Abstract:
This paper considers the potential of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) to contribute to the equitable provision of high-quality learning in Anglophone contexts. CLIL involves the teaching of non-language content, such as Geography, through the medium of a language other than the students’ native tongue. In Italy, for example, the language of CLIL instruction is typically English, while in the UK and Australia it might be French or Japanese. In Anglophone contexts in particular, CLIL is not primarily about language learning, but rather about cognitive challenge that engages and motivates learners - about knowledge building and concept formation.
The global flow of migrants and refugees has resulted in diverse communities and multilingual schools. Typically, EAL learners tend to be disadvantaged until they have sufficient English to fully access the curriculum and to articulate their learning. CLIL offers the potential to bring content into the language classroom and thereby support not just learners of modern foreign languages but also learners who need proficiency in English in order to be able to become confident, strong learners across the curriculum in mainstream classes.
This presentation draws on the authors' qualitative case study research in England and knowledge of CLIL in Australia to consider why and how the CLIL pedagogical approach might be drawn on to promote multilingual progression in EAL and multilingual classrooms. It addresses questions regarding the implications for EAL educators about working with modern foreign languages and what it means as an educator to be thinking about not just the teaching of English or the foreign language but about all the different languages that are represented in the classroom as we deal with increasingly linguistic diverse settings. It interrogates whether CLIL should, and how it might, play a role in this.
Addressing these questions offers a contribution to the field by identifying the potential of using CLIL approaches to act as a leveller in the support of the progression of EAL leaners in multilingual settings.
Key words
CLIL in Anglophone contexts; EAL; cross curricular language learning; social justice
The global flow of migrants and refugees has resulted in diverse communities and multilingual schools. Typically, EAL learners tend to be disadvantaged until they have sufficient English to fully access the curriculum and to articulate their learning. CLIL offers the potential to bring content into the language classroom and thereby support not just learners of modern foreign languages but also learners who need proficiency in English in order to be able to become confident, strong learners across the curriculum in mainstream classes.
This presentation draws on the authors' qualitative case study research in England and knowledge of CLIL in Australia to consider why and how the CLIL pedagogical approach might be drawn on to promote multilingual progression in EAL and multilingual classrooms. It addresses questions regarding the implications for EAL educators about working with modern foreign languages and what it means as an educator to be thinking about not just the teaching of English or the foreign language but about all the different languages that are represented in the classroom as we deal with increasingly linguistic diverse settings. It interrogates whether CLIL should, and how it might, play a role in this.
Addressing these questions offers a contribution to the field by identifying the potential of using CLIL approaches to act as a leveller in the support of the progression of EAL leaners in multilingual settings.
Key words
CLIL in Anglophone contexts; EAL; cross curricular language learning; social justice