content and integrated language learning

introducing CLIL

• CLIL was used experimentally in Canada with the development of immersion education in the 70’s and 80’s.

• The acronym CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) started being used in the 1990’s in the European context. It was promoted as an effective methodology for raising the levels of language proficiency of European youth and thus achieving the European Union’s goal of trilingualism (i.e the MT+2 formula, that Europeans should learn 2 languages apart from their mother tongue).

CLIL

• positive effects both content and language subjects

• language skills

• flexible tools and reccomendations on how to develop quality on materials based on 4CS framework

communication

• language needs to be learnes

• learning content through language

• language transparent and accessible interaction

culture

• intercultural awareness

• relationship between cultures and languages

cognition

• learning and thinking

• create their own interpretation of content depending on the linguistic demands of pupils

content

• acquiring knowledge and skills

• pupils create their own knowledge

• personalised learning

definitions of CLIL

• Teaching subjects to students through a foreign language (Marsh 1994).

• All types of provision in which a second language is used to teach certain subjects in the curriculum other than the language lessons themselves (Eurydice Report 2006).

• CLIL is dynamic, a flexible concept where topics and subjects – foreign language and non-language subject/s – are integrated in some kind of mutually beneficial way so as to provide value-added to educational outcomes for the widest possible range of learners. (Coyle 2005)

understanding CLIL

• CLIL thus integrates the learning of content with the learning of an additional language. The subject is not taught in a foreign language but with and through a foreign language.

• The aim of CLIL is not to make learners bilingual or for learners to achieve native like proficiency in the additional language. Learners learn the subject as they would learn any other subject in the school curriculum.

• Students develop new knowledge of the subject and new knowledge of the language at the same time. CLIL offers a more natural situation for language development which builds on other forms of learning.

features of CLIL

• CLIL is very flexible and can be used from primary education, to secondary, higher secondary and vocational education and can take many forms depending on the amount of time in the school curriculum devoted to CLIL.

• Content may mean teaching a whole subject of the national curriculum through a different language, or projects based on topical issues drawing from different aspects of the curriculum (e.g. a project on fast fashion) or interdisciplinary projects  (e.g. a project on climate change).

implementing CLIL

Although there is no specific methodology that relates to CLIL, there are certain teaching techniques and principles that are generally used in CLIL classrooms

In a CLIL classroom learners work with the authentic contents of a subject and in a naturalistic situation that allows for implicit and incidental learning

Content learning is effective when it is cognitively challenging and when students work in groups to cooperatively ask questions and solve problems

Linares et al (2012) suggest that an effective way of enabling learners to access content knowledge is to focus on the analysis of genres that are used in the particular subject. By analysing the features and functions of different text types enables learners to connect subject knowledge with language use.

implementing CLIL

• a CLIL classroom is multisensory, multimodal and focuses on all types of communication (linguistic, visual, and kinaesthetic)

• In order to facilitate comprehension of new language and concepts, audio-visual aids, multimedia, powerpoint presentations and interactive materials are essential and can provide learners with stimulating input

• Project based activities, problem based activities and inquiry based learning activities are frequently used in CLIL classrooms providing students with opportunities to develop higher order thinking skills, cooperative skills, decisions making skills

• Also the subject is taught in simple easily comprehensible ways, using diagrams, illustrations, graphs, highlighted terms etc.

designing lessons

In order to design a CLIL lesson a teacher needs to

a) Decide what the focus on the lesson should be (new concepts, information, culture)

b)Identify the language students will need to gain knowledge about the topic and the language they will need to take part in classroom procedures and activities.

c) Search for related material (multimodal, multisensory, interactive) to help learners understand content and to provide language support.

d) Design/select activities to help students understand/discover new information, to cooperate and communicate