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Article published In: Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education
Vol. 12:1 (2024) ► pp.49–74

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The communicative CLIL classroom

Insights into heterogenous learners’ spoken communication in English about art in Swiss primary schools

ORCiD logo with link | University of Teacher Education Lucerne
Published online: 14 September 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jicb.21015.fra
Abstract
The article addresses how heterogenous primary school students in Switzerland use learning opportunities to develop their English-speaking competences offered in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Based on the lesson study approach, two task-based CLIL modules combining the subjects English and art were implemented in different primary classes with a focus on three case pupils in each class who represent high-attaining, average and low-attaining learners of English. Their spoken communication was analysed with an adapted version of the Communication Orientation of Language Teaching (COLT) observation scheme (Allen, P., Fröhlich, M., & Spada, N. (1983). The Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching: An Observation Scheme. TESOL 83. The Question of Control. Selected Papers from the Annual Convention of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, 171, 231–252.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and according to the language triptych (Coyle, D., Hood, P., & Marsh, D. (2010). CLIL. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Surveys were also conducted to investigate learners’ and teachers’ perception of the learning opportunities. The results indicate that the high-attaining and average students used the provided opportunities almost equally for developing their oral English competences. Although the low-attaining learners used the CLIL tasks in a significantly different way, they also achieved the objectives for speaking in English about art.
Zusammenfassung
Der Artikel befasst sich mit der Frage, wie heterogene Primarschüler:innen Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) für den Aufbau ihrer Englischkompetenzen nutzen. Basierend auf dem Ansatz der Lesson Study wurden zwei aufgabenbasierte CLIL-Module in der Fächerfusion Englisch und Kunst in verschiedenen Primarschulklassen in der Schweiz implementiert. In jeder Klasse war der Fokus auf je drei Fallschüler:innen (case pupils) gerichtet, die die Gruppe von lernstarken, durchschnittlichen und lernschwachen Englischlernenden repräsentierten. Ihre mündlichen Aussagen wurden mit einer adaptierten Version des Beobachtungsinstruments Communication Orientation of Language Teaching (COLT) (Allen, P., Fröhlich, M., & Spada, N. (1983). The Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching: An Observation Scheme. TESOL 83. The Question of Control. Selected Papers from the Annual Convention of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, 171, 231–252.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) und gemäss der language triptych (Coyle, D., Hood, P., & Marsh, D. (2010). CLIL. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) untersucht. Zusätzlich wurden Befragungen durchgeführt, um die Wahrnehmung der Lernenden und der Lehrpersonen in Bezug auf Chancen und Herausforderungen rund um CLIL zu untersuchen. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass die leistungsstarken und die durchschnittlichen Schüler:innen die Lernangebote für den Aufbau ihrer mündlichen Englischkompetenzen vergleichbar nutzten. Obwohl die leistungsschwachen Lernenden die CLIL-Aufgaben deutlich anders nutzten, erreichten auch sie die Lehrplanziele für das Sprechen auf Englisch über Kunst.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1The communicative CLIL classroom
    • 2.2Varied tasks for the CLIL classroom
  • 3.Research context and methods
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Research design: Lesson study
    • 3.3The tasks in CLIL module II
    • 3.4Data collection and coding
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Findings from lesson analysis
    • 4.2Survey findings
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion and outlook
  • Notes
  • References
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