. It is
simply untrue to say that you could not ask a 9 year-old child to work on the text above.
It simply depends on what you ask the child to do. If you asked a 9 year-old child the
following questions about the previous text on Marx et al:
a) What was Marx's other name?
b) Which country did he come from?
c) When was the Declaration of Rights written?
…then the child would have a decent chance of getting the questions right. The tasks
are rather 'light', but it might depend on our didactic objective. Similarly, we might say
that Q1 above is, if not exactly 'light', then maybe unnecessarily complex - and what is
our objective? Q4 is much better because it provides 'scaffolding'. Scaffolding breaks
down the ideas into digestible chunks. Q4 provides a conceptual framework whereby
the contrasts become the reason for doing the task. The instruction even tells the
student not to read the text beforehand. The text is read as part of the task.
Language focus
Q4 is also much more linguistic in its scope because it is asking the students to focus
on the language that enables them to find the contrast. So 'privileges' can now be
contrasted as 'Lack of privileges' - employing a useful formal item (lack). Class-based
society will be 'Classless society', enabling the teacher to show how this word is formed
by using the suffix 'less' (where other words in social science may later behave in a
similar fashion). The term 'minority' will now become 'majority', the society of individuals
will require the word 'collective' or 'communal' to form its contrast, etc. The activity is
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powerful, on both a cognitive and linguistic level. Once it has been done, the student
might then be asked (more reasonably) to attempt questions 1 & 2. The
complexity/simplicity of the text is not an issue. There is no such thing as a difficult text
in an educational/scholastic context. But there are such things as difficult and easy
tasks.
Activity types
If we look at the practice of teaching within this new equation, we need to be able to
limit the approaches that reflect the combination of communication and skills. By
limiting, we clarify the boundaries of practice that can achieve this goal.
In CLIL, there appear to be four basic types of activity that can help students to
prosper, despite their relative lack of linguistic resources. These types are applicable to
both primary, secondary and post-compulsory education.
1. Activities to enhance peer communication
(assimilate conceptual content + communicative competence)
2. Activities to help develop reading strategies
(where texts, often authentic, are conceptually and linguistically dense)
3. Activities to guide student production (oral and written)
(focus on the planning of production - 'minimum guarantees')
4. Activities to engage higher cognitive skills
(make students think - offer more opportunities for employing a range of operations)
Number 1. Here, the activities are designed to enhance the assimilation of the
conceptual content at the same time as developing communicative strategies. We've
already seen two examples of this - the 'Running Dictation' about the planets from
Article Two ('How do you know if you're practising CLIL?') and the Information-Gap
Crossword about 'The Accumulation of capital' in Article 3 ('Language, concepts and
procedures. Why CLIL does them better!'). In order to breach the 'gap' in both cases,
the students had to write definitions, and then communicate them. The activities revise
concepts already learned in a unit, but not necessarily assimilated.
The students:
o Write
o Speak
o Listen
o Interpret
o Engage in contextualised grammar
…whilst assimilating the economic concepts that form the conceptual objective of the
lesson. How many birds would you like to kill with one stone?
Number 2 is well illustrated by the Marx example from this article. The activity type
recognises the probability that if the students engage in real content, they are more
likely to confront a greater amount of text, often authentic. The students are therefore
guided in their reading. Instead of reading the text in order to then perform a deductive
task (so often the case in standard language and subject teaching), the task involves
the reading itself and leads the students to the key content. The key content will relate
to the conceptual objective.
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In Number 3, the activity type acknowledges the fact that in order to speak (or write)
students need to have something to say! So instead of the instruction so beloved of
language-learning textbooks:
Turn to your partner and ask him/her if she plays any musical instruments.
…an exchange that can logically culminate in the dialogue 'No' (Or, 'No I don't' if the
author's intention were more linguistically ambitious!) In CLIL it is possible to do rather
more. The students simply work on more complex content, with activities which involve
stages of preparation for subsequent production. The preparation provides a 'minimum
guarantee', after which students (depending on their ability or interest) can improvise
further.
Number 4 acknowledges the power of meaningful engagement. According to
psycholinguists, the more higher operations are involved in a task, the greater the
probability of linguistic retention. The higher the level of thinking involved, the more
likely the assimilation of the vehicular language.
And finally...
To sum up, whether or not the acronym CLIL will exist in ten year's time is probably
irrelevant. The educational approach that it seems to encapsulate is in the here and
now. David Graddol's important book 'English Next' (3) has made this very clear. The
future is about 'competences', not about discussing the differences between the Past
Simple and the Present Perfect. This is not to imply that CLIL does not work on, or that
it is uninterested in, accuracy. What it does imply is that the development of
competences is much more likely to occur within an approach that prioritises thinking
skills and communication.
ANALYSIS TASK:
Sabrina prepared a handout (Appendix 1) with tasks to carry out with the text.
Analyse it and decide if any changes could be done to the tasks to make them
more appropriate for her teaching context.
Appendix 1
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Principle 3: The development of cognitive strategies as a support for language
use in the class.
Anchor Point: BICS & CALP
They sound like diseases, but don't worry; they're not. In 1979 a Canadian linguist
called Jim Cummins introduced two very important acronyms of the world of education
– BICS and CALP. By BICS he meant Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills, which
children pick up in the playground and at home and which is more related to what we
might call 'conversational' survival. By CALP he meant Cognitive Academic Language
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Proficiency, which is the kind of language that you NEVER hear in the playground, and
quite rightly so! The word 'whereas', in example 2 above, is at the weak end of the
CALP scale because you could get away with the word 'but'. However, when you get to
a scary word like 'photosynthesis' it's a whole different ball game.
Anchor Point: Language as the key element in learning
By fusing the worlds of language and subject teaching, CLIL is helping everyone to
focus on the importance of language as the key not just to academic success but as
the key to normal educational practice. CLIL has not discovered this, of course. The
Language Across the Curriculum movement in the 1980s in both the UK and the USA
recognised the importance of language in the subject world, but again, in a CLIL
context that works, this approach occurs almost by default. When you are not teaching
native speakers, you tend to focus more on how you are going to get the concepts
across, which brings us back to procedures.
Anchor Point: 'Skill' rhymes with 'CLIL'
We are constantly being told that the future of education resides in a new emphasis on
skills and competences. The European Commission has published a list of 'key
competences' for what it calls 'lifelong learning', and curriculum planners are now
expected to incorporate these ideas across subject areas. This is good news for CLIL,
because it is already functioning along these lines. There is no separation, in CLIL, of
the worlds of concepts, procedures and language.
Consider the difference between these two lessons – (1) from a standard social
science native-speaker syllabus, and the other (2) from a CLIL-based programme
using the same content.
Ask yourself these questions:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Which activity is cognitively more challenging?
Which activity is the most appropriate for building knowledge?
Which activity offers the most opportunities for language use?
When and for what would you use each activity?
ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 1
We have looked at some terms and concepts related to finances and to the
accumulation of capital. Before we continue, try to match these definitions to their
terms.
Definition
People who supply us with materials
Part-owner of a company
Amount of money charged for the use of a loan
To set aside an amount of money recovered from investments in a given year
Portion of profits distributed to shareholders in proportion to their shareholdings
Portion of profits retained to finance expansion
Pay to employees in exchange for their labour
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Money received by the company for the sale of goods or services
Portion of money received that remains after paying for materials, wages, investments
Term
Interest
Write off
Company capital
Suppliers
Earnings
Profits
Shareholder
Dividends
Wages
ACTIVITY 2
Define these terms in pairs, as in the example given. Then find a partner from Group 'B'
who has the other part of the crossword. Take it in turns to read out the definitions. The
listener must try to supply the correct term.
(Group A)
Across:
1. When you borrow money, you normally
have to pay this every month to the bank.
Down:
Anchor Point: Procedures and cognition
In answer to a) – (which activity is more cognitively challenging?), we might answer,
who cares? Both activities end up at the same conceptual point. But the crucial
difference between the L1 activity and the CLIL equivalent is that the latter does not
present the concepts all tied up in a perfect package. In Example 2, the students must
go back over their materials and find out for themselves (in case they've forgotten)
what the terms mean, and then they are obliged to frame them within a linguistic model
that is provided, but only partially so. The example sentence (defining 'Interest') cannot
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be simply copied for the other terms. The concept will determine the exact language
frames required. It's not easy, but it's possible. Nevertheless, it is procedurally rich.
In example 1, on the other hand, the language is provided, and although it is complex
and requires a certain level of language to understand it, it still 'spoonfeeds' the
students. All they have to do is to match. It is procedurally quite poor.
In answer to question 2 (Which activity builds knowledge the best?) the answer is
obvious. Both activities have the same surface objective (to learn and understand the
terms), but the differing processes suggest that the Crossword will be a more
significant learning experience - even if it might lead to more mistakes and language
errors along the way. A student is more likely to remember the lesson, and to
remember the effort he or she made in fulfilling the procedural
demands. Psycholinguists have been telling us for years that significant learning is
more deeply processed and assimilated. So why not do it?
In answer to question 3 (Which activity offers the most opportunities for language use?)
it hardly needs explanation. The activity is an information-gap type activity imported
from the world of language teaching – it's not the kind of lesson you'd expect to see in
a social science book – but consider the range of skills it works on. Writing (defining),
reading (when you look at the gaps during the game phase), speaking and
listening. Moreover, the listening required is intensive. The listener needs to
understand, and therefore the speaker needs to be clear and grammatical! The
students also need to work together cooperatively both in the preparation phase and in
the game phase. In the matching activity, the teacher could feasibly say 'Do this for
homework', which is kind of sad... Competences? Game over!
In answer to question 4, (When and for what would you use each activity?), you could
argue that Activity 1 is better for just revising the concepts and moving on, and you'd
probably be right. But the objective smacks of teacher convenience, as opposed to
student benefit. With Activity 2, the teacher is bringing a whole lorry-load of educational
objectives to the lesson, and pouring them onto the classroom floor. Who cares if it
takes two lessons, and the other activity takes ten minutes? We're talking about
educational pay-off here, and when CLIL is done well, that's what you get.
Brewster´s article:
Introduction
In CLIL lessons the cognitive challenges of language learning are great; much of the
content lies outside children's direct experience and is often more abstract. For
example, in science lessons learners may struggle to describe and compare the
properties of materials, may find it impossible to hypothesise about why particular
materials are used for particular purposes. They may be able to write up the procedural
part of a report after testing materials but not how to write conclusions. By being taught
specific thinking skills and the associated language, learners are better equipped to
deal with the complex academic and cognitive demands of learning school subjects in
a foreign language.
Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic
Language Proficiency (CALP)
In 1979 the Canadian educator, Jim Cummins, made a useful distinction between
BICS, the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing for so-called social or
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conversational purposes and CALP, linked to more academic, cognitively challenging
tasks in subject lessons. The work of Biber (1986) and Corson (1995) provided
evidence of the linguistic reality in the distinction between BICS and CALP. This
original distinction, refined over time in response to some criticisms, has continued to
provide useful insights for many CLIL teachers.
Typical language and thinking in tasks
If learners are experimenting with different colour combinations in an art class, trying
out magnets in the science class or investigating the lines of symmetry of 2D shapes in
maths lessons, what kinds of skill, aside from basic language skills, will they need to
draw on or develop? Learners may be encouraged
·
to predict what will happen,
·
to carry out simple investigations or experiments,
·
to describe and record what they observe,
·
to find patterns, notice similarities and differences,
·
to compare results, to draw conclusions and so on.
If we take the example of predicting, learners may know the use of will/ going to for an
easy, everyday situation. However, with little knowledge of the concept of magnetism,
for example, learners may not be able to think very clearly about their intended
meaning and may not know the subject-specific words of attract or repel. Some
children find it difficult enough to draw on these more academic kinds of interaction in
their first language, never mind a foreign language. As John Clegg wrote in an earlier
article: The truth is that schools don't often teach these skills explicitly. Instead,
teachers hope that their learners will pick them up.
The first section of this article will refer briefly to the renewed interest in teaching
thinking skills, often based on modern re-conceptions of the traditional taxonomy of
thinking skills published by Benjamin Bloom in 1956. This categorization and ordering
of thinking skills involves a discussion of how the so-called lower-order thinking skills
should ideally lead onto the teaching of higher order thinking skills. The next section on
process skills outlines those skills typically required in different stages of concept
development in subject lessons. Finally, there will be a brief example of how the use of
graphic organizers to record and interpret information links thinking skills to process
skills and language skills.
Teaching thinking skills
Today there is international recognition that education is more than just learning
knowledge and thinking, it also involves learners' feelings, beliefs and the cultural
environment of the classroom. Nevertheless, the importance of teaching thinking and
creativity is an important element in modern education. Benjamin Bloom was the first to
develop a highly popularised hierarchy of six thinking skills placed on a continuum from
lower to higher order skills: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis
and evaluation. According to this system, lower order skills included recalling
knowledge to identify, label, name or describe things. Higher order skills called on the
application, analysis or synthesis of knowledge, needed when learners use new
information or a concept in a new situation, break information or concepts into parts to
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understand it more fully, or put ideas together to form something new. Bloom's
structure was a useful starting point and triggered many applications to school activities
and curricula.
Bloom's revised taxonomy of thinking skills
In 2001 a former student of Bloom, Lorin Anderson, published a revised classification
of thinking skills which is actually rather similar to the original but focuses more on
verbs than nouns and renames some of the levels.
Fig. 1 Bloom's Revised Taxonomy
Higher Order Thinking Skills
Creating
making , designing, constructing,
planning, producing, inventing,
Evaluating
checking, hypothesising,
experimenting judging, testing,
monitoring,
Analysing
comparing, organising, outlining,
finding, structuring, integrating
Applying
implementing, carrying out, using
Understanding
comparing, explaining, classifying,
exemplifying, summarising
Remembering
recognising, listing, describing,
identifying, retrieving, naming, finding,
defining
Lower Order Thinking Skills
We can see that these levels have an intuitive appeal to many teachers; however it can
also be difficult to implement some of these ideas. For example, comparing falls both
under analysing and understanding, which is confusing. Here analysing the level of
comparison depends on context, for example: how complex is the concept or
knowledge being compared?
Linking thinking and language
The figure below is an example of how publications on thinking skills began to start
linking some common thinking and process skills with the typical language required.
For reasons of space, only three levels are exemplified.
Fig. 3 Typical thinking and language skills
Thinking skill
Remembering/ Recall
recognising, listing, describing,
identifying, retrieving, naming, finding,
Possible Language
Questions using who, what, where, when,
which how, how much?
Tasks using describe, choose, define, find,
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defining
label, colour, match, underline key
vocabulary in different colours (e.g. parts of a
system and functions)
Language:
That's a …(because it has …and … )
This is a … and this is what it does.
This has…
This is a kind of …. which/that …
A … is a kind of… which/that …
This goes with this.
Understanding/ Interpreting
comparing, explaining, exemplifying,
classifying, understanding cause and
effect, generalizing, summarising,
Questions using is this the same as…?
What's the difference between…? Which part
doesn't fit or match the others? Why?
Tasks using classify, explain, show what
would happen if… give an example, show in
a graph or table, use a Venn diagram or
chart to show…
Language:
This is ..( a kind of…) but that one isn't
(because…)
This has ( a type of…)but that one
doesn't/hasn't (because…).
These are all types of …because
This belongs/ goes here because…
If we do this then…
This leads to..
This causes …
Applying to new situations
Planning, implementing, carrying out,
drawing conclusions, reporting back
Questions using what would happen if..?
What would result in …? How much change
is there if you …?
Tasks using Explain what would happen if…,
Show the results of…,
Using investigations and experimental inquiry
e.g. surveys, web quests etc. choosing how
to record and represent information
Language:
A variety of language functions for planning,
hypothesising, asking questions, reporting,
drawing conclusions e.g.
What shall we try/ do first?
if we try this then ...that could be…
First we thought about… then we…This must
be .. because…
It can't be …because…
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Marzano's taxonomy of skills in education
In 2000 Marzano published a different way of looking at skills. His classification is
based on the Knowledge Domain and three systems - the Cognitive, the Self and the
Metacognitive. The self system involves a learner's attitudes, beliefs, and feelings that
determine his/her motivation. The metacognitive system relates to learning to learn: it
helps the learner to set goals, make decisions about and monitor which information is
necessary and which cognitive processes are the best fit for the task in hand.
Fig. 2 Marzano's New Educational Taxonomy
KNOWLEDGE DOMAIN
Information
Mental Procedures
Physical Procedures
COGNITIVE SYSTEM
Knowledge
retrieval
Comprehension
Analysis
Knowledge Use
Recall: Recalling Synthesis: identifying Matching, classifying, Decision-making,
information,
what is important to
error analysis,
problem-solving,
facts, sequences
remember.
generalizing and
experimental
and processes.
specifying: by
inquiry,
engaging in these
investigations.
Representation:
cognitive processes
These are also
putting this
learners use what
especially useful in
information into
they learn to create
project-type work.
categories.
insights and invent
ways of using
Graphic organisers
learned information in
encourage this
new situations.
process.
The knowledge domain, consists of three categories of knowledge: information, mental
procedures and physical procedures. A child at primary level may learn about
quadrilaterals and the key vocabulary and characteristics to describe them. This is the
what of knowledge. She will also learn how to draw different kinds of quadrilateral
(physical procedures) and how to compare or classify them (mental procedures). The
cognitive system is made up of four components:
·
·
·
·
knowledge retrieval,
comprehension,
analysis, and
knowledge use.
Marzano's cognitive system is similar to the six levels of Bloom and Anderson. In
knowledge retrieval (cf. Remembering and Understanding) the child needs to be able
to identify and put a name to new information; for example, the topic might be
mammals and the names of different types of big cat, such as tiger, lion, cheetah and
so on. Facts about mammals will involve statements and generalizations using the
simple present tense, such as:
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·
·
·
·
·
·
mammals have a covering of fur, hair, or skin,
mammals give birth to live young,
mammals are warm -blooded,
mammals feed their young with milk from the mother,
tigers have stripes but cheetahs and leopards have spots, etc.
tigers can swim
These language functions can be linked to all four basic language skills using activities
based on oracy (speaking and listening) and literacy tasks (reading and writing). For
example, learners can listen to descriptions of animals and choose the correct picture,
use a tick chart to listen to comparisons of big cats and then use this as a speaking
frame to produce simple sentences. Learners might read simple descriptions of big
cats and transfer key information onto a chart, then use this chart to write simple
sentences. This basic knowledge can be extended to compare and classify types of big
cat in different ways according to features such as habitat, characteristics, appearance
etc.
Under comprehension the learners sort out which information is important or relevant
for a task and ignore other information. Graphic organizers such as charts, grids, Venn
diagrams and flow charts are especially important here for learners as they organize
information in a way that reduces the language load. Thus they help the learner to
focus on the key language and thinking required.
In analysis the learners need to draw on more complex thinking processes - matching,
classifying, generalising and specifying - in order to create and invent new insights or
new ways of using learned information. These skills are likely to be highlighted when
carrying out investigations. Knowledge use is the highest form of thinking process
under Marzano's system and is used particularly in the creation of investigations,
projects and web quests, where application and the creation of new ideas are
particularly useful.
Conclusion
These attempts to analyze and classify thinking processes move from a foundation of
simpler, lower order skills to more complex higher order skills. However, there is still no
consensus about the exact number of skills or levels, the interaction between them nor
is it easy to analyse the level of difficulty of a particular task or the precise thinking
skills required. All we can do for now is draw on insights that have been made and see
which ones seem to fit in with our views. The next article focuses on process skills and
data-handling, referring particularly to the use of graphic organizers to record and
interpret data. The importance and benefits of graphic organizers for both learners and
teachers will be described and how teachers can plan for them. Different types of
organizer will be outlined and one type called glyphs will be illustrated in some detail.
ANALYSIS TASK: From this description, analyse the activities developed by
Sabrina and spot what cognitive strategies are involved in each task.
TASK :
How were these characteristic/ core features seen in Sabrina´s work? Assess her
work. Do you think if follows the core features that Marsh, Mehisto and Frigols
point out for CLIL?
Core features of CLIL as a synthesis (From Marsh, Mehisto and Frigols)
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Multiple focus
• supporting language learning in content classes
• supporting content learning in language classes
• integrating several subjects
• organizing learning through cross-curricular themes and projects
• supporting reflection on the learning process
Safe and enriching learning environment
• using routine activities and discourse
• displaying language and content throughout the classroom
• building student confidence to experiment with language and content
• using classroom learning centres
• guiding access to authentic learning materials and environments
• increasing student language awareness
Authenticity
• letting the students ask for the language help they need
• maximizing the accommodation of student interests
• making a regular connection between learning and the students' lives
• connecting with other speakers of the CLIL language
• using current materials from the media and other sources
Active learning
• students communicating more than the teacher
• students help set content, language and learning skills outcomes
• students evaluate progress in achieving learning outcomes
• favouring peer co-operative work
• negotiating the meaning of language and content with students
• teachers acting as facilitators
Scaffolding
• building on a student's existing knowledge, skills, attitudes, interests and experience
• repackaging information in user-friendly ways
• responding to different learning styles
• fostering creative and critical thinking
• challenging students to take another step forward and not just coast in comfort
CO-operation
• planning courses/lessons/themes in co-operation with CLIL and non-CLlL teachers
• involving parents in learning about CLIL and how to support students
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• involving the local community, authorities and employers
As a synthesis we can refer to what Mehisto, Marsh and Frigols (2008) say about the
three CLIL related goals.
CLIL foundation pieces
The CLIL strategy, above all, involves using a language that is not a student's native
language as a medium of instruction and learning for primary, secondary and/or
vocational-level subjects such as maths, science, art or business. However, CLIL also
calls on content teachers to teach some language. In particular, content teachers need
to support the learning of those parts of language knowledge that students are missing
and that may be preventing them mastering the content.
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Language teachers in CLIL programmes play
a unique role. In addition to teaching the
standard curriculum, they work to support
content teachers by helping students to gain
the language needed to manipulate content
from other subjects. In so doing they also help
to reinforce the acquisition of content.
Thus, CLIL is a tool for the teaching and
learning of content and language. The
essence of CLlL is integration. This integration
has a dual focus:
1) Language learning is included in content classes (e.g., maths, history, geography,
computer programming, science, civics, etc).This means repackaging information in
a manner that facilitates understanding. Charts, diagrams, drawings, hands-on
experiments and the drawing out of key concepts and terminology are all common
CLIL strategies.
2) Content from subjects is used in language-learning classes. The language teacher,
working together with teachers of other subjects, incorporates the vocabulary,
terminology and texts from those other subjects into his or her classes. Students
learn the language and discourse patterns they need to understand and use the
content.
lt is a student’s desire to understand and use the content that motivates him or her to
learn the language. Even in language classes, students are likely to learn more if íhey
are not simply learning language for language's sake, but using language to
accomplish concrete tasks and learn new content. The language teacher takes more
time to help students improve the quality of their language than the content teacher.
However, finding ways in the CLIL context to inject content into language classes will
also help improve language learning. Thus, in CLIL, content goals are supported by
language goals.
In addition to a focus on content and language, there is a third element that comes into
play. The development of learning skills supports the achievement of content language
goals. Learning skills goals constitute the third driver in the CLIL triad.
The three goals of content, language and learning skills need to fit into a larger context.
Parents are most interested in having their children learn the CLIL language, continue
to develop their first language and learn as much of the content as children who are not
in CLIL programmes. Therefore, the ultimate goal of CLIL initiatives is to create
conditions that support the achievement of the following: _,
• grade-appropriate levels of academic achievement in subjects taught through
• the CLIL language;
• grade-appropriate functional proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing in
the CLIL language;
• age-appropriate levels of first-language competence in listening, speaking, reading
and writing;
• an understanding and appreciation of the cultures associated with the CLIL language
and the student's first language;
• the cognitive and social skills and habits required for success in an ever-changing
world.
The CLIL method can give young people the skills required to continue to study or work
in the CLIL language. However, language maintenance and learning is a lifelong
process requiring continued use and ongoing investment.
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