Methods of CLIL technology

Knowing three languages is a requirement of the time. The first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev presented his idea of the use of three languages for the first time in 2006 in his speech at the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan. In his 2007 annual address themed “New Kazakhstan in a New World”, the President proposed gradual implementation of the “Trinity of languages” cultural project. Thus, the Kazakh language is determined as the state language, the Russian language is the language of interethnic communication, and the English is the language of successful integration into the global economy [1]. CLIL is an abbreviation for Content and language integrated learning. It is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language. In simple terms, CLIL integrates both content learning and language learning. It is a new method of teaching and used as an umbrella covering various school subjects e.g. maths, geography, physics, chemistry, history, biology, literature and even physical education. So, CLIL allows learners to study some school subjects in a foreign language, especially in English in our country.  

The term CLIL was coined in 1994 by David Marsh a professor of University of Jyvaskyla in Finland and was introduced in 2001 [2]. According to the principles of the Bologna Declaration it was introduced to Kazakhstan in 2010. 

Professor Do Coyle underlines four basic principles of CLIL in 1999.

1. Content – successful content or thematic learning lies at the heart of learning process.
2. Communication – language is a means for communication and for learning.
3. Cognition – For CLIL to be effective, it must challenge learners to think and review and engage in higher order thinking skills. CLIL allows students to construct their own understanding.
4. Culture – cross-curricular themes and intercultural activities through pluricultural citizenship.

Teacher must take into consideration all four skills (listening, writing, speaking and reading) in planning his/her lesson. Each lesson must contain listening task, because it is one of the most important speaking skills in learning a foreign language. Tasks of listening activities might be:

1. listen and identify the right order of the events;
2. listen and fill in a table;
3. listen and identify speakers;
4. listen and make notes on specific information (dates, figures, times);
5. listen and label a diagram/picture/chart;
6. listen and fill in the gaps in a text.

 Reading is the second type of speech activity. Texts must be authentic and have meaning. The texts should be related to the topic of the lesson and then it is possible to develop content and language integrated learning.

         Learners have to focus on simplicity, fluency and clarity of expressing comments on speaking skills. Typical speaking activities include:

1. Word guessing games;
2. Fill in the gaps;
3. Look for particular pieces of information;
4. Class surveys using questionnaires;
5. Question loops – questions and answers, terms and definitions, halves of sentences.

Writing as a skill is very important in teaching and learning a foreign language and it helps to develop lexical and grammatical skills. All four language skills are considered to be the most important in learning a foreign language. That is why the teacher must use all four skills in every lesson planning [3].

It is important to develop content and language learning in CLIL lessons. Traditionally, such lessons come up a four - step scheme.

The first step is text processing. Students have to use visualization. Visualizing the text helps students to create mental images in their mind while reading. Working with authentic texts it is necessary to have structural labeling of a text. It might be headings, subheadings and paragraphs. This structure helps students to understand the text.

The second step is awareness and organization of acquired knowledge. Structured and imagined texts help students identify the main idea of the text and understand the given information.

The third step is language understanding of the text. It is supposed that students can transfer the main idea of read text in their own words. There are no restrictions on the use of both simple and advanced language tools to express opinions. But particular attention of students should be paid to lexical units that correspond to the topic.

The last one is tasks for students. Tasks must correspond to student’s level and to the material that is to be introduced or practiced.

Materials should be meaningful, realistic and development-oriented. It is necessary to correlate the selected information with the realities of the world and touch upon global problems that interest students. Learning content through a foreign language is the most effective, new topics encourage students to study, it is important to use past experience to acquire new knowledge.

Videos, animations, web tasks are authentic resources, that motivate learning.   According to them you can create tasks, new ideas, projects and even develop CALP.

            CALP (cognitive/academic language proficiency) focuses on proficiency in academic language or language used in the classroom in the various content areas. Academic language is characterized by being abstract, context reduced, and specialized. 

In listening: can follow specific directions for academic tasks.

In speaking: express reasons for opinions; ask for clarification during academic tasks.

In reading: reads academic materials with good comprehension.

In writing: can write essay supporting a point of view.

Strategies for working on CALP:

1. Give very clear feedback;
2. ELLs need much more specific feedback in order to understand what you expect from them. This builds the CALP schema for future success.
3. Visuals, videos, photos, diagrams, lists;
4. Group projects;
5. 3D models;
6. What do you do in class that encourage[4].

In addition to acquiring the language, learners need to develop skills such as comparing, classifying, synthesizing, evaluating, and inferring when developing academic competence.

       Mastering CALP is a very hard task for students, so the role of the teacher in the learning process in a CLIL is to become a mentor, to be an example to students, stimulate the development of students and support them in difficulties. The teacher has to estimate the work of students correctly, correct mistakes and deepen their knowledge.

         Furthermore one of the concepts when choose a material is multimodal input method. Multimodal learning in education means teaching concepts using multiple modes. Modes are channels of information, or anything that communicates meaning in some way, including: pictures, illustrations, audio, speech, music, movement, gestures, facial expressions and colors. Modes are experienced in different ways by each of the senses – usually visual, auditory or tactile. They often interact with each other, creating a dynamic learning experience. Teachers should combine two or more multimodal learning modes to provide a well – rounded educational experience. A multimodal approach helps each student achieve academic success in their own way. [5]

Scaffolding method is considered to be important, too. Scaffolding is the steps teachers take to support learners so that they can understand new content and develop new skills. Later, learners can use the new learning in different contexts without the support of scaffolding. There are three “key features” of scaffolding:

1. Extending understanding, when the learning activities and the quality of teachers support manages to “challenge and extend what students are able to do” beyond their current abilities and levels of understanding to internalize new understandings.

2. Temporary support, which refers to the temporary nature of the different forms of support offered to learners, withdrawn as soon as they demonstrate ability to work alone, and to the provision of customized, timely and “at the point of need” support for each individual learner.

3. Micro and macro focuses, respectively, the spontaneous ongoing student-teacher and student-student interactions in class, and the syllabus goals and activities prepared by the teacher [6]. 

Scaffolding is “at the heart of all CLIL teaching” and the support provided by teachers when trying to activate students’ knowledge related to content and to the foreign language must be appropriately selected and planned. Considering that there is specificity about scaffolding strategies applied to CLIL contexts. [There are 3 scaffolding techniques can be used.

1. Verbal scaffolding (Language – development focused). It might be:
   1. Paraphrasing or simplify the language;
   2. Using “think - alouds”;
   3. Developing questions with Bloom’s Taxonomy in mind;
   4. Asking questions during a reading;
   5. Using writing prompts or cue cards;
   6. Follow oral text with written text;
   7. Use of cognates, synonyms and antonyms;
   8. Effective use of wait time;
   9. Teaching familiar chunks "May I go to the restroom?”, “Excuse me”;
   10. Songs, jazz chants, rhythm and rhyme;
   11. Using sentence substitution tables, writing frames, glossaries, word banks or model texts;
   12. Providing mnemonic strategies to learn the spelling of words;
   13. Highlighting vocabulary and chunks of vocabulary used in CLIL subjects.
   14. Present information using bullet points.
       1. Procedural scaffolding (Grouping techniques and activity structures and frames)

- think pair share,

- “jigsaw” 

- “dictogloss” 

- cooperative group techniques;

- joint writing project;

- use of routines;

- role play, simulations;

- process writing. 

3. Instructional scaffolding (tools and strategies that support learning)

- graphic organizers;

- manipulatives;

- realia;

- using visuals and imagery;

- World Wall;

- making a variety of resources available in the classroom, dictionary, thesaurus;

- posting schedules and project timelines;

- Labeled visuals;

- Pictographs;

- breaking down tasks into small steps;

- creating interest;

- providing before, during and after task support;

- giving extra time;

- giving time targets [7].

         Russian and foreign scientists distinguish the following didactic principles that define CLIL [8]:

1. The principle of duality is reliance on native and foreign languages. In the process of implementing the CLIL methodology, students correlate concepts mastered in their native language with their equivalents in a foreign language. 
2. The principle of integration of a foreign language and subject content. This principle is a key for university education as a whole, as it contributes to the mastery of an academic foreign language for communication in the professional sphere.
3. The principle of focusing on the acquisition of knowledge on a specific subject using two languages (native and foreign);
4. The principle of developing motivation for the ability and willingness to use a foreign language for special purposes;
5. The principle of unity of mental and speech activity in a foreign language

Thus, unlike a subject teacher and a foreign language teacher, a subject teacher must be fluent in a foreign language in order to conduct a lesson in another language. And it is important to know what a foreign language teacher conducts at a good level. The versatility of the teacher is the basis of CLIL technology. When planning a lesson, various technologies can be used, but the method chosen by the teacher should be effective and not deviate from the topic. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the level of assimilation of knowledge, abilities and understanding by the student.

References

1. Қазақстан Республикасының Президенті Н.Ә.Назарбаевтың Қазақстан халқына Жолдауы. (2007 жылғы 28 ақпан)

2. Marsh D. CLIL – The European Dimension: Actions, Trends and Foresights Potential [Electronic resource]/D.Marsh//Brussels: The European Union. — 2002 — URL: http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/elc/bulletin/9/en/marsh.html 

3. Пассов Е.И. Основы методики обучения иностранным языкам, 1977. 216 с.

https://e.nlrs.ru/online2/7003

4.https://prezi.com/ndahhpuxfmnd/cognitive-academic-language-proficiency/?fallback=1

5. https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/multimodal-learning/#importance

6. María del Carmen Arau Ribeiro, Ana Gonçalves, Manuel Moreira da Silv - A ReCLes.pt Selection of International Perspectives and Approaches, 2017, p.109

7. https://www.collaborativeclassroom.org/blog/scaffolding-techniques-english-language-learners-part-1/

8. Meyer O. Introducing the CLIL- Pyramid: Key Strategies and Principles for Quality CLIL Planning and Teaching. Basic Issues in EFL – Teaching and Learning, 2010, pp.11-29.