Dimensions of integrating language learning and disciplinary learning at tertiary level Philip Shaw

Department of English, Stockholm University

Philip.shaw@english.su.se

2014-03-26 1

CLIL and Second-Language-Medium Instruction

• CLIL – language + disciplinary content are equally targets of the

learning process.

– Learning outcomes for both targets,

– both are tested

– teaching adapted to the demands of both learning

processes.

• SLMI ( = English-medium instruction in this context) – use of L2 to learn a discipline.

– Incidentally L2 proficiency improvement in some areas,

but not a specified learning outcome.

– Teaching adapted for maximum communicative efficiency

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Learning objectives

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Second-language medium instruction

Content and language integrated

learning

100% content

Languages for Specific

Purposes

Contents

• Differentiating ’CIL in Europe’ – Social and institutional context

• Four issues – Lingua franca, disciplinary discourse, constructive

alignment, inequality

• Some examples – Framing courses as CLIL or ELF, Spain,

Switzerland, Sweden

• Discussion of good practice advice for EMI and CLIL teachers tertiary level.

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Determinants of L2 teaching

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Language

of textbook

of lectures

of seminars

of administration

of exam questions/ essay prompts

of exam answers/ essays

Learning Situation + learning objectives

Course design and teaching practices

Adaptation of language level

Choice of written and spoken tasks

Focus on form

Degree of bilingual cross-reference

Social context

The social context of instruction in Engish

• Reasons for using L2?

• L1 sociopolitical status?

• Previous L1 disciplinary knowledge (discourse)?

• Similarity of terminology in L1 and L2?

• General exposure to L2 in speech or writing?

• Teacher/learner confidence and proficiency in L2?

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Institutional demands and learning objectives

• Instructor does not know L1 (L2 may

or may not be his/her first language)

• Students do not know L1 (L2 may or

may not be their first language)

• Students and instructor know L1 but

course elements (e.g. textbook) are

in L2

• Students and instructor know L1 but

choose to use L2

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Learning

objectives may or

may not include L2

learning

Learning objectives

presumably include

L2 learning, not

necessarily CLIL

Context: L1 status

• ’developed large’ with all resources for undergraduate

education available?

• ’developed small national’ with most resources available to

some extent?

• ’undeveloped’, often ex-colonized, with limited resources or

domains,?

• ’developed minority’ local languages that have been

excluded from many domains?

• ’immigrant minority’ languages that here are not used in

most domains (submerged!)

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Social context: academic biliteracy How much disciplinary knowledge do they have already?

• Do we need to think about developing basic understanding, terms, and discourse in L1?

Or

• Have they already got them?

• Do they not really need them?

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Social context: positive transfer of L1 academic literacy

How similar is terminology in L1 and L2?

Transfer of basic technical terms in either direction will make things easier; non-cognates (in ’old subjects’) need special attention to make the connection

Hydrogen

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Väte

Wasserstoff

hydrogène

suiso

idrogeno

huògen

hidrógeno

Social context: L2 exposure

• How much exposure have students had to L2 in speech or writing?

• Are they familiar with films, books, television, Wikipedia in the second language?

(affects speed, fluency, vocabulary size (academic and general), cultural knowledge,…)

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Social context: How confident and proficient are teachers and learners in the L2?

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Instructor

proficiency

High

Low High

Learner

proficiency

Lingua franca

Native-like

Mis-match problems:

Instructor is ’too good’

Need for

tolerance

Danger zone

CLIL zone

Four issues that affect CLIL/EMI and its aims

• Lingua franca

• Academic biliteracy

• Constructive alignment

• Democracy/equality

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Lingua-franca skills

• - being sensitive to other accents and varieties (what does

an Indian mean by the in-charge is not here?);

• - correspondingly, trying to avoid expressions not widely

used in the English-speaking world (British fortnight, Swedish

it would be nice with a cup of coffee);

• - using any unambiguous pronunciation, (so that an equal-

stress version of photography would be as good as one with

strongly-reduced unstressed vowels);

• - adopting strategies for comprehensibility, (these people

you saw, what were they wearing?).

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What one might get from a lingua-franca environment

• Yves, exchange student in Stockholm (Royal Institute of

Technology)

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• When I was in England I learnt masses of new words, here I've got more fluent but I think I've forgotten words........

• And my French accent has got worse

Native-like English is not always good lingua-franca English

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My English has got worse.. What do you mean?

I just use simple words that my colleagues can understand

Are there any people that you avoid communicating with? Yes, Americans.....and also Australians. They are very

friendly but I can't understand them.

Priya (Mauritius, English-

educated, native-like)

Maite (Spain) final interview

Academic biliteracy: cognitive-academic registers of L1 and L2

• One of the four C’s of CLIL is Cognition

• Students need to learn the language of the university in general and the discourse of the discipline in particular

• LF environments do not necessarily develop these registers

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never the first language for anybody, even for the children of the educated classes" (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1965, p. 18)

Disciplinary discourse and L2 medium

Studying in higher education is a process of learning a discourse. Studying in a second language may lead to:

• shallow or simplistic L2 academic discourse

• Inadequate L1 academic discourse

• Special attention needs to be paid to this, especially in EMI, and it therefore needs to be a formal expected outcome

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Constructive alignment or washback? Who’s boss, the exam or the expected outcomes?

In constructive alignment, we start with the outcomes we intend students to learn, and align teaching and assessment to those outcomes Http://www.johnbiggs.com.au/constructive_alignment.html

Can we have CLIL locals and exchange students in the same class?

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Washback (Watanabe) and constructive alignment

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teaching

testing

Expected outcomes

Summative evaluation

washback

Constructive alignment

Constructive alignment

The inequality issue

• EMI creates an A-team for privileged students

• (in Sweden this is the top 80% of the group)

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Student proficiency/exposure and L2 instruction at tertiary level

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’weak’ CLIL as part of English tuition

Classic CLIL for local-L1 students

Post-colonial /multilingual EMI (L1s varied/ undeveloped + colonial tradition)

English-medium instruction for international students (L1s varied)

L2-medium instruction for local-L1 students

Lower proficiency

Higher proficiency

Partial authenticity

Full authenticity

BREAK!

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Some examples

• Framing similar courses in different ways

• CLIL without English, Swiss examples

• Scandinavia – the parallel-language university

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Two framings of courses for hotel staff and tourism

• Tertiary level course for tourism (Taiwan, Yang & Gosling 2013) or hotel management (Austria, Smit 2010).

• International + local students, English-medium.

• Yang & Gosling frame as CLIL, Smit as ELF/EMI.

• What difference does this framing make?

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Effects of course framing

ELF CLIL (strong or weak)

Participant roles ”user” ”learner”

Explicit outcome focus

content Language + content

Teacher linguistic adaptation

LF clarification/ simplification/ adaptation (if any)

Target language modelling, repetition, rephrasing, development

Content targets Core Can be optional extras

Language/ discourse targets

Academic literacy in English Improved proficiency and academic literacy in English

Institutional motivation

Accommodate international students

Improve local students’ English proficiency

Teacher identity Subject specialist Hybrid, varied

Lx use Useful but not always practical

Depends on relative status of L1, L2 and especially learner development in L1

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Switzerland. The aims of German CLIL in a French-speaking university

• Geneva - in French-speaking Switzerland but with more than 40% foreigners and more than 20% German-Swiss

• .“.The students in the bilingual stream are expected to be able to use specialist vocabulary competently in French and German and to be able to communicate in both languages at the highest level in both speech and writing“ (Rittberger)

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Comments of Spanish teachers after a CLIL teaching experience Vallbona & Khan 2012

• ….teachers perceived that they had been unable to include

as much content as intended,…

• …time for language support, particularly with regard to

written or oral tasks.

• ……….students’ attention span in CLIL classes was much

shorter, requiring them to break down their lectures.

• ………. the mixture of language levels among students,

• …… teachers who had been concerned with their own

language level did not mention this factor after teaching

their subject.

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L2-medium instruction for local-L1 students

• The ’parallel-language university’ in the Nordic region: – Books in English

– undergraduate teaching in local-L1 (except for

classes with exchange students, som business

studies courses)

– Masters level predominantly English

• English-medium higher education available in the Netherlands, and e.g. Poland , Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, and Turkey, targeting both local and international students.

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English permeates the North European ’parallel-language’ university

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There are three reasons why my

slides are in English. The first is that I

generally give these lectures in

English. The second is that even

when the lecture is in Swedish some

of you may not be so good at

Swedish and prefer English. And the

third is that those of you who are

completely Swedish will get the

English terms and the Swedish ones

at the same time so you’ll

understand when you read.

Four points in the parallel-language university

• Lecturers switch between languages and often (at Master’s level) lecture in L2

• Slides and books are often in L2, even when lecturing is in L1 (or vice versa sometimes)

• Audiences are linguistically diverse

• Academic bilngualism is expected

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Parallel-language is not CLIL

• Most teachers set English-language reading

• Most of these see one of their purposes as allowing acquisition of the English-language terms of the subject

• Some of these set up the course to encourage such learning

• Few have explicit language-learning outcomes in course descriptions

• (Pecorari et al 2011)

Student attitudes towards English texts

• A plurality approved of English-language texts in general

• English texts were perceived as more visually attractive.

• English texts were perceived as harder to read.

• A quarter objected, often strongly, to being assigned English-language texts.

Mismatch of lecture and reading

• English terms given in the reading are most effectively learnt from lectures which explicitly use both language forms.

• But teachers rarely refer to the reading related to the lecture, and only some of them cross-reference English and Swedish terms (e.g. slides in English, lecture in Swedish).

Research findings for discipinary learning

Most research is at secondary-school level and shows modest language advantages for CLIL without serious content losses (Ikeda 2013).

At university (undergraduate or Master’s)

• Uncontextualized experiments/tests

• Naturalistic observations

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36

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

6-16 17-24 25-28 29-33 34-38

% p

å d

en

na

niv

å

軸ラベル

Nelson-Denny Reading Comprehension (Edinburgh median 33)

Stockholm 133

Edinburgh 73

Hong Kong 24

Better comprehension

Better comprehension 37

Faster reading 38

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

% o

f gr

ou

p in

th

is b

and

words per minute

Words per minute as estimated by Nelson-Denny (% of each group)

Stockholm 82

Edinburgh 73

Hong Kong 23

Ucontextualized experiment: engineers in the Netherlands

• In the Netherlands Klaassen (2001) taught an experimental group of engineers in Dutch, in English (testing in English) and in English (testing in Dutch)

• Those taught in Dutch scored significantly better than either English-medium group (21 points vs 18 **). There was no significant difference due to testing language.

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Research findings : Physics lectures in English and Swedish (Airey 2008)

• Students said ’Language makes no difference’.

• In fact ,fewer questions ,lower-quality notes after lecture in English

• Better preparation, more reading for lecture in English

• Learning results were similar

• First-year students could not retell in English what they had learnt in Swedish, but second-years could.

• Airey (2008)

• 2014-03-26 40

Engineers in the Netherlands learning in English (Klaassen 2001) (naturalistic observation)

• no difference in exam results due to language of instruction.

• ” Students, irrespective of their background or other variables that might form an obstacle to them, make sure they pass”

• Some evidence of more superficial learning in first EMI year, not in second.

• Students who choose EMI are often better motivated.

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English as an academic lingua franca at the Royal Technical Institute in Stockholm (Björkman 2010) • Effective lingua franca among students in

group work and as medium of instruction.

• Subject expertise rather than language proficiency determines dominance

• Errors cause few problems (except unclearly marked questions). Casual topics may be abandoned for linguistic reasons, not group goals.

• Teacher ’errors’ arouse some but not much irritation (word order stands out).

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Sweden and Spain: L2MI and CLIL (at university level)

• Swedish students see themselves as ’knowing’ and ’using’ English.

• Spanish students see themselves as ’learning’ English.

• So L2MI is common in Sweden and CLIL is common in Spain.

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Course design: teaching practices

• Adaptation of language level

• Choice of written and spoken tasks

• Focus on form – ( discussion of grammar and vocabulary)

• Degree of bilingual cross-reference

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Practical measures to maximise learning

• Standardized ’lingua franca’ communication

– Avoid native-speakerisms (complexity, slang, fast

presentation, wide vocabulary, references to Anglo-

Amercan culture, excessively anglo etc lecturing style)

– Avoid localisms (accent, false friends, presuppositions

about local knowledge, presuppositions about learning

style)

– Structure lectures explicitly. Mark parts, transitions,

asides. Say Now, next, I have three points, the reason

is, this is an example of , So that was…., now let’s move

on to…

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• If the aim is EMI -- disciplinary learning with an international

group (+ incidental language improvement)

Practical measures to maximise learning

• Genuine comprehension checks – In lectures, check questions for brief discussion

every few minutes

– Specified questions on reading for e.g. on-line forum

answers

• Multiple media and cross-referencing – Collect suggestions from students for L1 on-line

(etc.) sources

– In lectures, refer to pages in reading.

– Always show written form of terms (Powerpoint etc)

– Use instructional (not decorative) visuals, examples,

– Give references for follow-up reading

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• If the aim is 2LMI -- disciplinary learning with an international

group (+ incidental language improvement)

Practical measures to maximise learning

• Group work as comprehension check, change of pace.

• Explicitly address potential cross-linguistic terminology

problems (’What do you call this in Chinese?’ ’ sodium, which

is called natrium in many languages’) . Use student

knowledge (allow them to negotiate L1 terms etc).

• Use the local language as well as L2, but carefully, and

possibly with translation.

• Provide language support for writing and/or speaking tasks if

in L2.

• Check that students are developing disciplinary discourse in

some language (some productive tasks which are not

knowledge reproduction).

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• If the aim is 2LMI -- disciplinary learning with an

international group (+ incidental language improvement).

Practical measures to maximise learning

1. Active student written use to develop CALP:

• several reports

– in well-defined genre (exam answer, report,

scientific article, instructional material?)

– professional register – appropriate style, tense

usage, nominalizations, etc.

– format.

• Different tasks, focusing on deep as well as replicative

learning

• Support from language teachers, writing centres

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If the aim is language learning along with disciplinary learning (CLIL)

Practical measures to maximise learning

2. Active student oral use of language to develop CALP:

• presentations to groups or class with credit for form and

content , with focus on professional register and format.

• problem-solving tasks for credit with maximal interaction

among students in international groups where possible

• (take advice from language teachers)

•

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• If the aim is language learning along with disciplinary learning (CLIL)

Practical measures to maximise learning

If the aim is language learning along with disciplinary learning (CLIL)

3. Focus on key words

• especially ’General Academic’ -- scope, topic, theme, issue, classify, comparison, range, perhaps especially focusing on false friends important, qualify.

• technical terms of the discipline, where not transparent – momentum, moment, torque, force, power

• connectors similarly, by contrast, therefore, thus

• genre/register-specific idioms it has been found that, it was found that

• Picking them out of the texts they read and doing exercises?

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Practical measures to maximise learning

Pre-tasks:

• Brainstorming • Key vocabulary or Glossary • Mental maps • Gap filling • Matching • Watching videos • Etc. • Design of CLIL activities for computer engineering courses at the university. P. Ortigosa, J. Redondo, S. Salaberri-Ramiro, E. Garzón

Post-tasks:

• Multiple choice test Sequencing paragraphs Sentence-making Summarizing Find the wrong bits and rewrite Finding errors about learned contents Writing a report Oral production Etc.

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Pre-lesson and post-lesson activities

References

• Aguilar, M. & C. Muñoz. 2013. “The effect of proficiency on CLIL benefits in Engineering students in Spain.” International Journal of Applied Linguistics. doi: 10.1111/ijal.12006.

• Airey, J. & C. Linder. 2006. “Language and the experience of learning university physics in Sweden.” European Journal of Physics, 27:553-560.

• Biggs J. & C. Tang. 2011. Teaching for Quality Learning at University, Bucking-ham: Open University Press/McGraw Hill.

• Björkman, B. 2011. “Pragmatic strategies in English as an academic lingua franca: ways of achieving communicative effectiveness?” Journal of Pragmatics 43:950-964.

• Björkman, B. 2013. English as an academic lingua franca. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

• Bourdieu, P. & J.-C. Passeron. 1965. “Introduction: Langage et rapport au langage dans la situation pédagogique.” In Bourdieu, P., J.-C. Passeron & M. de Saint Martin (Eds.). Rapport pédagogique et communication. Paris: Mouton.

• Costa, F. & J.A. Coleman. 2010. “Integrating content and language in higher education in Italy: ongoing research.” International CLIL Research Journal, 1/3:19-29.

• Creese, A. & A. Blackledge. 2010. “Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: a pedagogy for learning and teaching?” The Modern Language Journal, 94:103-115. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00986.x.

• Huang, F. 2006. “Internationalization of curricula in higher education institutions in comparative perspectives: Case studies of China, Japan and the Netherlands.” Higher Education, 51/4:521-539.

• Klaassen, R.G. 2001. The international university curriculum: Challenges in Eng-lish-medium engineering education. (Doctoral dissertation). Delft, The Nether-lands: Delft University of Technology.

• Kuteeva, M. 2011. “Teaching and learning in English in parallel-language and ELF settings: Debates, concerns and realities in higher education”. Ibérica, 22:5-12.

• Laufer, B. & J. Hulstijn. 2001. “Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second lan-guage: the construct of task-induced involvement”. Applied Linguistics 22/1:1-26.

• Llinares, A. & E. Dafouz. 2010. “Content and Language Integrated Programmes in the Madrid Region: Overview and research findings”.” In Lasagabaster, D. & Y. Ruiz de Zarobe (Eds.). CLIL in Spain: Implementation, Results and Teacher Training. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 95-114.

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• Mauranen, A. 2012. Exploring ELF: Academic English Shaped by Non-native Speakers. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

• Ortigosa, P., J. Redondo, S. Salaberri-Ramiro & E. Garzón. 2011. “Design of CLIL activities for computer engineering courses at the university.” EDULEARN11 Proceedings (3rd International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies), 2311-2319.

• Pecorari, D., P. Shaw, A. Irvine, H. Malmström & Š. Mežek. 2012. “Reading in tertiary education: Undergraduate student practices and attitudes.” Quality in Higher Education, 18/2: 235-256.

• Pecorari, D., P. Shaw, H. Malmström & A. Irvine. 2011. “English textbooks in parallel-language tertiary education.” TESOL Quarterly, 45: 313-333.

• Pecorari, D., Shaw, P., Irvine, A. & Malmström, H (2011): English for Academic Purposes at Swedish universities: Teachers’ objectives and practices Ibérica 22 55-78.

• Pecorari, D., Shaw, P., Irvine, A. & Malmström, H. (2011). English textbooks in parallel-language tertiary education. TESOL Quarterly 45/2, 313-333.

• Rittberger, Marc (2004) Zweisprachiger Studiengang Information und Dokumentation an der HEG Genève Information 55 23-24

• Seidlhofer, B. 2001. “Closing a conceptual gap: the case for a description of Eng-lish as a lingua franca.” International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 11/2:133-158.

• Shaw, P. & A. MacMillion. 2011. “Components of success in academic reading tasks for Swedish students.” Ibérica, 22:141-162.

• Shaw, P. (2013) Adjusting practices to aims in integrated language learning and disciplinary learning. Les cahiers de l’Apluit" (volume XXXII N°3, Oct. 2013), " La pédagogie de l’EMILE en questions : Modalités et enjeux pour le secteur LANSAD ". 15-29

• Tatzl, D. 2011. “English-medium masters’ programmes at an Austrian university of applied sciences: Attitudes, experiences and challenges.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 10:252-270.

• Thøgersen, J. & J. Airey. 2011. “Lecturing undergraduate science in Danish and in English: A comparison of speaking rate and rhetorical style.” English for Spe-cific Purposes, 30/3:209-221.

• Vallbona, A. & S. Khan. 2012. “First steps towards CLIL: Perceptions and training at a Catalan university.” In TRICLIL 2012 Proceedings: Better CLIL:More Op-portunities in Primary, Secondary and Higher Education. Barcelona: UAB, 132-137.

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• Thank you! Philip.shaw@english.su.se

2014-03-26 54

Penetration of English in small-language Northern Europe

• I have a friend (Scottish) working as a vikarie in a friskola in

Göteborg subbing for maths/science classes, 4-9 year olds.

He says that he uses Eng/Swe is all of his classes though the

degree of usage depends really on the age of the students.

Some of the older students have told him that they would

prefer to be addressed in English and so can/will explain

things in English (he always repeats it in Swedish afterwards),

while with the younger ones (4-6 yr olds) he will only "throw

in the odd phrase here and there

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