12/11/2015 CLIL:Alessonframework

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CLIL:Alessonframework
Submittedbyadminon31January,200612:00

Inthefirstofthesearticles,ContentandLanguageIntegratedLearning,Igavean
introductiontothisfield.InthissecondarticleIwilllookmorecloselyathowCLILis
realisedintheclassroomandsuggestaframeworkforplanningCLILlessons.

Underlyingprinciples

Classroomprinciples

Lessonframework

Conclusion

Underlyingprinciples
TheprinciplesbehindContentandLanguageIntegratedLearningincludeglobal
statementssuchas'allteachersareteachersoflanguage'(TheBullockReportA
LanguageforLife,1975)tothewiderangingadvantagesofcrosscurricularbilingual
teachinginstatementsfromtheContentandLanguageIntegratedProject(CLIP).The
benefitsofCLILmaybeseenintermsofculturalawareness,internationalisation,
languagecompetence,preparationforbothstudyandworkinglife,andincreased
motivation.

WhileCLILmaybethebestfitmethodologyforlanguageteachingandlearningina
multilingualEurope,theliteraturesuggeststhatthereremainsadearthofCLILtype
materials,andalackofteachertrainingprogrammestopreparebothlanguageand
subjectteachersforCLILteaching.Thetheorymaybesolid,butquestionsremainabout
howtheorytranslatesintoclassroompractice.

Classroomprinciples
SomeofthebasicprinciplesofCLILarethatintheCLILclassroom:

Languageisusedtolearnaswellastocommunicate

Itisthesubjectmatterwhichdeterminesthelanguageneededtolearn.

ACLILlessonisthereforenotalanguagelessonneitherisitasubjectlessontransmitted
inaforeignlanguage.Accordingtothe4Cscurriculum(Coyle1999),asuccessfulCLIL
lessonshouldcombineelementsofthefollowing:

ContentProgressioninknowledge,skillsandunderstandingrelatedtospecific
elementsofadefinedcurriculum
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CommunicationUsinglanguagetolearnwhilstlearningtouselanguage

CognitionDevelopingthinkingskillswhichlinkconceptformation(abstractand
concrete),understandingandlanguage

CultureExposuretoalternativeperspectivesandsharedunderstandings,which
deepenawarenessofothernessandself.

InaCLILlesson,allfourlanguageskillsshouldbecombined.Theskillsareseenthus:

Listeningisanormalinputactivity,vitalforlanguagelearning

Reading,usingmeaningfulmaterial,isthemajorsourceofinput

Speakingfocusesonfluency.Accuracyisseenassubordinate

Writingisaseriesoflexicalactivitiesthroughwhichgrammarisrecycled.

ForteachersfromanELTbackground,CLILlessonsexhibitthefollowingcharacteristics:

Integratelanguageandskills,andreceptiveandproductiveskills

Lessonsareoftenbasedonreadingorlisteningtexts/passages

Thelanguagefocusinalessondoesnotconsiderstructuralgrading

Languageisfunctionalanddictatedbythecontextofthesubject

Languageisapproachedlexicallyratherthangrammatically

Learnerstylesaretakenintoaccountintasktypes.

Inmanyways,then,aCLILlessonissimilartoanELTintegratedskillslesson,exceptthat
itincludesexplorationoflanguage,isdeliveredbyateacherversedinCLILmethodology
andisbasedonmaterialdirectlyrelatedtoacontentbasedsubject.Bothcontentand
languageareexploredinaCLILlesson.ACLIL'approach'isnotfarremovedfrom
humanistic,communicativeandlexicalapproachesinELT,andaimstoguidelanguage
processingandsupportslanguageproductioninthesamewaythatanELTcoursewould
byteachingtechniquesforexploitingreadingorlisteningtextsandstructuresfor
supportingspokenorwrittenlanguage.

Lessonframework
ACLILlessonlooksatcontentandlanguageinequalmeasure,andoftenfollowsafour
stageframework.

Processingthetext
Thebesttextsarethoseaccompaniedbyillustrationssothatlearnerscanvisualisewhat
theyarereading.Whenworkinginaforeignlanguage,learnersneedstructuralmarkersin
textstohelpthemfindtheirway
throughthecontent.Thesemarkersmaybelinguistic(headings,subheadings)and/or
diagrammatic.Oncea'coreknowledge'hasbeenidentified,theorganisationofthetext
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12/11/2015 CLIL:Alessonframework

canbeanalysed.

Identificationandorganisationofknowledge
Textsareoftenrepresenteddiagrammatically.Thesestructuresareknownas'ideational
frameworks'or'diagramsofthinking',andareusedtohelplearnerscategorisetheideas
andinformationinatext.Diagramtypesincludetreediagramsforclassification,groups,
hierarchies,flowdiagramsandtimelinesforsequencedthinkingsuchasinstructionsand
historicalinformation,tabulardiagramsdescribingpeopleandplaces,andcombinationsof
these.Thestructureofthetextisusedtofacilitatelearningandthecreationofactivities
whichfocusonbothlanguagedevelopmentandcorecontentknowledge.

Languageidentification
Learnersareexpectedtobeabletoreproducethecoreofthetextintheirownwords.
Sincelearnerswillneedtousebothsimpleandmorecomplexlanguage,thereisno
gradingoflanguageinvolved,butitisagoodideafortheteachertohighlightuseful
languageinthetextandtocategoriseitaccordingtofunction.Learnersmayneedthe
languageofcomparisonandcontrast,locationordescribingaprocess,butmayalsoneed
certaindiscoursemarkers,adverbphrasesorprepositionalphrases.Collocations,semi
fixedexpressionsandsetphrasesmayalsobegivenattentionaswellassubjectspecific
andacademicvocabulary.

Tasksforstudents
ThereislittledifferenceintasktypebetweenaCLILlessonandaskillsbasedELTlesson.
Avarietyoftasksshouldbeprovided,takingintoaccountthelearningpurposeandlearner
stylesandpreferences.Receptiveskillactivitiesareofthe'read/listenanddo'genre.A
menuoflisteningactivitiesmightbe:

Listenandlabeladiagram/picture/map/graph/chart

Listenandfillinatable

Listenandmakenotesonspecificinformation(dates,figures,times)

Listenandreorderinformation

Listenandidentifylocation/speakers/places

Listenandlabelthestagesofaprocess/instructions/sequencesofatext

Listenandfillinthegapsinatext

Tasksdesignedforproductionneedtobesubjectorientated,sothatbothcontentand
languagearerecycled.Sincecontentistobefocusedon,morelanguagesupportthan
usualinanELTlessonmayberequired.
Typicalspeakingactivitiesinclude:

Questionloopsquestionsandanswers,termsanddefinitions,halvesofsentences

Informationgapactivitieswithaquestionsheettosupport

Triviasearch'thingsyouknow'and'thingsyouwanttoknow'

Wordguessinggames

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Classsurveysusingquestionnaires

20Questionsprovidelanguagesupportframeforquestions

Studentspresentinformationfromavisualusingalanguagesupporthandout.

Conclusion
FromalanguagepointofviewtheCLIL'approach'containsnothingnewtotheEL
teacher.CLILaimstoguidelanguageprocessingand'supportlanguageproductioninthe
samewayasELTbyteachingstrategiesfor
readingandlisteningandstructuresandlexisforspokenorwrittenlanguage.Whatis
differentisthatthelanguageteacherisalsothesubjectteacher,orthatthesubject
teacherisalsoabletoexploitopportunitiesfor
developinglanguageskills.ThisistheessenceoftheCLILteachertrainingissue.

Furtherreading
ForumforAcrosstheCurriculumTeachingwww.factworld.info/
ComeniusProjectTL2Lwww.tl2l.nl/
EuropeanCentreforModernLanguageswww.ecml.at/
NorwichInstituteforLanguageEducationwww.nileelt.com
ScienceAcrosstheCurriculumwww.scienceacross.org
EuroCLICwww.euroclic.org
TheNationalCentreforLanguages(CILT)www.cilt.org.uk
ContentandLanguageIntegratedProject(CLIP)www.cilt.org.uk/clip/

SteveDarn,IzmirUniversityofEconomics,Turkey

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