CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is an approach which has already been widely developed throughout Europe; in Italy, a law (Legge Moratti, 53/2003; D.L. 17.10.2010 n. 226) requires its adoption during the final year of Liceo, Istituto Tecnico non professionale and from the third year of the Liceo Linguistico. This law does not envisage the language teacher as a CLIL expert, even if over the years it has been mainly the language professors that have advanced the cause of CLIL and been convinced of its validity. Despite that fact that even in most European countries CLIL is carried out by content teachers, the supporting and collaborative role of the language teacher is still much needed if this approach, which calls for a balance between content and language objectives, is to be exploited in the best way possible. For the above-mentioned reasons language learning risks becoming of secondary importance with respect to content learning, given that content teachers tend, because of their education, to give a prevalent role to the teaching of the subject matter (Dafouz Milne, 2011). It is very likely that the CLIL approach adopted by content teachers will be mainly based only on one type of language learning, the so-called incidental learning, which derives mainly from the teacher’s input (Pavesi, 2002). Precisely for this reason the input must be particularly well prepared, and in this sense, language teachers can play a supporting role for the content teachers, guiding them towards an awareness of the importance of this support. The input, that is, the language the learners are exposed to, is thus a crucial aspect in CLIL, as it is in all processes of teaching-learning (Krashen, 1985). The present paper is the result of a Doctorate in Education in the UK, during which the input presentation strategies used by CLIL teachers were analysed. The results from some 20 hours of lesson transcriptions evidenced some common input presentation strategies found in the literature as well as others that had not been explicitly mentioned in the references. The analysis undertaken in the present paper started from this data in order to see whether these new input presentation strategies would be judged positively by the students, as well. These new strategies (henceforth called defamiliarising) are: the use of humour, the use of anecdotes, focusing on form (regarding grammar, lexis and pronunciation) and codeswitching. They have been defined as defamiliarising input presentation strategies because, from the lesson observations, it seemed they were adopted during moments of focus and greater attention on the part of the students (see also section 2). These input strategies could be particularly useful for emphasising conceptual and linguistic aspects and maintaining in equilibrium that continual balance of stance between teacher and student typical ofschool contexts. To the best of my knowledge no one has yet dealt with these categories in the CLIL context. Considering that there is a lack of research on CLIL (Pérez-Cañado, 2012) and that student questionnaires have never dealt with input presentation strategies, this paper should fill a void in the research. Moreover, a CLIL study is particularly important since, after an initial period where the term referred to experiences which were very different from one another, given its gradual expansion across Europe, various scholars have attempted to define its features. At present CLIL is at the centre of a debate concerning its efficiency and effective teaching practices (Lorenzo, Casal and Moore, 2009; Navés, 2011; Ruiz de Zarobe, 2011). Currently there is a strong need for planning regarding CLIL objectives and evaluation and for more research in the field (Coonan, 2006; Dalton-Puffer, Nikula and Smit, 2010; Llinares, Morton and Whittaker, 2012; Pérez-Cañado, 2012).

(2013). Defamiliarising. Input Presentation Strategies in CLIL. What do Students Think? [journal article - articolo]. In NUOVA SECONDARIA. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10446/111877

Defamiliarising. Input Presentation Strategies in CLIL. What do Students Think?

Costa, Francesca Giuseppina
2013-01-01

Abstract

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is an approach which has already been widely developed throughout Europe; in Italy, a law (Legge Moratti, 53/2003; D.L. 17.10.2010 n. 226) requires its adoption during the final year of Liceo, Istituto Tecnico non professionale and from the third year of the Liceo Linguistico. This law does not envisage the language teacher as a CLIL expert, even if over the years it has been mainly the language professors that have advanced the cause of CLIL and been convinced of its validity. Despite that fact that even in most European countries CLIL is carried out by content teachers, the supporting and collaborative role of the language teacher is still much needed if this approach, which calls for a balance between content and language objectives, is to be exploited in the best way possible. For the above-mentioned reasons language learning risks becoming of secondary importance with respect to content learning, given that content teachers tend, because of their education, to give a prevalent role to the teaching of the subject matter (Dafouz Milne, 2011). It is very likely that the CLIL approach adopted by content teachers will be mainly based only on one type of language learning, the so-called incidental learning, which derives mainly from the teacher’s input (Pavesi, 2002). Precisely for this reason the input must be particularly well prepared, and in this sense, language teachers can play a supporting role for the content teachers, guiding them towards an awareness of the importance of this support. The input, that is, the language the learners are exposed to, is thus a crucial aspect in CLIL, as it is in all processes of teaching-learning (Krashen, 1985). The present paper is the result of a Doctorate in Education in the UK, during which the input presentation strategies used by CLIL teachers were analysed. The results from some 20 hours of lesson transcriptions evidenced some common input presentation strategies found in the literature as well as others that had not been explicitly mentioned in the references. The analysis undertaken in the present paper started from this data in order to see whether these new input presentation strategies would be judged positively by the students, as well. These new strategies (henceforth called defamiliarising) are: the use of humour, the use of anecdotes, focusing on form (regarding grammar, lexis and pronunciation) and codeswitching. They have been defined as defamiliarising input presentation strategies because, from the lesson observations, it seemed they were adopted during moments of focus and greater attention on the part of the students (see also section 2). These input strategies could be particularly useful for emphasising conceptual and linguistic aspects and maintaining in equilibrium that continual balance of stance between teacher and student typical ofschool contexts. To the best of my knowledge no one has yet dealt with these categories in the CLIL context. Considering that there is a lack of research on CLIL (Pérez-Cañado, 2012) and that student questionnaires have never dealt with input presentation strategies, this paper should fill a void in the research. Moreover, a CLIL study is particularly important since, after an initial period where the term referred to experiences which were very different from one another, given its gradual expansion across Europe, various scholars have attempted to define its features. At present CLIL is at the centre of a debate concerning its efficiency and effective teaching practices (Lorenzo, Casal and Moore, 2009; Navés, 2011; Ruiz de Zarobe, 2011). Currently there is a strong need for planning regarding CLIL objectives and evaluation and for more research in the field (Coonan, 2006; Dalton-Puffer, Nikula and Smit, 2010; Llinares, Morton and Whittaker, 2012; Pérez-Cañado, 2012).
journal article - articolo
2013
Costa, Francesca Giuseppina
(2013). Defamiliarising. Input Presentation Strategies in CLIL. What do Students Think? [journal article - articolo]. In NUOVA SECONDARIA. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10446/111877
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