Content and Language Integrated Learning

Language Policy and Pedagogical Practice

Yolanda Ruiz de Zarobe, Yolanda Ruiz de Zarobe

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781317352815
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book explores some of the recent research undertaken on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). It offers an overview of several European contexts, describing experiences that could be extrapolated to many other communities worldwide.

Contributions focus on issues related to language policy, moving from high-level policymaking to grassroots decisions, but all of them encompassing the major changes that can be recognized in education, which also evidence the shifts in society and economic life that have taken place in Europe in the last decades. These changes in language policy issues are coupled with changes in CLIL practice in the classroom. These national initiatives are displayed across a wide range of educational perspectives, portraying the diversity that is a distinctive feature of CLIL in the European educational mosaic. By providing new insights into pedagogic, methodological, and language policy issues in CLIL, and by covering some areas which have been insufficiently addressed in the literature, such as the implementation of CLIL in 'less successful' contexts, or learner-teacher collaboration in the classroom, this book will be of great value to researchers, stakeholders and professionals interested in CLIL and language education. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.

Listening to learners: an investigation into ‘successful learning’ across CLIL contexts

Do Coyle

School of Education, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK

This study is part of longitudinal research undertaken in 11 secondary schools across two countries, based in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classrooms with 12–15 year olds. The aim was to listen to learners, provide them with a ‘voice’ to analyse their perceptions of ‘successful learning’ and to undertake participatory research not only to find evidence of successful learning but also to encourage greater ownership of CLIL classroom events. We believe that this study due to the innovative ways of involving learners has a unique contribution to make to our understanding of ‘successful learning’ using French, German and Spanish in CLIL classrooms where English is the usual medium for learning. For the purposes of this study, ‘successful learning’ was considered to have two components: motivation and achievement or pupil gains. Three distinct data-gathering methods were used: questionnaires, ‘respectful discussions’ and classroom video analysis using the LOCIT (Learning-Oriented Critical Incident Technique) process. The findings reveal that whilst discussing successful CLIL generates useful data to trigger further research by learners and teachers, classroom evidence selected by the learners is less aligned. This study suggests that these data could not only be used to support learners’ understanding of ‘successful learning’ more deeply but also to create their own class-based research agendas and to be part of changing classroom practice.

1. Introduction

Successful learning in CLIL lessons is learning which motivates us and where we know we have learned and understood new things. (ITALIC Learner Conference 2010)

Over the last two decades, the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) phenomenon has undergone significant developments across Europe and beyond. From its inception rooted in European contexts in the early 1990s, CLIL is evolving into a catalyst for conceptualising and re-conceptualising how languages can be used as both the medium and the object of learning in very different global contexts. Strongly influenced by an economic and social need to ensure that young people are equipped with a range of communication skills in more than two languages to enhance employability and mobility, CLIL is becoming increasingly positioned as a change agent i.e. to transform ‘traditional’ monolingual learning contexts into bilingual experiences; to contribute to the European vision for a plurilingual and pluricultural union; to connect with and learn from well-established global models of immersion and bilingual education such as in Canada; and to work towards a more equitable distribution of linguistic and social capital. Whilst such CLIL ideologies tend to focus on linguistic outcomes, the complexities of its growth and the demands of different contexts have led to wide-ranging questions as to how CLIL is put into practice, taking account of social, cultural, economic and political agendas.

The hybridity of CLIL as a learning phenomenon has both advantages and challenges. There are no fixed models which pre-determine how CLIL will develop. Hence its organic growth in different contexts is part of a changing educational paradigm. The concept of ‘dual-focused approaches’ to the learning and teaching of both content and language straddles theoretical boundaries linked to learning processes, second language acquisition, language learning, bilingualism, intercultural awareness, bi-literacies and so on, which in turn encourages cross-disciplinary engagement and debate from theoreticians and practitioners alike. As CLIL practice matures, there are increasing demands for evidence of classroom practices which demonstrate the effectiveness of learning experiences and outcomes for young people in terms of content (i.e. subject knowledge), linguistic and intercultural competence.

The context of this study is state secondary schools in England and Scotland. In both countries, foreign language learning is in decline. In England, 56% of 14 year olds do not continue with language studies, and Scotland has a steady decline to 69% of all 18 year olds studying a language. In 2012, the Scottish government launched a 10-year plan for an ‘MT + 2’ policy across primary and secondary schools which provides real opportunities for developing integrated approaches to language and content learning. Paradoxically, although Gaelic-medium education in Scotland is growing, this has not extended to learning through the medium of other languages. England, on the other hand, has no tradition of bilingual education in state schools – with the exception of some pioneering institutions. However, the situation is changing with regard to CLIL in both countries. Led mainly by language teachers, increasingly schools are trialling and piloting CLIL approaches in an attempt to motivate their learners to continue with language studies. In countries where English is the predominant language, there are assumptions made about Anglophones and their attitudes to using other languages (Lo Bianco 2006). However, more recent research confirms that whilst young people do recognise the value of communicating in other languages (Evans and Fisher 2009) they find their language classroom experiences neither motivating nor challenging enough to develop their skills to become competent users of other languages. Integrating language learning with thematic or subject learning is increasingly perceived as one possible route to motivating learners through language using at the same time as language learning so that more young people are given appropriate opportunities to become competent communicators in languages other than English. For the purposes of this study CLIL is defined as a developing, flexible concept where thematic or subject content and foreign languages are integrated in some mutually beneficial way to ensure more learners are motivated to learn and use other languages in the future.

This chapter argues that in order to make the language learning experience of young people more successful, the quality and nature of learning experiences have to be understood from the learners’ perspective. This study therefore investigates ‘successful’ learning across different CLIL contexts by analysing learner motivation and achievement from the learners’ perspective. It takes classroom practices as the locus of investigation and the learners as mediators in the process.

2. Defining ‘successful’ learning

Effective learning is usually measured by testing how far the desired learning outcomes of any programme have been achieved using specific criteria. Large-scale comparisons have led to exercises such as Pisa Tests (OECD 2007) influencing policy and practice on a global stage. In the UK, terms such as ‘successful schools’ and ‘successful leaders’ can be found in policy guidance and professional literature. These terms suggest that there is agreement about what constitutes ‘successful learning’ with little account taken of contextual variables and where empirical evidence such as test results is used to support such claims. This study does not visit the well-rehearsed arguments about the relative value attached to what is measurable in learning (Broadfoot 2008; Black and Wiliam 2009). Instead, underpinning this study is the following principle: measuring learner attainment provides only part of the picture of ‘success’ – not all aspects of ‘successful learning’ can be measured by tests. Instead it was decided to investigate ‘successful learning’ in CLIL settings through analysing what makes learners want to learn and how they perceived the value of the processes and outcomes of learning.

2.1. Learner motivation

Despite its fundamental role in the learning process and the extensive literature base, there remain differences of opinion about the nature of motivation and the necessary conditions for it to impact learning. It is clear that linking motivation and achievement is much more complex and dynamic than can be explained through attitudes to work and ensuing test results. Evidence emphasises the importance of pedagogic approaches to language learning which impact on learner attitudes and motivation (Lasagabaster and Huguet 2007; Pae 2008). In line with the current thinking and a move away from earlier work which foregrounded individual intrinsic and extrinsic drivers (Gardner 1985), this study was particularly interested in the role of the classroom as a socially situated locus of learning, the social relations within, participation in activities, personal goals set and learner-teacher reflections (Vandergrift 2005; Dörnyei and Ushioda 2011). As Dörnyei (2007, 719) notes:

Long-term, sustained learning – such as the acquisition of an L2 – cannot take place unless the educational context provides, in addition to cognitively adequate instructional practice, sufficient inspiration and enjoyment to build up continuing motivation in the learners. Boring but systematic teaching can be effective in producing, for example, good test results but rarely does it inspire life-long commitment to the subject matter.

Moreover, according to Garcia (2009) learning which involves languages other than one’s first, whether in the modern language classroom, immersion classroom or a dual-language setting, is closely related to learner identity and how an individual ‘understands his or her relationship to the world, how that relationship is constructed across time and space and how the person understands possibilities for the future’ (Norton 2000, 4). Bringing together learner identity and notions of self together with language learning experiences, Dörnyei and Ushioda’s recent work (2011) proposes a complex dynamic systems model combining motivation, cognition and affect. They suggest that the way individuals feel about themselves and others and the ways in which they appraise their achievements in a specific L2 learning context will have a significant impact on their learning. This stance resonates with research into learner ‘investment’ where learning takes place in and through alternative languages (e.g. Cummins 2001; Pavelenko 2002) and which concludes that learner identity and the classroom environment together are crucial determinants of motivation.

As research into CLIL accrues so do reports on increased learner motivation in CLIL settings (e.g. Seikkula-Leino 2007; Dooley and Eastman 2008; Lorenzo, Casal, and Moore 2010; Coyle 2011b; Lasagabaster 2011). However, there is a need for caution when generalising from these studies (Bruton 2011) unless specific variables such as learner characteristics, teaching styles, age, composition of the class and pedagogic approaches are taken into account as well as contextual conditions impacting on ways in which CLIL is operationalised in different regions and countries. That noted, three aspects of learner motivation are consistently identified across different studies: the importance of the classroom environment (i.e. the pedagogies which are enacted); learner engagement (e.g. investment, challenge and interest); and the development of learner identities (values, attitudes and notions of self). Adapting Guilloteaux and Dörnyei’s (2008, 50) construct of motivational teaching practice, the model shown in Figure 1 was constructed to guide our understanding of the processes inherent in learner motivation in the CLIL classes in this study.

2.2. Learner achievement

The second factor linked to successful learning is learner achievement. As has been discussed, learner achievement goes beyond attainment measures. Instead, the emphasis is on learning from a wider perspective including the effects of the classroom experience and individual roles within. There is tension, however, between what is achieved, what is gained from these experiences and what is tested – all of which impact on motivation especially learner engagement and sense of self as learner and language user. Having a sense of learning successfully, making progress and being in control of that learning are not necessarily reflected in the kind of learning outputs which schooling demands. In secondary schools in England and Scotland for example, CLIL outputs are usually situated in the language-learning domain. This is because CLIL is led by language teachers rather than by subject teachers – not necessarily the case in non-Anglophone countries. Expectations of language achievements are skills-based in terms of language competence. In England these include listening and responding, speaking, reading and responding and writing. In Scotland, the skill set goes beyond the four key skills and includes for example, organising and using information, using knowledge about the language, reading to appreciate other cultures. In schools where CLIL is associated with another subject domain rather than thematic study in language classes, especially when subject teachers as well as language teachers are involved, subject-related knowledge and skills are included – analysing sources for example in hi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction – CLIL implementation: from policy-makers to individual initiatives
• 1. Listening to learners: an investigation into ‘successful learning’ across CLIL contexts
• 2. The power of beliefs: lay theories and their influence on the implementation of CLIL programmes
• 3. CLIL in junior vocational secondary education: challenges and opportunities for teaching and learning
• 4. CLIL in Sweden – why does it not work? A metaperspective on CLIL across contexts in Europe
• 5. Curricular models of CLIL education in Poland
• 6. Learning to become a CLIL teacher: teaching, reflection and professional development
• 7. How CLIL can provide a pragmatic means to renovate science education – even in a sub-optimally bilingual context
• 8. Genre-based curricula: multilingual academic literacy in content and language integrated learning
• 9. Discussion: towards an educational perspective in CLIL language policy and pedagogical practice
• Supplementary Material for Chapter 7
• Index