Content And Foreign Language Integrated Learning

This book received the XV Research Award of the Spanish Association of Applied Linguistics (XV Premio de Investigación de la Asociación Española de Lingüística Aplicada) 2012. The present volume bears witness to the Europewide character of the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) enterprise by featuring contributions from researchers and teacher-educators from a range of European countries spanning the geographical expanse of the continent from east (Estonia) to west (United Kingdom) and from north (Finland) to south (Spain, Italy). More importantly, the different national contexts are characterised by diverse cultural stances and policies vis-à-vis second and foreign language learning in general and learning specific languages in particular and it is evident that such contextual factors impinge on what are identified as central concerns both in CLIL implementation and research.

This book contributes to the growth of interest in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), an approach to second/foreign language learning that requires the use of the target language to learn content. Within the framework of European strategies to promote multilingualism, CLIL has begun to be used extensively in a variety of language learning contexts, and at different educational systems and language programmes. This book brings together critical analyses on theoretical and implementation issues of Content and Language Integrated Learning, and empirical studies on the effectiveness of this type of instruction on learners’ language competence. The basic theoretical assumption behind this book is that through successful use of the language to learn content, learners will develop their language proficiency more effectively while they learn the academic content specified in the curricula.

Learning foreign languages is a process of acquiring authentic contents in cultural contexts. In this respect, bilingual programs provide an effective connection between content-based studies and linguistic activities. The European umbrella term CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) not only comprises the aims and objectives of a sustainable format of teaching foreign languages but also the priority of content over language, in other words: language follows content, as in the Bauhaus precept form follows function. But in order to effectively integrate content and language, a comprehensive pedagogical approach is needed that goes beyond existing curricula and guidebooks. Bernd Klewitz aims at establishing the CLIL methodology by linking content requirements of subject areas, especially those in the social sciences, with linguistic building blocks and tools. The integrative methodology of bilingual programs extends to the study of literature, traditionally a domain of language tuition, but thought to be a seminal part of CLIL as well. The building blocks and language tools presented in this volume focus on learning foreign languages in cultural contexts, aims, and objectives of CLIL, parameters of an integrated bilingual teaching strategy, dimensions of bilingual learning, elements of a CLIL concept, Literary CLIL, CLIL tools and strategies, modules with worked examples, challenges, and desiderata, and a comprehensive glossary. Each section is completed with an interactive part of review, reflection, and practice.

This book offers new empirical insights into the current state of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) characterisation (through an innovative proposal to link CLIL to English as a Lingua Franca), implementation (via observation protocols and SWOT analyses), and research (by examining the effects of CLIL on the L1, foreign language, key competences, and content subjects taught through English). The book provides a state of the art of the CLIL arena, identifies the chief challenges that need to be addressed and signposts possible ways of overcoming these in order to continue advancing smoothly into the next decade of CLIL development. This book will be of interest to researchers, policy-makers, educational authorities, and practitioners as it will assist them in making informed decisions about how to characterise, implement, and investigate CLIL in the bi- and plurilingual programs that are more frequently introduced in monolingual contexts.

Interest in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), in Europe and beyond, has increased exponentially since it first appeared on the scene in Europe in the early 1990s. CLIL has grown to become a much-discussed topic of language education today, with the number of publications pertaining to the field continuing to increase. Researchers, teachers, teacher trainers, course planners and others involved in CLIL are constantly searching for new studies to help them understand how CLIL is evolving and how best it can be implemented. As the concept is now informing the pedagogical principles of different educational realities, research and reflection are now required to further understand its potential and implications, its inherent difficulties and possible applications. This volume was conceived with this idea in mind. The book primarily covers three macro areas: learning, teaching and training. It provides insight into the latest areas of research and reflection that are characterizing the CLIL field in the current decade. The wide range of topics covered reveal, for example, a shift in interest towards CLIL at the tertiary level, focusing on lecturer and student perceptions and problems.

The label CLIL stands for classrooms where a foreign language (English) is used as a medium of instruction in content subjects. This book provides a first in-depth analysis of the kind of communicative abilities which are embodied in such CLIL classrooms. It examines teacher and student talk at secondary school level from different discourse-analytic angles, taking into account the interpersonal pragmatics of classroom discourse and how school subjects are talked into being during lessons. The analysis shows how CLIL classroom interaction is strongly shaped by its institutional context, which in turn conditions the ways in which students experience, use and learn the target language. The research presented here suggests that CLIL programmes require more explicit language learning goals in order to fully exploit their potential for furthering the learners’ appropriation of a foreign language as a medium of learning.

The label CLIL stands for classrooms where a foreign language (English) is used as a medium of instruction in content subjects. This book provides a first in-depth analysis of the kind of communicative abilities which are embodied in such CLIL classrooms. It examines teacher and student talk at secondary school level from different discourse-analytic angles, taking into account the interpersonal pragmatics of classroom discourse and how school subjects are talked into being during lessons. The analysis shows how CLIL classroom interaction is strongly shaped by its institutional context, which in turn conditions the ways in which students experience, use and learn the target language. The research presented here suggests that CLIL programmes require more explicit language learning goals in order to fully exploit their potential for furthering the learners' appropriation of a foreign language as a medium of learning.

Learning through a foreign language is recognized as one means of significantly enhancing competence in that language. This book presents European perspectives on means of structuring curricula which integrate content and language learning. It also provides details of the outcomes from such progammes and describes the current and future challanges ahead of wider scale adoption of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL).