CLIL Methodology

In
RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The term CLIL

Generic umbrella term encompassing
any activity in which
a foreign language

is used as a tool in the learning of

a non-language subject
in which both language and the
subject have a joint curricular role.

Definition
CLIL is a dual-focused educational approach in which
an additional language is used for the learning and
teaching of both content and language.
CLIL is not language for specific or vocational
purposes. It is about teaching important aspects of a
subject through a foreign language.

The CLIL Matrix

High cognitive demands

Low
linguistic
demands

High
linguistic
demands
2

Low
cognitive demands

Challenge 1

Challenge 2

Transforming
content
into
comprehensible
input

1. Sensitisation :
Sensorial
Cognitive
Plurilingual
Communicative
approaches

2. Research:
Mapping ones
understanding.
Task-based
Learning.
Learner
Autonomy.

Generating
comprehensible
output

3. Development :
Learner takes
responsibility
for sharing
knowledge.

4. Consolidation
(language)
and
synthesis
(content):
Lexical, cognitive
and communicative
approaches

Attitudes

Attitudes

Attitudes

content

CLIL

task

language

Attitudes
ine Furlong, W.I.T., February 2009

Dr. Andrei Kuznetsov

Professor
Academy of Professional Development
and Re-Training of Educators

English for Professional Purposes:

Backwards?
Forwards?
Towards!
E-merging Forum-3, Moscow, March 1, 2013

Backwards?
Step away from the learner-centered
approach, i.e. contrasted to other, more
communicative, ELT trends - return to
the obsolete, notoriously promulgated
Soviet ELT concept

Forwards?
Introduction of didactic and social
innovations [preferably
revolutionary!] that seems to be a
high trend and a must today

Towards!
A more-or-less dynamic movement
towards the meeting of the
requirements of the university
education stakeholders

Application of CLIL
in Russian Federation

CLIL in Upper Elementary Schools in

Russia
There are difficulties in applying CLIL in Upper
Elementary School in Russian Federation
A research was conducted in University of
West Bohemia by a researcher by name
Tereza Hnatkova,from Faculty of
Education,Department of English.

Thesis
THE MAIN DIFFICULTIES IN
APPLYING CLIL METHOD ON
TEACHING IN UPPER
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN
RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

Research on CLIL
Research involved to major parts:
1. Theoretical work
2. Practical (Experiment) work

CLIL-Classroom principles
Language is used to learn as well as to communicate
It is the subject matter which determines the language
needed to learn
Subject is taught in simple easily comprehensible ways, using
diagrams, illustrations, graphs, highlighted terms
Language subject based vocabulary, texts and discussions. If
needed, L1 can be used

A successful CLIL lesson should combine elements of

the following
(the 4Cs):
Content - Progression in knowledge, skills and understanding related to
specific elements of a defined curriculum. (It should not repeat the
content learnt in other lessons!)
Communication Using language to learn and learning to use language.
Language does not follow the grammatical progression found in languagelearning settings
Cognition-Developing thinking skills which link concept formation
(abstract and concrete), understanding and language
Culture- understanding of otherness and self, deepened feelings of
community and global citizenship
(David Marsh)

CLIL Methodology in teaching leads to

1. Intellectual flexibility
2. A better understanding of other disciplines as well as of
language
3. Self-confidence.
4. Greater visibility for languages in the institution
5. Transforms language learners into language users

Question:

Is CLIL a viable option for

improving tertiary-level
students language skills?

Whats an
orbit?

Whats a
planet?
Whats
elliptical?

Language is a problem in language-medium

instruction
Tella, Rsnen & Vhpassi (eds) 1999: Teaching through a foreign
language: from tool to empowering mediator
national, external evaluation of 15 polytechnic & university level
English-medium programmes
Rsnen, 2000: Learning and teaching through English at the
University of Jyvskyl
Part of an international evaluation of quality of teaching,
international & Finnish students & teaching staff at the U of
Jyvskyl
Hellekjr & 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. Lets 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
Whats 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
Elicitation
Clarification request
Metalinguistic clues
Recasts
Repetition
Lyster & Ranta 1997

T:36%
T:23%

S:0 %
S:43%

T:11%
T:14%
T:10%

S:20%
S:26%
S:0 %

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, Thrmann)

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

A taxonomy of the words in science

Level 1: Naming words
1.1 Familiar objects, new names (synonyms)
1.2 New objects, new names
1.3 Names of chemical elements
1.4 Other nomenclature

Level 2: Process words

2.1 Capable of ostensible definition (e.g., being shown)
2.2 Not capable of ostensible definition

Level 3: Concept words

3.1 Derived from experience (sensory concepts)
3.2 With dual meanings, i.e. everyday and scientific: for example. work.
3.3 Theoretical constructs (total abstractions, idealisations and postulated entities)

Level 4: Mathematical words and symbols

Wellington & Osborne 2001: 20

Commonly used but difficult words in

science
Pickersill & Lock (1991) used multiple choice tests to gauge the
meanings of 30 non-technical words. 108 males & 89 females,
aged 14 15. No gender differences were found. Below are the
words that showed to be the most difficult.

abundant
contract

adjacent
convention

concept
converse

conception
disintegrate

diversity

emit

factor

incident

liberate

linear

negligible

retard

tabulate

valid

spontaneous stimulate

From Pickersgill & Lock 1991

Interaction of all kinds is important

Discussion
Cooperative group work
Task-based learning

Discussion
Collaborative concept mapping
Critical reasoning in science
Constructing an argument
Which of the following arguments is the best piece of evidence
that matter is made up of particles and why?
a.Air in a syringe can be squeezed.
b.All the crystals of any pure substance have the same shape.
c. Water in a puddle disappears.
d.Paper can be torn into very small pieces.

Using DARTs for discussion

DART= directed activities related to text)

A muddled sentence DART

An atom cannot be broken down chemically.
An element is made up of one pure substance.

A
A
An
Both

B
atom/s
element/s
compound/s
molecule/s
mixture/s

C
cannot
is
is the
and
can

made up of
element/s
not
be
smallest

broken
one
a
particle
two or more
are

pure
type/s of
of a/an
atoms
down
pure

chemically.
element.
molecule.
particle/s.
atom/s.
compound.
physically.
substances.

Language teacher
Vocabulary concepts
Textual: Nominalisations and noun-verb
combinations in legal English, EN-participles in
Chemistry texts, nominals in academic writing,
verb forms in medical texts
Discourse & genre: problem-solution patterns,
rhetorical patterns, move-structures in
professional genres, disciplinary variation
Social: language and ideology, cross-cultural
and intercultural aspects of language use

Word tree

Word inferencing

Thank you

Benefits of CLIL

The whole that is greater than the sum of the parts (synergy effect)
Accelerates learning
Is authentic
Nurtures a feel good (fun!) and can do attitude
Fires the brain up, fires the neurons, rejuvenates teaching
Serves as a platform for ultimate students interest in other languages and
cultures
Gives feelings of professional satisfaction and cooperation to teachers
Parents are for it
Beneficial for the school

Discouraging factors/ limitations

CLIL is complex
There is no single model for CLIL the context is to be taken into account
Who is to teach CLIL (language or subject teachers), and how to combine
both?
New concepts are always difficult to accept
Threat to the native language, if any? Do academic language and
terminology develop?
Insufficient understanding of content through the medium of foreign
language
CLIL methodology and assessment are not clear teachers have to be
supported
Teacher overload, shortage of materials