VAASA järvinen+ CLILL

Vaasa University of Applied Science

Foreign Language-Medium Studies in
Tertiary Education. Opportunity for
Language Attainment and Gateway to
European Mobility
Content and Language Integrated
Learning in Tertiary Education
Heini-Marja Järvinen, University of Turku

September 10-11, 2007


Contents
 Is CLILL a viable option for improving tertiary-

level students’ language skills?


So, you see, the orbit
of a planet is elliptical

What’s an
orbit?

What’s a
planet?
What’s
elliptical?

Language is a problem in languagemedium instruction
 Tella, Räsänen & Vähäpassi (eds) 1999: Teaching through a

foreign language: from tool to empowering mediator
 national, external evaluation of 15 polytechnic & university
level English-medium programmes

 Räsänen, 2000: Learning and teaching through English at the

University of Jyväskylä
 Part of an international evaluation of quality of teaching,
international & Finnish students & teaching staff at the U of
Jyväskylä

 Hellekjär & Westergaard, 2002: An exploratory survey of

content learning through English at Scandinavian universities
 Questionnaires to Scandinavian universities, 2 Shools of
Economics and Business, one polytechnic
 20 returns from Norway, 10 from Denmark, 12 from
Sweden and 10 from Finland


Findings
 The use and role of language of instruction was not

considered, it was downplayed, even ignored.
 Both staff and (undergraduate) students have
language problems
 Students had problems in






understanding lectures
academic spoken skills
academic writing
study skills

 Lecturers had problems with oral fluency


Definition of content and language
integrated learning (CLIL)
 CLIL refers to situations where subjects, or

parts of subjects, are taught through a foreign
language with dual-focussed aims, namely
the learning of content, and the simultaneous
learning of a foreign language. (David Marsh)


 Students’ language skills can be improved by
 Offering separate courses in content-specific and

academic English and study skills in



speaking for academic purposes
academic writing

 Offering CLIL courses with
 a special focus on language in content instruction
(content teacher)
 content and language teacher collaborating (sheltered
courses)


What are some characteristics of CLIL
and CLILL in particular?


Well, Kepler was not a CLIL teacher…

orbit

Content and language integrated teaching rely on making content
comprehensible in many ways, e.g. visual. Let’s look at the
language component next …


Language enhancement in CLIL
 Comprehensible input seems to be important for

comprehension skills.
 Challenging spoken and written output may be
necessary for further development of language
proficiency.

 Interaction with peers & in groups can create
dynamic ZPDs & offers opportunities for negotiation

of meaning and form
 Content-specific language is necessary for content

learning (CALP)
 So are general & content-specific thinking skills &
related language, content-specific discourse,
vocabulary & concepts


Content in higher education is typically context
reduced and cognitively demanding (Quadrant 4)


What the content teacher can do


Teacher Talk vs. Student Talk
 Adjust teacher talk
 Allow Ss more time to speak
 Elicit student talk
 Provide more thinking time


Sometimes the teacher knows the
answers…
T: Who is the greatest composer?
S: Beethoven

T: Wrong. Bach.
T: Name me one Russian composer.
S: Tchaikovsky.
T: Wrong. Rimsky-Korsakov.
(Quoted in Edwards & Westgate 1994)


Open-ended questions to trigger higherorder thinking
 What is the difference between … and ….?
 Explain why…
 What would happen, if…
 What’s another example of…?
 How could ….be used to….?
 What is the counter argument for?
 What are the causes of…? How do you

know?


Giving and receiving feedback
 Explicit correction

T:36%

S:0 %

 Elicitation

T:23%

S:43%

 Clarification request

T:11%

S:20%

 Metalinguistic clues

T:14%

S:26%

 Recasts

T:10%

S:0 %

 Repetition
 Lyster & Ranta 1997

T:6%

S:11%


Activating background information:
the role of advance organizers

 Activating background knowledge triggers

hypothesis formation, predicting and
inferencing.
 The following words are among the key words
in a text we are going to study:
 anvil, hammer, stirrup
 What do you think the text is about?


stirrup

hammer

anvil


Use of visual aids
 Realia, graphs, charts, photos, objects,
 Authentic material, illustrations, maps,

demonstrations, photos, video clips
 Outlines
 Time lines
 Flow charts
 Mapping
 Graphs
 Venn Diagrams

Graphic organisers
 Graphic organisers provide a structure for the

presentation of the content.
 ’Gapped’ graphic organisers can be used as advance
organizers, note-taking devices and tests, for
example.
 Graphic organisers help structuring the content and
processing the content in different ways
 Turning graphic organisers into oral or written
language is a way of producing challenging output.


Semantic webs


Cause and effect

One cause-several
effects
A fishbone cause-effect diagram
(multiple, complex causes)


Cognitive academic needs
Thinking skills - speech acts, text formats
General skills:
 identify – classify/define – describe – explain –
conclude/argue – evaluate,
Specific skills (Physics):

 defining – classifying – making inductions/stating
laws – describing states and processes –
 working with graphs, diagrams, tables, etc. –
interpreting – writing reports. (Mohan, Abuja, Thűrmann)


Questions to elicit higher-order
thinking
 What is the difference between photosyntesis

and respiration? (comparison/contrast)
 Explain why antibiotics cannot cure common
colds? (analysis)
 What would happen if water boiled at 60
degrees Celsius? (prediction/hypothesizing)
 How would you argue that the Earth is not
flat? (rebuttal to argument)
 What are the causes of the tides? How do
you know? (analysis of cause and effect)


Words, words,
 the importance of words