Evaluating CLIL-outcomes

In the school curriculum CLIL outcomes obviously need to be considered in terms of the objectives inherent in the approach. Assessment and evaluation procedures need to be carefully considered, and transparency of rationale ensured, so that these are coherent and aligned to the approach. At the socio-cultural level CLIL outcomes can be regarded in broader terms, ranging from school development, and the profile of the school within a given community, through to impact on local and wider communities. The added value of CLIL can be described in terms of individual and social interests in terms of the economics of language, social inclusion & egalitarianism, gender equality, relevance and value of limited competencies, early language learning, and certification. For further information: http://europa.eu.int.comm/education/languages/index.html

Finding materials

Materials that are to be used by the content-teacher are difficult hard to find. The content teacher in a clil-classroom is looking for (text) materials that serve two purposes. On the one hand he needs materials that enable him to work on the curriculum aims for his subject as prescribed within his national school-programme. On the other hand he wants to use texts and other materials that can provide adequate language input for his learners. The latter implying that the material should not be too easy or too difficult, Using authentic materials often don’t meet these two demands and therefore the materials need to be adapted. This problem holds for authentic materials which can be found outside the educational sector, but also for materials which were designed for educational purposes in countries where the target language is spoken. Hence, in a lot of countries where clil is practiced there is a growing market of materials to be used inside the clil classroom. Professional networks, European educational development projects, publishers and others who produce purpose-designed materials, increasingly offer alternative forms of materials designed for CLIL.

CLIL & Literacy

The traditional definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. Literacy involves a complex set of abilities to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture for personal and community development. The need and demand for these abilities vary in different societies, so that other forms of literacy may be recognised such as ‘computer’ literacy and ‘science’ or ‘maths’ literacy. In a technological society, the concept is expanding to include the media and electronic text in addition to alphabets and numbers. Individuals must be given life-long learning opportunities to move along a continuum that includes reading, writing, and the critical understanding and decision-making abilities they need in their communities. For example, an information literate person recognises the different levels, types and formats of information and their appropriate uses; recognises that accurate and complete information is the basis for intelligent decision making; recognises the need for information; formulates questions based on information needs; evaluates information; integrates new information into an existing body of knowledge and uses information in critical thinking and problem solving. In many European countries, there is a push towards integrating literacy skills into all aspects of the curriculum so that literacy is no longer only associated with mother tongue language teaching and especially reading and writing. Instead, the Literacy Movement advocates that all teachers are teachers of language and that the responsibility of extending and developing literacy skills in different contexts lies as much with content teachers as with language teachers. In the UK, the Bullock Report in the 1970s gave rise to an emphasis on cross-curricular language skills and an emphasis on all subject teachers taking responsibility for developing the literacy skills of their learners. More recently a drive to raise the standards in reading and writing has led to a renewed emphasis on literacy in all curriculum areas in the UK. In the CLIL setting, developing literacy skills is particularly relevant since whatever the subject, the teacher needs to take into account developing reading, writing and communication skills in the foreign language. An English CLIL school, where 11-year-old learners were exposed to half of their curriculum in French, reported that the effects of CLIL after one year had not only resulted in foreign language gains but also had improved literacy standards in the mother tongue (The Nuffield Language report 2000). It is recommended therefore that trainee CLIL teachers familiarise themselves with the Literacy Strategy associated with their national curriculum in order to consider how incorporating the development of literacy skills in CLIL lessons will support the both foreign and mother language use of their learners.

Classroom language/communication

Communication is at the heart of CLIL. The CLIL classroom therefore provides an authentic context in which to develop authentic communication skills. Classroom language is the language of participation in the learning process and of interaction between learners and between teachers and learners. It provides the basis for developing BICS (basic interpersonal communication skills) and enables learners to develop both their coping (metacognitive) strategies and their comprehension (cognitive) strategies. Classroom language is spontaneous and not dependent on linguistic progression. However, this type of classroom language needs to be modelled by the teacher, extended grammatically beyond the use of set phrases, and used as much as possible across a wide range of contexts. It also needs time to become part of the learners’ repertoire so that it has to be built into the planning of lessons in the same way that progression in the subject topic is carefully prepared. Most importantly, students need to be taught strategies for using language spontaneously from the start – even when their language skills may be weak – to enable them to say what they want or need to say. This is authenticity. The CLIL teacher must therefore plan tasks which will both initiate, support, develop and extend the students’ classroom language. Because in mother tongue subject teaching little attention is usually paid to classroom language, it is essential that this element of CLIL is neither overlooked nor left for the learner to assimilate over time. To raise awareness in trainee teachers, audio or video recording subject lessons taught in both the mother tongue and in L2, provides a practical basis from which to analyse classroom language and consider the implications for ‘teaching’ this explicitly as well as embedding it implicitly into the CLIL setting. Recommended Reading Harris, V., Burch, J., Jones, B., Darcy, J. (2001) Something to say? Promoting spontaneous classroom talk. London: CILT. Jones

Code-switching

A language policy (which language(s) to be used, when and how) needs to be introduced in any CLIL programme. The amount of time spent in one language, or the other, in a given lesson, as in switching from one language to another, is a key issue for many CLIL practitioners. Switching languages, far from threatening the CLIL environment, often actually characterizes it. If it is done in a systematic way, as in parts of the lesson in one language, other parts in another, or speech in one language with supporting notes, for instance carrying terms, in the other, it is increasingly referred to as trans-languaging. As expressed by one teacher “I switch languages when it is optimal to do so. It is like driving a car, when I need to change gear, I change gear”. Far from being viewed as a sign of failure, code switching is increasingly seen as an integral part of certain types of CLIL methodology.

Collaborative teaching and learning

For CLIL to be coherent in terms of learning outcomes both in the content and the L2, it is desirable for some kind of synergy or collaboration to exist between the subject teacher (the language medium teacher) and the language teacher. Collaboration does not necessarily imply team teaching (actual physical co-presence in the classroom) but it does imply a team approach. Collaborative teaching might consist of: · the language teacher incorporating CLIL content (themes or language) into his/her normal syllabus with a view to preparing students for CLIL lessons or supporting language issues specifically related to CLIL. This is not a team teaching model as such since both teachers teach separately . · the two teachers teaching together. In this situation teaching and learning must be integrated and balanced through collaborative planning and the assigning of teaching roles (who teaches what? when? to entire class or to class groups? As leader? As support? As monitor? Who evaluates?) and language roles (definition of criteria for language alternation). In such a situation the conditions for CLIT (content and language integrated teaching) can be created - a precondition for CLIL. · both teachers planning a joint activity such as field studies in a country where the target language is spoken ( combining say Geography and foreign language studies) · planning a cross-curricular project which incorporates elements of and contributions from different subjects areas in a generic way. Cross-curricular themes worked on in some CLIL settings are time, water, survival. Collaborative teaching also links to collaborative learning (ref cooperative learning) where students learn in a range of organisational contexts but especially in groups. Group formation is complex and the nature of the task as well as the culture of the classroom may well determine how groups are formed. However a range of techniques may be used including: · learner choice – may lead to difficulties of exclusion of specific individuals · teacher choice – this may to develop social skills or learning skills, so that there is a mix of strengths and weaknesses, so that students with similar interest ay further develop them etc · randomly – based on strategies such as teacher gives all students a number between 1 and 5, so that all the 1s work together and so on. Clearly the most important features to aim for are harmony and support within groupings so that learners learn from each other as well as the teacher. Giving the learners opportunities to experience working in different groups is also desirable. Reference Crandall, J. (1994):

Content

Within the term CLIL, ‘content’ is taken to mean a defined area of knowledge - often identified as a discrete subject within the curriculum. This might be the learning of Geography, History, Science and so on. It might also have vocational orientation such as hairdressing or accountancy. However, for a CLIL teacher, defining content goes beyond the teaching syllabus and transfer of knowledge. Before embarking on teaching, the CLIL teacher will be required to carefully analyse the subject matter or theme to be taught (often what is defined in a syllabus), in order to explore underlying concepts at the deepest level and decide on the most appropriate approach. By making explicit the fact that subject or content taught in CLIL goes far deeper than acquiring ‘facts’ but also includes related knowledge, skills and understanding rooted in the interpretation and philosophical underpinning of the subject area itself, then the type of language needed to learn the subject effectively can also be identified. This analytic procedure ensures that CLIL teaching is not simply a case of delivering in a foreign language what would normally be taught in the mother tongue. In the CLIL context, ‘content’ might also be of a cross-curricular nature which unites and links a project or theme with several curriculum areas, such as ‘global citizenship’, ‘human rights’ . This approach is effectively used in the primary setting but rarely used in secondary or tertiary education. One of the advantages of a cross-curricular approach is the emphasis on providing learners with opportunities to make connections, develop skills and knowledge, as well as to transfer learning and insights from one curricular area to another. Is education a matter of acquiring information? Or is education a matter of learning new ways to process information, developing strategies, concepts and categories, developing core or transferable skills? (Tate 1994) An example of a secondary cross-curricular CLIL theme is taken from College Ste Veronique in Liege where 14 year old students spent several weeks working on the theme of Chocolate in English with a team of teachers drawn from History, Geography, Science, English, Civics, Dance and Drama. This year they are working on the theme of Eco Citizens. Reference Tate, A (1994)

Cultural awareness

One frequently mentioned feature of CLIL is the capacity to develop cultural awareness. Culture is so deeply embedded in human life that it is hard to separate it from other aspects of human thought, action and understanding. Like language, culture is a constantly evolving organic phenomenon, not a static entity that can be relied upon to enhance understanding. It is the inter-relationship between culture and language that provides a CLIL teacher with opportunities to broaden the ‘cultural dimension’ in the classroom. Achieving awareness of the cultural content of words, recognizing differences between similar words belonging to different languages, learning about a single issue from different perspectives, learning how to do things with words and different approaches to teaching, learning and problem-solving in different languages, are some of the ways in which broadening of cultural horizons is managed through CLIL. However, the CLIL teacher may need to make cultural aspects of CLIL explicit to the learners to enable them to reflect upon and assimilate alternative perspectives and cultural similarities and differences. Raising cultural awareness and developing intercultural skills should be embedded in the CLIL planning and evaluation process. It is too important area to leave it to an ad hoc approach

Dealing with grammar

Teaching grammar has always been a very controversial issue within language teaching. This is probably due to various positions being held by two hypotheses, the interface hypothesis which holds that form instruction highly contributes to the language learning process and the non-interface hypothesis which holds that form instruction is not beneficial. The latter hypothesis would imply that sufficient input and negotiation of meaning would lead to an ideal CLIL learning situation. However, evidence suggests that this is not the case and that learners do, in fact, benefit from focussed instruction (Ellis, p. 195) or as Thornbury (p. 24) puts it: “learning seems to be enhanced when the learner’s attention is directed to getting the forms right, and when the learner’s attention is directed to features of the grammatical system.” Teaching grammar can be carried out through a deductive approach - where the presentation of grammatical rules is the starting point of language production- or by an inductive approach where the language itself is the starting point and the grammar rules are inferred. Given the CLILsituation where the main focus is on language learning as it relates to content , it seems logical to deal with grammar issues in an inductive way. In this sense learners become aware of grammatical structures derived from the input material that they are working with as well being taught certain structures needed for language production. References Ellis, R. (1990):Instructed Second Language Acquisition Thornbury, S. (1999)

Language awareness in CLIL

One of the key features in communicative language instruction is ‘meaning before form’. The rationale here is that one uses the target language for a communicative purpose in order achieve an outcome (Willis, p. 23). As such there is a link between communicative teaching and CLIL in which the goal is to achieve knowledge and understanding in a particular subject. It is important is to realise that meaning comes before form. Language awareness or consciousness-raising activities provide good opportunities to focus on form once the communicative task has been completed. As such they should not consist of decontextualised presentations. The learner can be made aware of language usage, by looking up certain features or structures within the factual language that has been used during the communicative task. This represents a shift in emphasis from traditional language teaching, where the language used for teaching purposes is selected on the basis of its grammatical function rather than on its content meaning

Subject concepts & processes

In considering the research findings about the impact of CLIL on pupils' learning of subject specific concepts and on pupils carrying out subject specific learning processes, the main question is how the use of a foreign language influences subject learning in a non-linguistic classroom such as History or Science. Traditionally, research on CLIL has focused on issues concerning language acquisition. Only recently more attention is being developed towards particular features of content learning in CLIL. Research results focussing on students in CLIL classrooms can be summarised as follows: · students appear to develop skills of concentration due to the raised complexity of learning in a CLIL-classroom. · the elaboration of content learning can be enhanced through the demands of understanding learning materials through a foreign language and of communicating in the classroom through a foreign language. Students have to carry out more cognitive procedures and have to create more links between previous knowledge and new learning issues e.g. in order to infere the meaning of unknown words or textpassages. · students seem more attentive towards subject specific notions and terminology. · Students appear to remember content longer and in detail. · Students seem to apply a greater variety of learning strategies in a more appropriate manner than students in "mainstream" content learning classrooms. · Students have shown deeper understanding of other cultures and greater ability to change perspectives in the context of intercultural learning. In particular since words in both languages do not reflect identical concepts, the comparison of different terminology can enhance pupils' construction of subject specific concepts. Comparison of texts in two (or more) languages reveal different perspectives on topics and facilitate bilingual construction of subject specific concepts. The greatest challenge of CLIL is to find the appropriate level of complexity for students. The advantages of CLIL described above can only be realised provided that the demands on students are not too excessive. It is essential to emphasize and support particularly processes of negotiating of meaning among students. References Breidbach, S. & Bach, G. &