Project: COMMUNICATION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES - Implementing innovative approachesto foreign language teaching through foreign teachers inclusion into the school curriculum

FOREIGN TEACHERS’ MEETINGKatja 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.

LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM and CLIL

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

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.

TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES

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 re-conceptualisation 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:– Language Across the Curriculum– Bilingual Education– Content-based instruction/learning

CLIL by other names… ( collected by Steve Darn)

• Content-based Instruction (CBI)

• Content-based Language Instruction (CLII)

• Content-based Language Teaching (CBLT)

• Integration of Content and Language

• Content and Language Integrated Classrooms

• English-enriched Content Teaching

• Content-enriched English Teaching

• English-focused Content Teaching

• Content-focused English Teaching

• Content-centered English Teaching

• English-centered Content Teaching

• Content-driven English Teaching

• English-driven Content Teaching

• English-sensitive Content Teaching

• Content-sensitive English Teaching

• Content-oriented Language Learning

• Content-infused Language Teaching

• Theme-based Language Teaching

• Topic-based Language Teaching

• Discipline-based ESL Instruction

• Sheltered Subject Matter Teaching

• 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

CLIL

• 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 Benefits of CLIL (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 CLIL Lesson… (Steve Darn)

• 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.

• 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

Lemma

Morpho-phonological form

Lexical pointers

MentalLexicon

A view of the structure of the mental lexicon, illustrating a lexical entry

(Radford et al, 1999: 233)

The L2 vocabulary development… (Maria Xanthou, University of Cyprus)

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.

lemma

lexeme

meaning syntax

morphology form

The lexical entry in the mental lexicon

(Jiang, 2002: 619)

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.

• 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.

Learning vocabulary in context