5 research outputs found
Knowledge construction, meaning-making and interaction in CLIL science classroom communities of practice
This paper draws on Wenger's model of community of practice to present preliminary findings on how processes of negotiation of meaning and identity formation occur in knowledge construction, meaning-making and interaction in two secondary Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) science classrooms. It uses a multimodal conversation analysis methodology to provide detailed analyses of how teachers and students use talk-in-interaction and other semiotic resources to build and maintain their communities of practice. The data come from two CLIL classrooms in Spain in the same curricular area (biology) but which differ in geographical and sociolinguistic context (Barcelona and Madrid), and in terms of age, level of secondary education and pedagogical approach. The findings show the complex patterns of participation and reification as teachers and learners use different linguistic and other resources to make meaning. The paper argues that a combination of Wenger's meso-level practice model and micro-level multimodal conversation analysis is highly effective in elucidating how learning and identity formation are accomplished in CLIL classrooms. It also suggests that the efforts to understand classroom processes and language use in CLIL classrooms can be strengthened by forging links between CLIL research and the classroom discourse work across different disciplines
CLIL: A European Approach to Bilingual Education
Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is a term used especially in Europe for forms of bilingual
education where an additional language, in most cases English, is used as the language of instruction in
nonâlanguage school subjects. This chapter outlines the development of CLIL, embedded both in
European level policies and in growing awareness of the new orientations to language learning
introduced, for example, in language immersion research. Because of its potential to serve as a context
for meaningful language use and situated language learning, CLIL has been regarded by EU institutions
as an important instrument to foster European citizensâ biâ and multilingualism, to be offered alongside
regular foreign language teaching for students in mainstream education. This chapter introduces the
main strands of CLIL research that have revealed a great deal of the possibilities and challenges that CLIL
as an educational approach entails, for both students and teachers. Overall, there has been a shift in
emphasis in research from studies orienting to effects of CLIL on language learning outcomes to studies
that point towards the need to adopt a truly integrated view on language and content, and to explore
the potential that CLIL has in supporting the development of subject literacies.peerReviewe