Introduction to CLIL:

Background
 Teaching
• “Teaching is the art of assisting discovery.” Mark
van Doren
• “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make
them think.” Socrates
• “The greatest sign of success for a teacher ... is to
be able to say, “The children are now working as if
I did not exist.” Maria Montessori
• “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong
process … and the most pressing task is to teach
people how to learn.” Peter F. Drucker
The winds of change
• Post-method era of ‘principled
eclecticism’
• EFL course books based on general
English language
• Globalisation of English as the medium
of instruction in tertiary education
• Economic considerations
 TENOR

• Rinvolucri (1999; 14) criticizes the “soft,

fudgy, sub-journalistic, women’s
magaziney world of EFLese course
materials”
 Benefits of CLIL
• Motivational
• Cognitive development
• More comprehensive communication skills
• Larger relevant multimodal input
• Purposeful interaction
• Intercultural awareness
• Preparation for tertiary education / workplace
• Multiple intelligences and learning styles
 CLIL
Language
Methodolog
Content y Language
teaching teaching
 Degrees of L2
• CBLT:
teaching
• Language teaching using content generated topics and materials

• CLIL (Weak):
• Language teaching to support subject teachers

• CLIL (Strong):
• Content teaching and some language teaching. Teaching through
L2

• Immersion:
• Content teaching. Teaching in L2
Degrees of CLIL
• Content is king!
• There is no single, definitive CLIL methodology
• CLIL offers both content and language teachers
new pedagogic viewpoints and perspectives
• Teachers create their own version of CLIL
depending on their teaching style and theory of
learning
• Both content and language teachers already use
CLIL methodology in their classrooms to some
extent
 CLIL

• “I would firstly suggest that CLIL is not a

matter of putting old wine in new
bottles. CLIL, to me, looks more like
putting old wine in old bottles and
slapping on a new label.” Neil McBeath
Phases of becoming a CLIL
teacher:
Phase 1
• The CLIL teacher is developing his / her
language skills
• A lot of L1 in the classroom

• Concentration on L2 lexis rather than extended text

• Tendency to teach from the front instead of using

pairwork / groupwork

• Uncertainty about using multimodal input in L2

• Learners find non-native speakers easier to

understand

• Non-native speakers understand language problems

facing students
Phases of becoming a CLIL teacher:
Phase 2
• Reassured about language skills
• Less concerned about making mistakes

• Developing learners’ vocabulary through records

• Recognition of aspects of language causing difficulties for

learners

• Increased repertoire of classroom activities to solve

difficulties
 Phases of becoming a CLIL
teacher:
• Experienced Phase 3
• Less concerned about own language skills

• Input seen as more than vocabulary

• Material seen as language as well as content

• Genre differences recognised and skills practised through

diverse activities, support etc.

• Awareness of grading language in materials and appropriate

activities

• BICS and CALP

• L2 communication in all stages of lessons

• Feedback on language as well as content

 CLIL Pedigree
• CLIL methodology flies in the face of current language
teaching practice
• English language teaching is an eclectic blend of
approaches and methods
• This blend reflects what teachers find workable in
the language classroom
• The following approaches and methods are all
central to CLIL yet they all failed to be adopted by
mainstream teaching
• The reason for this was exposure.
 CLIL Pedigree
• The Natural Method
• Specialised Training
• Situational / Functional / Notional
• Communicative Approach
• The Natural Approach
• Task-Based Learning
• The Lexical Approach
• Humanism
• English for Academic Purposes
The Natural Method
• Saveur and Franke advocated using intensive oral
interaction using questions to present and elicit
language
• L2 use only
• Instruction through demonstration and action
• Direct and spontaneous use of L2
• Students induce grammar from the language
presented
• Systematic early attention to pronunciation
• Use mime, demonstration and pictures for
vocabulary
 Army specialised
• training method
The US army introduced the “Army Method” to
train soldiers going to Europe during the Second
World War
• Soldiers needed conversational proficiency
• “Informant Method” used an L2 speaker to provide
a model for classroom practice and to take part in
conversations
• The teacher elicited L2 from the “informant”
• Intensive oral-based functional / situational
approach
• No developed methodological basis
 SITUATIONAL -
FUNCTIONAL
• Objectives defined as communicative functions
• Communicative functions determine the
selection and sequencing of grammatical items
• Language practice derives from the functional
objectives rather than from structure
• Useful when learners need rapid progress in
functional variety (EAP)
• Can produce ‘language-like’ behaviour or
‘phrasebook’ language
 COMMUNICATIVE
LANGUAGE
• Generally, the following precepts are true to all forms of
TEACHING
CLT:
• Learner centred (consideration of learning styles,
interests, needs, goals etc
• Direct practice with communicative acts
• Communication is more important than accuracy
• Language is interpersonal so pair / group work is
encouraged
• Grammar is inductive (noticing) rather than deductive
• Error correction is selective in terms of content and
timing
• The teacher can be a facilitator, independent participant,
needs analyst and counsellor
 Communicative
Language Teaching
• Yalden’s CLT syllabus types:
• Structural-Functional
• Structures and Functions (functional spiral around a
structural core)
• Variable focus (structural, functional, instrumental)
• Functional
• Fully communicative
• Task-based
• Learner generated
 FULLY
COMMUNICATIVE
• Acquisition and learning as independent as possible of the
teacher
• Linguistic competence is only a part of communicative
competence
• Teaching language via communication rather than
communication via language
• Teacher manages activities, learners solve communication
problems. Learning happens!
• Lead learners towards autonomy
• Negotiated syllabus of content and learning strategies
• Learners define objectives, choice of teaching techniques
 The Natural
Approach
• The natural approach was strikingly different
from the mainstream approach in the United
States in the 1970s and early 1980s, the audio-
lingual method
• The natural approach is based on the idea of
enabling naturalistic language acquisition in the
language classroom;
• The natural approach puts less emphasis on
practice and more on exposure to language
input and on reducing learners' anxiety.
 Stephen Krashen

• Natural Order Hypothesis

Acquisition-Learning
Hypothesis
• Acquisition = subconscious
• Learning = conscious
• Children acquire language better than
adults
 Input hypothesis
• We acquire by comprehensible input (i)
+1
• Input Hypothesis relates to acquisition,
not learning
• Focus not on structure but on
understanding the message
• Do not teach structure deliberately; i+1
is provided naturally when input is
understood
• Production ability emerges. It’s not
taught directly
 Affective Filter
Hypothesis
• Motivation
• Self-confidence
• Anxiety
• Lower affective filter means the learner
is more open to learning
 The Natural
Approach syllabus
• Content (culture, subject matter, new
information, reading)
• Affective-humanistic (students' own
ideas, opinions, experiences)
• Problem solving (focus on using
language to locate information, use
information, etc.)
Task based learning

• Learning by doing
• Doing while learning
• Learning in order to do
• Learning while interacting
Task-Based Learning

• Communicative
• Zone of proximal development
• Functional language exponents
Task-Based Learning
• Reduce external ‘threats’
• Reduce internal ‘threats’
• Self-initiated learning is the most lasting and
pervasive.
• The student’s mind is most actively engaged when
solving problems and making discoveries (learning
heuristically).
• Because the student initiates and controls the
learning, this approach caters to individual needs.
• The student gets what he or she needs rather than
whatever the teacher happens to dish out.
Task-based learning
curriculum
- Student-centred,
- Experiential,
- Needs-based,
- Inductive,
- Heuristic,
- Autonomy-oriented
The Lexical Approach
• “Language consists not of traditional grammar and vocabulary
but often of multi-word prefabricated chunks” Lewis: 1997
• Fluency is the result of acquiring large numbers of chunks
• Combining elements of chunks leads to generation of new
language
• Exposure to enough input is the key to increasing the learner’s
lexicon
• Most vocabulary is acquired, not taught
• No systematic explanation of the language system
• Exposure and experimentation
• “All chunks and no pineapple” Thornbury: 1998
 Humanism:
Motivation
• Intrinsic motivation comes from the following
influences:
• Enjoying the learning process
• Personal challenge
• Desire to become part of the L2
community
• Desire for personal betterment
• Curiosity
 Humanism:
Motivation &
Achievement
• Success with effort motivates
• Success without effort demotivates
• Failure with effort demotivates
absolutely
 Humanism:
• Students’ motivation can be maintained
Motivational Activities
and increased by giving them activities
that they enjoy doing.
• SLA and Psycholinguistic research
suggests that students have different
learning styles and sensory
preferences.
• We need to try to engage these
preferences by including activities that
we know will interest them.
• How can we discover these
preferences?
 Humanism:
Learner differences
•What similarities between the students in your class can
you count on?
•Age?
•Culture?
•Language level?
•Interests?
•Needs?
•Intelligence?
•Physical presence?
Learner differences
• Intuition tells us that there are differences in
the way students learn. Some love role-
play, some love puzzles, some love musical
exercises.
• Intuition also tells us that different students
seem to profit more and less from different
exercises and activities in the classroom.
• If for nothing else, we know that varied
activities relieve the tedium of lessons and
energise students.
 Learner differences:
VAKOG
•Neuro-linguistic programming suggests 5
“primary representational systems” to
experience the world:
• Visual (we look and see)
• Auditory (we hear and listen)
• Kinaesthetic & Tactile (we ‘feel’
through movement and touch)
• Olfactory (we smell things)
• Gustatory (we taste things)
Learner differences
Multiple intelligences
• verbal-linguistic
• logical-mathematical
• visual-spatial
• bodily-kinaesthetic
• musical-rhythmic
• Intrapersonal
• Interpersonal
• naturalistic
 EAP
•
Cognitive skills
Remembering (list; name; recall; recite; recognise; relate; spell; state; tell),
• Ordering (What happens next? order; organise; sequence; rank),
• Defining (What is X? What is the function of . . .? analyse; define; describe; explain; identify;
outline; show; translate),
• Comparing – contrasting (What is X and what is not X? similarities and differences;
compare; contrast; distinguish; investigate),
• Dividing (What does X belong to? divide; separate; share; sort),
• Classifying (How many classes of X are there? classify; categorise; decide which group; put
into),
• Predicting (What will / would / could happen to X? predict; think about . . .; guess;
hypothesise),
• Reasoning (Why X? What causes X? What comes as a result of X? What justifies X to do Y?
choose; conclude; decide; explain; justify; recommend; solve),
• Creative thinking/synthesis (What if . . . ? imagine; build; change; compose; design; invent;
make up; plan; produce; suppose),
• Evaluating (What do you think about X? assess; give opinion; judge; rate; prove; what’s the
value of ...?)
 Learning skills
• locating,
• organising and interpreting information;
• note taking, drafting;
• editing;
• guessing from context;
• processing and using knowledge;
• stating facts and opinions;
• transferring information;
• carrying out investigations;
• considering layout;
• recording results;
• reviewing;
• skimming and scanning skills;
• summarising
 Information
processing skills
• Information-processing skills:
• Find and collect relevant information
• Organise information
• Sort / classify / sequence information
• Compare / contrast information
• Identify and analyse relationships
• Represent or communicate information
 Reasoning skills
• Give reasons for opinions / actions
• Infer from observations, facts, experience
• Make conclusions
• Argue or explain a point of view
• Make informed judgments / decisions from
evidence
• Use precise language to explain what they think
• Explain cause and effect