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Article published In:
Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education
Vol. 11:1 (2023) ► pp.4–28

Student-teacher interaction in CLIL and non-CLIL elementary education

A case study of verbal-pedagogical strategies and participation during read alouds in a Natural Science classroom

ORCID logo | Universidad de Extremadura
| Universidad de Extremadura
| University of Michigan
| Colegio Luis de Morales

This study analyzes interaction in a primary school science classroom. We compare the verbal scaffolding strategies used by a teacher during lessons from the same instructional unit taught in CLIL (English) and regular (Spanish) contexts. Results show that although there was no difference in the amount of information (‘content’) made available to students through the interactions, different verbal strategies were used (precision, justification and recall were more frequent in Spanish and exemplification in English) and that students were more active in engaging with science knowledge in the Spanish context. We discuss these findings in relation to the level of abstraction the teacher supported in interacting about science in the regular session, with implications for supporting children in learning both content and language in CLIL contexts.

Keywords: CLIL, primary science, classroom interaction, scaffolding strategies
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.CLIL research and interactional scaffolding
  • 3.Research questions
  • 4.Method
    • 4.1Participants and research context
    • 4.2Codification and data analysis
      • 4.2.1Typical Classroom Activities, Episodes and Clauses
      • 3.2.2Categorization of the clauses
      • 4.2.3Verbal reworking and interactional strategies related to the information made public
      • 4.2.4Degree of student participation
      • 4.2.4Inter-rater reliability
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Amount of information made public
    • 5.2Types of verbal-pedagogic strategies used in the regular vs. CLIL class sessions
    • 5.3Degree of participation
    • 5.4Pedagogical-verbal strategies and level of participation
  • 6.Discussion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 10 December 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jicb.21005.ale
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