It is important to ensure that the implementation of modern European educational bilingualism be based on sound theoretical underpinnings. We discuss the development of L2 competence, as evidenced in sentence and text grammar, gauging the extent to which the incidental language learning favoured by a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) approach appears to satisfy the requirements of content learning. Secondary CLIL learners were given writing prompts designed to produce short passages of academic type language. The resulting texts are employed to discuss (a) the alignment of content and grammar and the primacy of semantic considerations; (b) transfer between L1 and L2 and the undeniable role of the L1, and (c) interlanguage levels and the need for realistic attainment models. They also serve to illustrate the importance of communicative need in CLIL-type approaches.
Results, drawn from naturally occurring classroom interactions in CLIL environments collected in Switzerland, are used to argue that a theoretical proposal can be made about the specific impact that CLIL has on second language learning. Based on the observation of a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, it will be claimed that CLIL offers a learning environment which favourably influences the conditions of L2 use and, therefore, its acquisition. Specifically, the model suggested here argues for a pragmatic effect – the mask effect – which is taken to facilitate the spoken production of CLIL students. This effect is related to current research in the cognitive psychology of bilingualism as it links the mask effect with an ability to focus on the relevant aspects of the task at hand while inhibiting irrelevant ones.
The study presented investigates the English language learning outcomes of 44 German-speaking children in year 3 of secondary school, of whom 22 are in CLIL strands, while the other group follow standard curricula. This investigation focuses on the acquisition of oral narrative competence, using a picture story related by each pupil in German and English as data base. Aspects of language competence investigated include degrees of narrative competence (e.g. mentioning of plot elements, shifting perspectives), morphological/syntactic language regularities (e.g. tense forms) and the use of communicative strategies (i.e. coping with lexical gaps). The results point towards improved oral narrative abilities of CLIL pupils. There are, however, differences in the various competence aspects investigated, indicating that CLIL instruction most markedly affects more complex elements.
This chapter proposes that a genre-based pedagogy could provide at least a partial framework for a language curriculum in CLIL. It starts from the idea that an important aspect of learning an academic subject is that of being a user of the different text types or genres through which the subject knowledge is construed. In a genre-based pedagogy, teachers and students jointly construct content knowledge along with the textual and linguistic forms in which it is packaged, thus linking the oral discourse through which knowledge is construed with the written genres which students may have to produce. Such an approach is particularly relevant for CLIL, as it provides a way of genuinely integrating content and language instruction. The chapter provides examples from secondary CLIL history lessons, but it is argued that a genre-based approach can be suitable across subject areas, and is compatible with the 4 Cs perspective on CLIL.
This chapter reports on a case study on the effects of CLIL on a teacher’s language use. The data consist of biology lessons by a teacher both in his L1, Finnish, and in English. Analysis focuses both on what the teacher says and how he uses language in the two settings. In line with its discourse-pragmatic orientation, the chapter pays special attention to social and interpersonal dimensions of language use. The findings suggest that patterns of interaction differ across the two contexts, lessons in Finnish containing more teacher monologues than CLIL lessons. However, when teaching in Finnish, the teacher has at his disposal a wider repertoire of subtle means to construct and negotiate the teacher–student relationship and its power asymmetries.
This paper presents a comparative analysis of the language used by CLIL secondary school students of history and that of students following the same syllabus in their first language (Spanish). The data consists of spoken and written production: a whole-class end-of-topic summary session and short compositions by the same students on the same topic. Using a Systemic-Functional approach (Halliday 2004), we analyse a selection of features of the students’ language in the two contexts. We focus on their expression of content: processes, participants, circumstances and clause complexes (Halliday’s ideational function of language) and their use of modality (the interpersonal function). The results report differences between the two groups in the realization of the two functions.
This article reports on a study of written production in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) with special emphasis on the ways linguistic resources are used in constructing historical meaning. The study utilizes the systemic functional framework (SFL) and its data consist of essays written in English (language of instruction) and in Finnish (students’ first language and language of instruction) by ten CLIL students and in English (the only language of instruction, students’ first or second language) by nine peers in international school (all grade 8 students, about 14 years of age). The discussion addresses the following questions: What are some of the features emerging in the written productions that reflect the use of language in constructing historical meaning in the light of systemic-functional linguistics? In particular, what characteristics of grammatical metaphor realized in terms of syntactic intricacy and thematic organization are observed in the English and Finnish essays of the CLIL students? The article concludes with a discussion of future research and pertinent pedagogical implications to CLIL environments.
This chapter examines the effects of CLIL provision on different aspects of written language competence in order to determine which of these areas profit more and which are possibly unaffected by the experience of subject matter teaching in a foreign language. For this purpose we analysed the written work of students who followed either a traditional EFL curriculum or enjoyed additional CLIL provision. The data were obtained in a double case study at two higher technical colleges in Austria where students were asked to complete a free writing task. The bottom line of the analysis shows the CLIL students clearly ahead of their EFL-only peers on the basis of overall scores, but on closer inspection results tell a more complex story: in the area of lexico-grammar the CLIL students show significant advantages throughout, as they do in vocabulary range and orthographic correctness. On the level of discourse competence and textual organization, however, differences are difficult to discern with the general competence level in this area leaving a great deal of room for improvement. Several explanations for these results suggest themselves.
This paper analyses the written competence attained by two groups of bilingual students that follow two different CLIL programmes, and another group enrolled in a traditional English as a Foreign language (EFL) programme. This study also analyses the longitudinal progression of these three groups to offer a more prolonged perspective on CLIL. Our results show the CLIL groups score better in relation to the five categories analysed in written production: content, organisation, vocabulary, language usage and mechanics, which suggests there is a positive relationship between the amount of exposure through English and written foreign language proficiency. Furthermore, the longitudinal evaluation of the results show that students enrolled on CLIL programmes outperform students on the EFL programmes, and this advantage increases with grade, confirming the effectiveness of the CLIL approach on written production outcomes. These results serve as evidence that CLIL can be more useful than traditional language teaching in promoting proficiency in the foreign language.
Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics, and especially, on the notions of genre (Martin, 1985; Eggins, 1994) and phase (Young 1990, 1994), the present paper pursues a two-fold objective: (i) to identify the type, function and linguistic realisation of the metadiscursive devices (MDs) used in the organisation of lectures; and (ii) to account for similarities and differences between the L1 and L2 and assess their implications for teacher training. The contrastive analysis of six lectures given by the same speakers in Spanish (L1) and English (L2) reveals differences regarding the types and realisations of MDs. Specifically, the Spanish data show more explicit signalling, a wider variety of stylistic choices, and a higher use of interaction devices and conclusion markers. These findings point to the need for precise language objectives (e.g. explicit focus on the role of MDs) in CLIL teacher education in university contexts.
The present study examines lecture comprehension in English-Medium (EM) courses, i.e. non-language subjects taught through English in higher education. It uses a questionnaire with self-assessment items for aspects of lecture comprehension in English and in the first language (L1). The sample comprises 391 respondents from three Norwegian institutions of higher education. Analysis shows that although the differences in comprehension scores between English and the L1 are not substantial, and the respondents experienced much the same difficulties in the L1 and English, a larger number of students have comprehension difficulties in the EM lectures. The main problems are difficulties distinguishing the meaning of words, unfamiliar vocabulary, and difficulties taking notes while listening to lectures. It concludes by arguing the need to take language difficulties seriously, through the use of effective lecturing behavior, and improving the lecturers’ as well as the students’ English proficiency.
Based on a longitudinal study of an international educational programme in English as the participants’ lingua franca, this chapter argues for ‘integrative explaining’ as a new construct that offers direct access to analysing content and language integrated learning at the micro-level. A detailed discourse-pragmatic analysis of twelve lessons spread over two years in this tertiary classroom community of practice has revealed distinct patterns of explaining subject-specific versus general terms and expressions. The results offer new and revealing insights into, firstly, the community-specific discursive ‘principle of joint forces’ and, secondly, the different activation of subject- vs. language expertise in discursively integrating new concepts into already shared knowledge.
It is important to ensure that the implementation of modern European educational bilingualism be based on sound theoretical underpinnings. We discuss the development of L2 competence, as evidenced in sentence and text grammar, gauging the extent to which the incidental language learning favoured by a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) approach appears to satisfy the requirements of content learning. Secondary CLIL learners were given writing prompts designed to produce short passages of academic type language. The resulting texts are employed to discuss (a) the alignment of content and grammar and the primacy of semantic considerations; (b) transfer between L1 and L2 and the undeniable role of the L1, and (c) interlanguage levels and the need for realistic attainment models. They also serve to illustrate the importance of communicative need in CLIL-type approaches.
Results, drawn from naturally occurring classroom interactions in CLIL environments collected in Switzerland, are used to argue that a theoretical proposal can be made about the specific impact that CLIL has on second language learning. Based on the observation of a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, it will be claimed that CLIL offers a learning environment which favourably influences the conditions of L2 use and, therefore, its acquisition. Specifically, the model suggested here argues for a pragmatic effect – the mask effect – which is taken to facilitate the spoken production of CLIL students. This effect is related to current research in the cognitive psychology of bilingualism as it links the mask effect with an ability to focus on the relevant aspects of the task at hand while inhibiting irrelevant ones.
The study presented investigates the English language learning outcomes of 44 German-speaking children in year 3 of secondary school, of whom 22 are in CLIL strands, while the other group follow standard curricula. This investigation focuses on the acquisition of oral narrative competence, using a picture story related by each pupil in German and English as data base. Aspects of language competence investigated include degrees of narrative competence (e.g. mentioning of plot elements, shifting perspectives), morphological/syntactic language regularities (e.g. tense forms) and the use of communicative strategies (i.e. coping with lexical gaps). The results point towards improved oral narrative abilities of CLIL pupils. There are, however, differences in the various competence aspects investigated, indicating that CLIL instruction most markedly affects more complex elements.
This chapter proposes that a genre-based pedagogy could provide at least a partial framework for a language curriculum in CLIL. It starts from the idea that an important aspect of learning an academic subject is that of being a user of the different text types or genres through which the subject knowledge is construed. In a genre-based pedagogy, teachers and students jointly construct content knowledge along with the textual and linguistic forms in which it is packaged, thus linking the oral discourse through which knowledge is construed with the written genres which students may have to produce. Such an approach is particularly relevant for CLIL, as it provides a way of genuinely integrating content and language instruction. The chapter provides examples from secondary CLIL history lessons, but it is argued that a genre-based approach can be suitable across subject areas, and is compatible with the 4 Cs perspective on CLIL.
This chapter reports on a case study on the effects of CLIL on a teacher’s language use. The data consist of biology lessons by a teacher both in his L1, Finnish, and in English. Analysis focuses both on what the teacher says and how he uses language in the two settings. In line with its discourse-pragmatic orientation, the chapter pays special attention to social and interpersonal dimensions of language use. The findings suggest that patterns of interaction differ across the two contexts, lessons in Finnish containing more teacher monologues than CLIL lessons. However, when teaching in Finnish, the teacher has at his disposal a wider repertoire of subtle means to construct and negotiate the teacher–student relationship and its power asymmetries.
This paper presents a comparative analysis of the language used by CLIL secondary school students of history and that of students following the same syllabus in their first language (Spanish). The data consists of spoken and written production: a whole-class end-of-topic summary session and short compositions by the same students on the same topic. Using a Systemic-Functional approach (Halliday 2004), we analyse a selection of features of the students’ language in the two contexts. We focus on their expression of content: processes, participants, circumstances and clause complexes (Halliday’s ideational function of language) and their use of modality (the interpersonal function). The results report differences between the two groups in the realization of the two functions.
This article reports on a study of written production in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) with special emphasis on the ways linguistic resources are used in constructing historical meaning. The study utilizes the systemic functional framework (SFL) and its data consist of essays written in English (language of instruction) and in Finnish (students’ first language and language of instruction) by ten CLIL students and in English (the only language of instruction, students’ first or second language) by nine peers in international school (all grade 8 students, about 14 years of age). The discussion addresses the following questions: What are some of the features emerging in the written productions that reflect the use of language in constructing historical meaning in the light of systemic-functional linguistics? In particular, what characteristics of grammatical metaphor realized in terms of syntactic intricacy and thematic organization are observed in the English and Finnish essays of the CLIL students? The article concludes with a discussion of future research and pertinent pedagogical implications to CLIL environments.
This chapter examines the effects of CLIL provision on different aspects of written language competence in order to determine which of these areas profit more and which are possibly unaffected by the experience of subject matter teaching in a foreign language. For this purpose we analysed the written work of students who followed either a traditional EFL curriculum or enjoyed additional CLIL provision. The data were obtained in a double case study at two higher technical colleges in Austria where students were asked to complete a free writing task. The bottom line of the analysis shows the CLIL students clearly ahead of their EFL-only peers on the basis of overall scores, but on closer inspection results tell a more complex story: in the area of lexico-grammar the CLIL students show significant advantages throughout, as they do in vocabulary range and orthographic correctness. On the level of discourse competence and textual organization, however, differences are difficult to discern with the general competence level in this area leaving a great deal of room for improvement. Several explanations for these results suggest themselves.
This paper analyses the written competence attained by two groups of bilingual students that follow two different CLIL programmes, and another group enrolled in a traditional English as a Foreign language (EFL) programme. This study also analyses the longitudinal progression of these three groups to offer a more prolonged perspective on CLIL. Our results show the CLIL groups score better in relation to the five categories analysed in written production: content, organisation, vocabulary, language usage and mechanics, which suggests there is a positive relationship between the amount of exposure through English and written foreign language proficiency. Furthermore, the longitudinal evaluation of the results show that students enrolled on CLIL programmes outperform students on the EFL programmes, and this advantage increases with grade, confirming the effectiveness of the CLIL approach on written production outcomes. These results serve as evidence that CLIL can be more useful than traditional language teaching in promoting proficiency in the foreign language.
Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics, and especially, on the notions of genre (Martin, 1985; Eggins, 1994) and phase (Young 1990, 1994), the present paper pursues a two-fold objective: (i) to identify the type, function and linguistic realisation of the metadiscursive devices (MDs) used in the organisation of lectures; and (ii) to account for similarities and differences between the L1 and L2 and assess their implications for teacher training. The contrastive analysis of six lectures given by the same speakers in Spanish (L1) and English (L2) reveals differences regarding the types and realisations of MDs. Specifically, the Spanish data show more explicit signalling, a wider variety of stylistic choices, and a higher use of interaction devices and conclusion markers. These findings point to the need for precise language objectives (e.g. explicit focus on the role of MDs) in CLIL teacher education in university contexts.
The present study examines lecture comprehension in English-Medium (EM) courses, i.e. non-language subjects taught through English in higher education. It uses a questionnaire with self-assessment items for aspects of lecture comprehension in English and in the first language (L1). The sample comprises 391 respondents from three Norwegian institutions of higher education. Analysis shows that although the differences in comprehension scores between English and the L1 are not substantial, and the respondents experienced much the same difficulties in the L1 and English, a larger number of students have comprehension difficulties in the EM lectures. The main problems are difficulties distinguishing the meaning of words, unfamiliar vocabulary, and difficulties taking notes while listening to lectures. It concludes by arguing the need to take language difficulties seriously, through the use of effective lecturing behavior, and improving the lecturers’ as well as the students’ English proficiency.
Based on a longitudinal study of an international educational programme in English as the participants’ lingua franca, this chapter argues for ‘integrative explaining’ as a new construct that offers direct access to analysing content and language integrated learning at the micro-level. A detailed discourse-pragmatic analysis of twelve lessons spread over two years in this tertiary classroom community of practice has revealed distinct patterns of explaining subject-specific versus general terms and expressions. The results offer new and revealing insights into, firstly, the community-specific discursive ‘principle of joint forces’ and, secondly, the different activation of subject- vs. language expertise in discursively integrating new concepts into already shared knowledge.