Content and language integrated learning

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Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) [1] [2] is an approach for learning content through an additional language (foreign or second), thus teaching both the subject and the language.

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CLIL origin

The term CLIL was created in 1994 by David Marsh as a methodology similar to but distinct from language immersion and content-based instruction. The idea of its proponents was to create an "umbrella term" which encompasses different forms of using language as the medium of instruction. [3] The methodology has been applied in a business context in many countries and widely accepted as an effective approach. In Italy, for example, it is being used as an accelerated method to teach management concepts in English to business people. Among CLIL's proponents and practitioners there is Maurizio Morselli, a Human Resources professional and Executive Coach, who believes that "this hybrid immersion approach produces a lot more immediate results and it appeals to self-motivated adult audiences who possess a basic knowledge and understanding of the target language". While being certainly interesting and providing a precious model of good practice, this experience shows that "there is validity in the belief that CLIL is an elite phenomenon [...]. It comes as no surprise that one of the current strands of international CLIL research stems indeed from the urgency to address issues of power and inequality [...]. The heterogeneity that has characterised the implementation of CLIL since its inception in Italy risks exacerbating this situation, with areas of the country that are more developed both linguistically and socio-economically reaping the greatest benefits of the approach." [4]

CLIL and language immersion

CLIL is fundamentally based on methodological principles established by research on language immersion. This kind of approach has been identified as very important by the European Commission [5] because: "It can provide effective opportunities for pupils to use their new language skills now, rather than learn them now for later use. It opens doors on languages for a broader range of learners, nurturing self-confidence in young learners and those who have not responded well to formal language instruction in general education. It provides exposure to the language without requiring extra time in the curriculum, which can be of particular interest in vocational settings." This approach involves learning subjects such as history, geography, managerial skills/concepts or others, through an additional language. It can be very successful in enhancing the learning of languages and other subjects, and helping children develop a positive attitude towards themselves as language learners.

The European Commission has therefore decided to promote the training of teachers to "...enhancing the language competences in general, in order to promote the teaching of non-linguistic subjects in foreign languages". [6] [7]

CLIL objectives

CLIL objectives are varied, but among the most relevant ones the following can be pointed out: [8] To improve the educational system. To establish the necessary conditions that will allow students to achieve the appropriate level of academic performance in CLIL subjects. To improve students' proficiency in both their mother tongue and the target language, attaching the same importance to each. To develop the intercultural understanding. To develop social and thinking skills.

CLIL advocates claim that this educational approach: [9] Improves L1 and L2 development. Prepares students for the globalized world. Increases students' motivation to learn foreign languages. Promotes the learning of a more extensive and varied vocabulary. Enhances students' confidence in the target language. Improves language competence in the target language, CLIL being more beneficial than traditional foreign language teaching courses. Helps develop intercultural competence.

CLIL in English as an international language

The integration of content and language learning in English as an international language (EIL) is found in approaches to bilingual education. [2] These approaches include immersion, content-based instruction (CBI), content-based language teaching (CBLT), and the movement towards English medium instruction (EMI). All of these approaches raise a number of questions that a view of English as an international language has for content-integrated approaches. [2]

Multiplicity of terms

The multiplicity of terms used to refer to instructional approaches for the integration of content and language learning (immersion, CBI, CBLT, CLIL, EMI) can be a source of confusion in EIL studies, although they all commonly share the purpose of additive bilingualism via a dual focus on content and language learning. Debate continues about the extent to which immersion, CBLT, CBI, and CLIL are different, similar, or the same. Some argue that CLIL represents an appropriate umbrella term that can be used to house various approaches towards content integration (e.g., immersion is a type of CLIL), where terms can be used interchangeably (e.g., CLIL and CBI are the same concept with a different name). [10] However, others argue that CLIL and CBI represent very different concepts, where CLIL represents the intersection between content and language from the content perspective (i.e., CLIL happens in content classes), while CBI is an attempt at responding to the content needs of learners in language classes. [11]

The similarities (and variability) between approaches lead to circular arguments about whether the key features of one approach are also shared by others (e.g., immersion and CLIL), and therefore they are indistinguishable. In some ways, this is an inevitable result of terms being used outside of academia, by educators applying ideas from one context to another, [11] and the lines of demarcation become more unclear as approaches are transported to different countries and contextualized to meet different learning situations. [2]

In EIL studies, different terms have been associated with different regions, such as CLIL, which is associated with Europe, and was "purposefully coined" by European educators and researchers attempting to influence language policy and ideology. [11] : 214  CLIL represented a deliberate attempt to develop a European model for additive bilingual education. [10] However, policy makers, educators, and researchers from international contexts have started to apply and develop CLIL approaches in distinctly non-European situations, and the term is now widely used within the wider international foreign language learning community. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

In bilingual education, students are taught in two languages. It is distinct from learning a second language as a subject because both languages are used for instruction in different content areas like math, science, and history. The time spent in each language depends on the model. For example, some models focus on providing education in both languages throughout a student's entire education while others gradually transition to education in only one language. The ultimate goal of bilingual education is fluency and literacy in both languages through a variety of strategies such as translanguaging and recasting.

Language education – the process and practice of teaching a second or foreign language – is primarily a branch of applied linguistics, but can be an interdisciplinary field. There are four main learning categories for language education: communicative competencies, proficiencies, cross-cultural experiences, and multiple literacies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Language immersion</span> Use of two languages across a variety of educational subjects

Language immersion, or simply immersion, is a technique used in bilingual language education in which two languages are used for instruction in a variety of topics, including maths, science, or social studies. The languages used for instruction are referred to as the L1 and the L2 for each student, with L1 being the student's native language and L2 being the second language to be acquired through immersion programs and techniques. There are different types of language immersion that depend on the age of the students, the classtime spent in L2, the subjects that are taught, and the level of participation by the speakers of L1.

Communicative language teaching (CLT), or the communicative approach (CA), is an approach to language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of study.

Second-language acquisition (SLA), sometimes called second-language learning—otherwise referred to as L2acquisition, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process. This involves learning an additional language after the first language is established, typically through formal instruction or immersion. A central theme in SLA research is that of interlanguage: the idea that the language that learners use is not simply the result of differences between the languages that they already know and the language that they are learning, but a complete language system in its own right, with its own systematic rules. This interlanguage gradually develops as learners are exposed to the targeted language. The order in which learners acquire features of their new language stays remarkably constant, even for learners with different native languages and regardless of whether they have had language instruction. However, languages that learners already know can have a significant influence on the process of learning a new one. This influence is known as language transfer.

Sheltered instruction is an educational approach designed to make academic content more accessible to English language learners (ELLs) while promoting their language development. It involves modifying instruction to accommodate students' language proficiency levels and providing additional support to help comprehend and engage with material effectively.

Sequential bilingualism occurs when a person becomes bilingual by first learning one language and then another. The process is contrasted with simultaneous bilingualism, in which both languages are learned at the same time.

The audio-lingual method or Army Method is a method used in teaching foreign languages. It is based on behaviorist theory, which postulates that certain traits of living things, and in this case humans, could be trained through a system of reinforcement. The correct use of a trait would receive positive while incorrect use of that trait would receive negative feedback.

Task-based language teaching (TBLT), also known as task-based instruction (TBI), focuses on the use of authentic language to complete meaningful tasks in the target language. Such tasks can include visiting a doctor, conducting an interview, or calling customer service for help. Assessment is primarily based on task outcomes rather than on accuracy of prescribed language forms. This makes TBLT especially popular for developing target language fluency and student confidence. As such, TBLT can be considered a branch of communicative language teaching (CLT).

English-language learner is a term used in some English-speaking countries such as the United States and Canada to describe a person who is learning the English language and has a native language that is not English. Some educational advocates, especially in the United States, classify these students as non-native English speakers or emergent bilinguals. Various other terms are also used to refer to students who are not proficient in English, such as English as a second language (ESL), English as an additional language (EAL), limited English proficient (LEP), culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), non-native English speaker, bilingual students, heritage language, emergent bilingual, and language-minority students. The legal term that is used in federal legislation is 'limited English proficient'.

Content-based instruction (CBI) is a significant approach in language education, designed to provide second-language learners instruction in content and language. CBI is considered an empowering approach which encourages learners to learn a language by using it as a real means of communication from the first day in class. The idea is to make them become independent learners so they can continue the learning process even outside the class.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early immersion (foreign-language instruction)</span>

Early immersion is a method of teaching and learning a foreign language. It entails having a student undergo intense instruction in a foreign language, starting by age five or six. Frequently, this method entails having the student learn all or much of his or her various "regular" subject matter via the foreign language being taught.

Language for specific purposes (LSP) has been primarily used to refer to two areas within applied linguistics:

  1. One focusing on the needs in education and training
  2. One with a focus on research on language variation across a particular subject field

Second-language attrition is the decline of second-language skills, which occurs whenever the learner uses the second language to an insufficient degree or due to environmental changes the language use is limited and another language is becoming the dominant one.

Language pedagogy is the discipline concerned with the theories and techniques of teaching language. It has been described as a type of teaching wherein the teacher draws from their own prior knowledge and actual experience in teaching language. The approach is distinguished from research-based methodologies.

Individual variation in second-language acquisition is the study of why some people learn a second language better than others. Unlike children who acquire a language, adults learning a second language rarely reach the same level of competence as native speakers of that language. Some may stop studying a language before they have fully internalized it, and others may stop improving despite living in a foreign country for many years. It also appears that children are more likely than adults to reach native-like competence in a second language. There have been many studies that have attempted to explain these phenomena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Translingualism</span> Aspects relevant across several languages

Translingual phenomena are words and other aspects of language that are relevant in more than one language. Thus "translingual" may mean "existing in multiple languages" or "having the same meaning in many languages"; and sometimes "containing words of multiple languages" or "operating between different languages". Translingualism is the phenomenon of translingually relevant aspects of language; a translingualism is an instance thereof. The word comes from trans-, meaning "across", and lingual, meaning "having to do with languages (tongues)"; thus, it means "across tongues", that is, "across languages". Internationalisms offer many examples of translingual vocabulary. For example, international scientific vocabulary comprises thousands of translingual words and combining forms.

Merrill Swain is a Canadian applied linguist whose research has focused on second language acquisition (SLA). Some of her most notable contributions to SLA research include the Output Hypothesis and her research related to immersion education. Swain is a Professor Emerita at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. Swain is also known for her work with Michael Canale on communicative competence. Swain was the president of the American Association for Applied Linguistics in 1998. She received her PhD in psychology at the University of California. Swain has co-supervised 64 PhD students.

Translanguaging is a term that can refer to different aspects of multilingualism. It can describe the way bilinguals and multilinguals use their linguistic resources to make sense of and interact with the world around them. It can also refer to a pedagogical approach that utilizes more than one language within a classroom lesson. The term "translanguaging" was coined in the 1980s by Cen Williams in his unpublished thesis titled “An Evaluation of Teaching and Learning Methods in the Context of Bilingual Secondary Education.” Williams used the term to describe the practice of using two languages in the same lesson, which differed from many previous methods of bilingual education that tried to separate languages by class, time, or day. In addition, Vogel and Garcia argued that translanguaging theory posits that rather than possessing two or more autonomous language systems, as previously thought when scholars described bilingual or multilingual speakers, bilinguals and multilingual speakers select and deploy their languages from a unitary linguistic repertoire. However, the dissemination of the term, and of the related concept, gained traction decades later due in part to published research by Ofelia García, among others. In this context, translanguaging is an extension of the concept of languaging, the discursive practices of language speakers, but with the additional feature of using multiple languages, often simultaneously. It is a dynamic process in which multilingual speakers navigate complex social and cognitive demands through strategic employment of multiple languages.

Virtual exchange is an instructional approach or practice for language learning. It broadly refers to the "notion of 'connecting' language learners in pedagogically structured interaction and collaboration" through computer-mediated communication for the purpose of improving their language skills, intercultural communicative competence, and digital literacies. Although it proliferated with the advance of the internet and Web 2.0 technologies in the 1990s, its roots can be traced to learning networks pioneered by Célestin Freinet in 1920s and, according to Dooly, even earlier in Jardine's work with collaborative writing at the University of Glasgow at the end of the 17th to the early 18th century.

References

  1. ↑ "British Council BBC Teaching English". teachingenglish.org.uk. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Thompson, G.; McKinley, J. (2018). "Integration of content and language learning" (PDF). TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching. 1: 1–13. doi:10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0634. ISBN   9781118784228. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 January 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  3. ↑ "What is CLIL?". Onestopenglish. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  4. ↑ Aiello, J.; Di Martino, E. (2023). "CLIL in Italy". In Banegas, D. L.; Zappa-Hollman, S. (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Content and Language Integrated Learning. London: Routledge. pp. 419–432.
  5. ↑ Commission Of The European Communities Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity: An Action Plan 2004 – 2006
  6. ↑ Journal of the European Union Council Resolution of 21 November 2008 on a European strategy for multilingualism
  7. ↑ An educational project called ECLIL Archived 17 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine was also supported from the European Union within the Lifelong Learning Programme EACEA Agency, to develop interactive resources for European schools.
  8. ↑ Coyle, D.; Hood, P.; Marsh, D. (2010). CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  9. ↑ Lorenzo, F.; Trujillo, F.; Vez, J. M. (2011). Educación bilingüe. Integración de contenidos y segundas lenguas. Madrid: Síntesis.
  10. 1 2 Cenoz, J.; Genesee, F.; Gorter, D. (2014). "Critical Analysis of CLIL: Taking Stock and Looking Forward". Applied Linguistics. 35 (3): 243–262. doi:10.1093/applin/amt011.
  11. 1 2 3 Dalton-Puffer, C.; Llinares, A.; Lorenzo, F.; Nikula, T. (2014). ""You Can Stand Under My Umbrella": Immersion, CLIL and Bilingual Education. A Response to Cenoz, Genesee & Gorter (2013)". Applied Linguistics. 35 (2): 213–218. doi:10.1093/applin/amu010.
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