Project: COMMUNICATION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES - Implementing innovative approaches
to foreign language teaching through foreign teachers inclusion into the school curriculum
LANGUAGE ACROSS
THE CURRICULUM and CLIL
FOREIGN TEACHERS’ MEETING
Katja Pavlič Škerjanc, 28/1 - 2009
Operacijo delno financira Evropska unija iz Evropskega socialnega sklada ter Ministrstvo za šolstvo in šport. Operacija se izvaja v okviru
Operativnega programa razvoja človeških virov v obdobju 2007-2013, razvojne prioritete: Razvoj človeških virov in vseživljenjsko učenje;
prednostne usmeritve: Izboljšanje kakovosti in učinkovitosti sistemov izobraževanja in usposabljanja.
USING LANGUAGE: THE PARADOX
• Language is a system which relates
– what is being talked about (content) and
– the means used to talk about it (expression).
• Linguistic content is inseparable from linguistic
expression.
• In SUBJECT MATTER LEARNING we overlook the
role of language as a medium of learning.
• In LANGUAGE LEARNING we overlook the fact that
content is being communicated.
Mohan, 1986
TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Traditionally, language teaching has been
conceptualised through one major learning
route:
• GRAMMATICAL PROGRESSION
with secondary consideration given to
• conceptual/cognitive/cultural progression
and only lip service to
• content progression.
FLT: SOME DIFFICULT QUESTIONS
1. Where is the content (i.e.
relevant content) in FL?
What is relevant
content?
2. How do we challenge
students to think and
learn new content in FL?
3. Why is so little attention
paid to some aspects of
culture?
4. Why do we use testing
tools as teaching tools?
The 4Cs Teaching
Framework:
• CONTENT/subject
matter/project/theme
• COMMUNICATION
/language
• COGNITION/thinking
• CULTURE/citizenship
USING LANGUAGE TO LEARN - LEARNING TO USE LANGUAGE
A 4Cs teaching framework requires a reconceptualisation of language learning
• from language learning per se
• towards an integrated model which actively
involves the learner in using and developing
− language of learning,
− language for learning,
− language through learning
USING LANGUAGE
demands that teachers systematically plan for,
teach, monitor and evaluate:
• LANGUAGE OF LEARNING - linked to an analysis of
content (thematic, syllabus…) demands - grammar,
vocabulary, structures, functions
• LANGUAGE FOR LEARNING - builds up learner
repertoire linked to meta-cognitive skills
• LANGUAGE THROUGH LEARNING - emergent
knowledge building & skill development, cognitive
development, BICS/CALP (Basic Interpersonal
Communication Skills/Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency)
• (NB LEARNING ABOUT LANGUAGE ↔ language
awareness)
LAC and CLIL
• Project COMMUNICATION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES Implementing innovative approaches to foreign language
teaching through foreign teachers inclusion into the
school curriculum
• builds its strategies and activities on the following two
approaches to (F)LL:
• LAC - Languages Across the Curriculum
• CLIL - Content and Language Integrated
Learning
Language(s) Across the Curriculum
LAC
• Languages Across the Curriculum (LAC) refers
to the approach/practice through which the
study and use of languages take place
throughout the curriculum (cf. Key competences:
communication in mother tongue – communication in
foreign languages).
• Its purpose is to prepare students for the
intercultural and multilingual demands and
opportunities of a global society. LAC is
appropriate at all levels of education.
Language Across the Curriculum
• The concept of Language Across the Curriculum is
– to give all students the opportunity to apply their
foreign language skills in other disciplines, and
– to learn that knowledge of a second language can
enhance and deepen their understanding of
subject matter.
• Language Across the Curriculum extends the
development of language skills beyond the traditional
language courses and programs, and
– offers students an opportunity to read and discuss
relevant texts in more languages than one (mother
tongue & foreign).
GOALS OF LAC
• The long-term goal of LAC is
– to integrate multiple languages into the teaching
of all disciplines
• in order to enrich their intercultural and
international content.
• The short-term goal is
– to enlist the support of teachers and
administrators
• to expand opportunities for the content-specific
acquisition and discipline-focused use of
language and cultural knowledge.
GOALS OF LAC
• Cross-cultural and multilingual inquiry leads to a more
complete learning experience and provides a basis
for comparative understanding unavailable when
students and teachers are limited to the use of resources
in only one language.
• Learners develop a deeper and more precise
understanding of a new language and culture by
studying
– how that language and culture address precisely
defined topics about which they have already
established a certain familiarity in their native
language.
RATIONALE OF LAC
• Understanding of a given culture and its documents
and artifacts is greatly enhanced through a knowledge
of its language.
• A curriculum that includes materials in multiple
languages provides
– access to a wider range of perspectives,
– encourages greater depth of exploration, and
– opens the door to greater understanding.
• The use of materials in multiple languages significantly
enhances any and all disciplinary inquiry.
Language(s) Across the Curriculum
approach:
• enhances intercultural competence;
• encourages students and teachers to venture beyond
their own cultural and linguistic borders in order to gain
additional perspectives and additional knowledge;
• bridges existing curricular and disciplinary
boundaries,
– creating a more integrated learning environment ,
– energizing the disciplines in new ways;
• by integrating the use of multiple languages into
disciplines across the curriculum, reinforces the
centrality of language study at all levels of
education.
Content and Language Integrated
Learning - CLIL
CLIL refers to any dual-focused educational
context in which
• an additional language is used as a medium in
the teaching and learning of non-language
content.
• It is an umbrella term covering aspects of:
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Language Across the Curriculum
Bilingual Education
Content-based instruction/learning
CLIL by other names… ( collected by Steve Darn)
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Content-based Instruction (CBI)
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Content-based Language Instruction (CLII) •
Content-based Language Teaching (CBLT)•
Integration of Content and Language
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Content and Language Integrated
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Classrooms
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English-enriched Content Teaching
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Content-enriched English Teaching
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English-focused Content Teaching
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Content-focused English Teaching
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Content-centered English Teaching
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English-centered Content Teaching
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Content-driven English Teaching
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English-driven Content Teaching
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English-sensitive Content Teaching
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Content-sensitive English Teaching
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Content-oriented Language Learning
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Content-infused Language Teaching
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Theme-based Language Teaching
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Topic-based Language Teaching
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Discipline-based ESL Instruction
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Sheltered Subject Matter Teaching
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Teaching Content Through English
Teaching English Through Content
Foreign Language Medium Instruction (FLMI)
Teaching Through Foreign Languages (TTFL)
Teaching Content in a Foreign Language (TCFL)
Dual-focused Language Instruction
Content-support ELT
Adjunct / Linked Language courses
Integration of Languages and Disciplines (BILD)
Four-handed foreign language instruction
Learning with Languages
Learning through an additional language
Foreign Language Immersion Program (FLIP)
Plurilingual Instruction
Foreign Languages Across the Curriculum (FLAC)
Extended Second Language Learning
Language-enhanced Content Instruction
Integrated Curriculum
Bridge Program
Cross-Curricular Teaching
Interdisciplinary Teaching
Learning skills based ELT / ESP
How does CLIL work?
• Knowledge of the language becomes the means of
learning content.
• Language is integrated into the broad curriculum.
• CLIL is based on language acquisition rather than
language learning. Language is seen in real-life
situations in which students can acquire the language.
This is natural language development.
• The subject matter determines the language needed to
learn.
• CLIL is long-term learning. (e.g. Students become
academically proficient in English after 5-7 years in a good bilingual
program.)
• Fluency is more important than accuracy. Learners
develop fluency by using FL (e.g. English). to communicate
for a variety of purposes
• Reading is the essential skill.
Research tells us that… (collected by Steve Darn)
• It takes 5-7 years for students in a quality bilingual program
to become academically proficient in English.
• Language acquisition is cyclical, not a linear process.
• Learners acquire best when they create, discover and
construct their own meanings.
• Language is a means, not an end, and when learners are
interested in a topic, they will be motivated to acquire
language to communicate.
• Fluency precedes accuracy and errors are a natural part of
language learning.
• Learners develop fluency in English by using English to
communicate for a variety of purposes.
• Reading is essential for developing academic English skills.
• Stoller (2004) improved language abilities and content-area
knowledge gains
• Short (1994) retention of vocabulary and content concepts
The Benefits of CLIL (Steve Darn)
CLIL
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Introduces the wider cultural context
Prepares for internationalisation
Enhances the school profile
Improve overall and specific language competence
Prepare for future studies and / or working life
Develop multilingual interests and attitudes
Diversify methods of teaching and learning
Increase learner motivation
The CLIL Lesson… (Steve Darn)
There is no such thing
as a “CLIL lesson”,
but lessons often
follow a pattern:
1. Processing the text
2. Organisation of
knowledge
3. Language
identification
4. Tasks for learners
CLIL teachers are:
• Subject teachers who can also
teach language
• Language teachers who can
teach content
• Competent in the target
language
• Properly trained and involved
in INSET (= in-service
education training)
CLIL teachers are good at:
• identifying the core language
of a subject
• working with texts and words
• designing tasks and projects
• using technology
The L2 vocabulary development…
(Maria Xanthou, University of Cyprus)
• Vocabulary
development is central
to language acquisition
(Zimmerman,1997).
• An effective approach:
deep vocabulary learning,
activating prior knowledge,
learning vocabulary in
context, active processing,
recalling new words, being
provided multiple exposures
to new vocabulary allowing
incremental vocabulary
learning  CLIL satisfies
these learning conditions.
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Educators need to use an effective approach
in promoting L2 vocabulary development.
Searching for the prospect of an effective
approach to vocabulary learning, a deeper
knowledge about how people learn words
needs to be sought.
Therefore, in what follows, what vocabulary
learning involves is described.
Learning target words through word pairs is
discussed and their relation or not to deep
comprehension is examined.
The importance of activating prior knowledge
is stressed and learning vocabulary in context
is presented as an approach taking this
principle into consideration.
The importance of active processing when
learning L2 vocabulary as well as being
provided multiple exposures to a word are
raised and the subsequent need of
approaching an incremental vocabulary
learning process is expressed.
Learning a subject through the medium of the
L2 seems to be an approach satisfying the
aforementioned learning conditions.
The L2 vocabulary development…
(Maria Xanthou, University of Cyprus)
CONCEPT
A view of the structure of the mental
lexicon, illustrating a lexical entry
(Radford et al, 1999: 233)
Lemma
Mental
Lexicon
Lexical
pointers
Morpho-phonological
form
A lexical entry consists of its lemma and its form information. Lemma information involves meaning
and syntax e.g. the meaning of the lemma ‘take’ is to obtain possession and the syntactic category is
verb. Form involves morphological information e.g. the 3rd singular becomes ‘takes’ and
phonological forms this lemma can take in speech.
CLIL environments expose the learner repeatedly to both the semantic form of the target word and
its morpho-phonological form strengthening this relationship.
The lexical entry in the mental lexicon
(Jiang, 2002: 619)
lemma
meaning
syntax
morphology
form
lexeme
Similarly Jiang (2002) explains that when a root word enters the mental
lexicon, this lexical entry involves two components: the lemma
component and the lexeme component. The first includes semantic
and syntactic information whereas the second contains morphological
and formal information.
Traditional approaches do not seem to offer all the information required for learning a
target word. The data of this study (vocabulary pre-test) revealed that primary school
children confuse L2 words with others that are phonetically or morphologically similar e.g.
they confused coal with goal, plain that is a large area of level country with airplane, hut
that is a roughly-made house with hat, plants with plans, destruction with instruction, heat
with hit and head with hate, trunk with drunk, parade with pirate, poultry with poetry,
cypress with surprise, etc.
Learning vocabulary in context
• Context = ‘morphological, syntactic, and discourse
information in a given text’ ( Nation and Coady, 1988: 102)
• When learning a language  consider all systems of
language –discourse, semantics, phonology, pragmatics
(Rutherford, 1987, Nation, 2001)
• Comprehension of discourse  when students make
meaningful connections between vocabulary and the
contexts in which it is found
• CLIL is rooted on learning new vocabulary in
the environment of meaningful context.
• CLIL methodology provides content-based language
environments where contexts demonstrate the pragmatic
value of target words.
Learning vocabulary in context
• Providing several exposures to new words enables
knowledge of the words to grow. A single exposure: not
enough for learning a new word.
• Nation (1990)  Learners need to be involved in 5-16
repetitions in order to learn a new word.
• Herman et al (1987)  The probability of learning a word from
context after a single exposure is only 0,05%. Repeated
encounters with target words can expand word meanings and
illustrate new associations with that word.
• Rott (1999) examined the effect of exposure frequency on
intermediate learners’ incidental vocabulary acquisition: six
exposures produced significantly more vocabulary knowledge than
two or four exposure frequencies.
• A content-based approach provides recurring exposure to new
vocabulary.
• Robinson (2005): explored CLIL teaching  frequent repetition of
the key vocabulary.