On solid ground:corpus-driven tasks and text

awareness in content and language integrated instruction

Maria Angela Ceruti - University of Pavia – ItalyVAMK workshop – Vaasa, Finland – 17/03/10

mariaangela.ceruti@istruzione.it

Positive aspects

• educational approach in context

• task-based• learning centredness• high flexibility and

maximised input• documentation of

competences• learner’s awareness

and self-assessment• cooperation among

teachers

Critical aspects

• definition and intake• still few long-term

evaluation studies• different national policies

and results• lack of support materials

to sustain continuity • often occasional and

focussing on content• cognitive load• who does what, how, when

and with what?

CLIL as a buzz-word …

• New school reform in Italy (starting from school year 2010-2011). According to the documents available High Schools can offer a ’non-language’ subject through a foreign language. Such ‘non-language’ subject should be included either within the compulsory or the optional curriculum, according to the limitations set by the number of staff assigned to each institution every year. There’s no specification of which subjects, what teachers, after what kind of training, what competence required, with what materials, how assessment is to be carried out, etc.

• Spreading of the ‘THROUGH’ syndrome in materials developers.

Content ‘through’ Language / Language ‘through’ Content

in every recently published language coursebook.

Examples of critical aspects in context

Examples of critical aspects in context

Hi. My name’s Pablo. What’s your name?

Maria Angela. I’m from Italy. Where are you

from?

I’m from Spain. Spain is 45°N 10°W. What are

the latitude and longitude of Italy?

Italy is 40°N 5°E. What is your nationality?

I’m Spanish. What is your address in Italy?

It’s ….Let’s meet again!

Let’s step back a little and reflect

• What can differentiate CLIL from simply studying something in another language, asmost immigrant students do when they arrive in a foreign country?

• What learning environment is needed if we want to promote and sustain BOTH content AND language in a creative and innovative way?

• What does theory say about the cross-fertilization process that allows us to choose the right content and the right task-type to sustain language, and vice-versa, thus enhancing LEARNING?

con …

… tentlanguage

LEARNING

instruction variety of input

classroom interaction teaching materials

shared objectives

times and spaces

processibility

language development

systematicity

context

continuity

assessment

Models of learning and language acquisition in the functional-cognitive space emphasize:

• the idea of learning as ‘experience’• the similarity between the linguistic systems and

other cognitive systems (= knowledge of language is knowledge)

• the importance of noticing, attention, hypothesis formation, and usage factors in processing input, retaining it as intake, and producing output

• the role of ‘chunking’ for the emergence of second language constructions

Theories that inform practice

• the lexical approach to language teaching and learning• the importance of tasks based on authentic texts and

the use of corpora• the necessity to provide focus on form• the role of meaningful interaction• the recognition of different learning styles• the awareness of different types of texts• the choice of content that maximizes language

development according to the learners’ age and cognitive development

• the promotion of self-assessment as a tool for learner development

… which in turn find application in

Practical examplesYounger learners – parallel syllabuses

Language learning – Civic education

Practical examples•Expected content knowledge also expressedthrough behaviour•Language knowledge: rules description;degrees of modality

Text

Awareness

Chiara - Class IIndividual work – writtenwith no supervision

I’ve learnt some information about Belgium, and then I’ve learnt to write short texts in English

It could be improved on

I’m very proud of this project

I found the information in a Geography book. Then I produced the text in English and I added the drawings and the map

I found it difficult to put the text together

TEACHER’S COMMENTSThis project is really very nice, and I’m glad you are satisfied with it. There are just a few minor mistakes that I’ve highlighted separately. Do you think you could do it better now?

Reflection / verbalization / self-assessment

Older learners – parallel syllabuses

Not simplified texts, but language discovery through corpus-driven tasks

Older learners – parallel syllabuses

… exploration and analysis of significant vocabulary and language …

Older learners – parallel syllabuses

… progression towards awareness and output

Creativity & InnovationTheories of learning and of second language acquisition suggest we should consider in a more systematic way:

• Focus on form through awareness-raising activities

• Chunking

• The progress from ‘input’, through ‘intake’, to ‘output’

• Hypothesis formation

Being aware of where on the continuum we place ourselves can help us ‘innovate’ and ‘create’ accordingly, for ex. by means of

• The lexical approach to teaching and learning

• Carefully selected and corpus-driven tasks

• Promotion of text awareness through usage-based activities

Bibliography

• Barbero T., Boella T. (2003), L’uso veicolare della lingua straniera in apprendimentinon linguistici, Torino: USR Piemonte, collana “Strumenti per la scuola”, quaderno 6

• Barbero T., Clegg J. (2005), Programmare percorsi CLIL, Roma: Carocci Faber• Calabrese I., Ceruti M.A., Rampone S. (2006), Cross-curricular Projects, Progetti

Interdisciplinari per la Scuola Secondaria di Primo Grado Torino: Cambridge - Loescher• Calabrese I., Rampone S. (2005), CLIL. Apprendere a usare la lingua e usare la lingua per

apprendere, in “Effective Teaching in the Primary Classroom”, pp.121-164, Torino: Loescher• Calabrese I., Rampone S. (2005), Cross-curricular Projects, Torino: Loescher• Coonan C.M. (2002), La lingua straniera veicolare, Torino: UTET• Echevarria J., Vogt M. & Short D. (2004), Making Content Comprehensible for English

Learners, New York: Pearson • European Cooperation Project Lingua A (2002), TIE-CLIL Professional development

course, Milano: USR Lombardia • IATEFL (2005), CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning - Summary of Young

Learners Special Interest Group, in CATS-IATEFL newsletter, Autumn 2005, pp 36-38• Mehisto P., Frigols M-J, & Marsh D. (2008), Uncovering CLIL, McMillan Education• Philips S. (2004), Teaching Science through English, Learning English through Science, in

CATS-IATEFL newsletter, spring 2004, pp 18-22• Ricci Garotti F. (2006) Insegnamento veicolare: caratteristiche epistemologiche e modelli

possibili, in: “Qualità e cambiamento: l'apprendimento delle lingue straniere”, pp. 159-167 Trento: Iprase

• Švecová H. (2003), Cross-curricular Activities, Oxford: OUP

Bibliography•Aijmer, K. (ed) 2009. Corpora and Language Teaching. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.•Doughty, C. J & M. H. Long. (eds) 2003. The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.•Ellis, N. 2003. Constructions, Chunking, and Connectionism: The Emergence of Second

Language Structure. in C.J. Doughty & M.H. Long. (eds)•Ellis, R. 1997. Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: OUP.

•Granath, S. 2009. Who Benefits from Learning How to Use Corpora? in K. Aijmer. (ed)

•Granger, S. 2009. The Contribution of Learner Corpora to Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Teaching: A Critical Evaluation. in K. Aijmer. (ed)

•Hinkel, E. (ed) 2005 Handbook of Research in Second Language teaching and Learning. Mahwah, USA: LEA.

•Johansson, S. 2009. Some Thoughts on Corpora and Second Language Acquisition.in K. Aijmer. (ed)

•Nation, I.S. P. 2005. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary in E. Hinkel. (ed)

•O’Keeffee, A; McCarthy, M. & R. Carter. 2007. From Corpus to Classroom.Cambridge: CUP.

•Pica, T. 2005. Second Language Acquisition Research and Applied Linguistics.in E. Hinkel. (ed)

•Prat Zagrebelsky, M. T.. (ed) 2004. Computer Learner Corpora.Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso.

•Robinson, P. (ed) 2009. Cognition and Second Language Instruction. Cambridge: CUP

mariaangela.ceruti@istruzione.it

Language showers Double immersion

Incidental learning Parallel syllabi