Getting used to content and language integrated learning: what can classroom interaction reveal?

Abstract

Bilingual programmes in which an L2 is used as the medium of instruction are becoming popular in different parts of the world, and content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is one variant of such programmes. Recent research on CLIL has gradually shifted from product-oriented (i.e. evaluating the effectiveness of CLIL in terms of language and content learning outcomes) to more process-oriented by exploring classroom interaction in detail to gain insight into effective pedagogy and teacher education. This paper compares two different settings of CLIL classrooms in Hong Kong (where CLIL is referred to as 'English Medium Instruction'). In one setting, the Grade 10 teachers and students (aged 15) had experienced CLIL for the first three years of secondary education; in the second one, the Grade 10 teachers and students had just started to experience the CLIL approach. In our comprehensive analysis of 15 observed lessons, we found that the teacher-student interaction where CLIL had just started was more monologic: the teacher dominated the lesson talk, students had difficulties expressing their meaning in L2, question-and-answer sequences were constrained -a finding which would cause concern if replicated more generally. Our interpretation is that it takes time for both teachers and students to get used to integrated content and language learning, teachers need to develop skills to engage students in extended verbal exchanges, and students need to reach operational levels of L2 proficiency. The findings of this study yield significant implications for the successful implementation of CLIL in other contexts.

A Mixed Methods Study to Examine the Influence of CLIL on Physical Education Lessons: Analysis of Social Interactions and Physical Activity Levels

“…Contrary to the stereotypes of many critical voices who claim that physical activity levels decrease in Physical Education with CLIL (Coral et al, 2017;Martinez and Garcia, 2017), we did find evidence in both the interviews and accelerometry results that the quality of physical activity is not necessarily diminished. In addition, despite some teachers' concerns about their explanations being longer when applying CLIL (Lo and Macaro, 2015;Salvador-García and Chiva-Bartoll, 2017), the percentage of time that students were engaged in MVPA was also maintained.…”

Learning Chemistry in English: The Relationship between Language Skills and Learning Outcomes

“…That means many students who have not had experience in class or at school where English is used in science learning. Lo & Macaro (2015) concluded that there were differences in language skills among students who had recently adopted bilingual learning with schools that had long adopted the learning. This factor of experience can affect language skills.…”

Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Competence through Identity Reconstruction and Participation

“…One possible reason for the apparent success of CLIL has to do with the kinds of communicative contexts it makes available to learners and the effect of these contexts on both their opportunities to use the language and their motivation to engage with it. Classroom observations of CLIL classes have shown the learners tend to participate more actively in subject-learning classes than language-input classes and have benefited from the programme in terms of eagerness to volunteer and classroom verbal output (Huang, 2011;Lo & Macaro, 2015). Nikula (2010: 120) notes that in the CLIL lessons students have "more room for active engagement in classroom discourse than non-CLIL settings".…”

“…Other studies, however, have reported reduced active student participation in CLIL classrooms. In a study by Lim Falk (2008), CLIL students were found to use less relevant subject-based language in speech and writing than did the control students, and a study by Lo and Macaro (2015) in Hong Kong found that, at least at the beginning stages, teacherstudent interaction in CLIL lessons was more monologic and teacher dominated, and that students often had difficulties expressing their meanings in L2. Some researchers (e.g.…”