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Introduction
Ana Halbach works in the field of applied linguistics, and more specifically language teaching and bilingualism.
In one of her latest projects she contributed to the development of the Graz Group Model for Pluriliteracies Teaching. She is now involved in developing a literacy approach to EFL in CLIL settings. She is also involved in a research project to explain the differences in student motivation and the impact of their SES in bilingual and non-bilingual schools.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
May 2018 - present
April 1993 - present
Position
- Lecturer
Description
- I teach a variety of courses in English language and in the field of applied linguistics both at graduate and undergraduate level.
May 1993 - May 2018
Publications
Publications (61)
This article examines the effect of the application of the Literacy Approach, an approach to English language teaching developed in the context of CLIL programs, on student motivation. The Literacy Approach was implemented in the English lessons in year 5 (N=50) and 6 (N=36) of primary education in a medium-sized charter school with a CLIL program...
With the implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programmes in Spain, content subject methodology has become the focus of much debate and innovation. No such attention has been given to the approach to teaching the English language itself. While English Language Teaching (ELT) is often still focused on language accuracy an...
This article aims to contribute to the explanation of why bilingual education (CLIL) may reduce the differences in motivation and English proficiency commonly seen between students from different SES backgrounds (Shepherd & Ainsworth, 2017). From a mixed-methods approach involving a questionnaire and focus group interviews, fourth year Secondary Ed...
It has long been known that children who grow up in situations of economic and social disadvantage tend to have more difficulties when they enter school, and that these are often perpetuated, leading to underachievement and disaffection. The role of the family and home environment in stimulating children’s language acquisition and pre-literacy comp...
This book describes a new approach to teaching foreign languages for primary and secondary school that shifts the attention from learning the language to communicate skillfully in the foreign language. The approach focuses on developing students’ literacy skills as a way to discover language and make it meaningful. In the first four chapters the ra...
In this chapter, the rationale for the Literacy Approach is explained, looking at the way units of work are planned starting from the back, by identifying the expected outcome of the unit. As we move through the process of planning, some key concepts in the approach such as text, teaching point and learning pathlearning path will be explained.
In this chapter, the learning pathlearning path in the Literacy Approach is looked at in greater detail, focusing on the first phase in a literacy unit: production. At the same time some key issues in teaching foreign languages through text will be dealt with, such as scaffolding students’ understanding through the “pre-” stage that leads them into...
In this chapter, a literacy unit for students of Spanish as a foreign language will be presented. As it is based on a video about how to make a paper plane, and there are many of them on the Internet in many different languages, it can easily be adapted to any foreign language class. This unit exemplifies how literacy units work and illustrates how...
This final chapter looks at some of the main difficulties faced by teachers when working with the Literacy Approach. It also looks at teacher trainingtrainingteacher- and discusses what I have found to be the most important characteristics that make provisions for teacher trainingtrainingteacher- effective. The chapter finishes by looking at how, i...
This chapter focuses on long-term planning and on how to align literacy units with the existing curricula for EFL. It then suggests a way in which the work through the approach can be integrated in an existing syllabus and describes two curricula that were designed specifically to develop literacy in the foreign language classes.
In this chapter, the focus is on the second phase in a literacy unit: production. We will discuss how to scaffold students’ production both through guided work and by working on the process of producing a text. This has implications for the way we assess students’ work not only in this production phase but also in the earlier reception phase. Key c...
This chapter situates the approach proposed in the book against the backdrop of current moves in language teaching towards “communicating to learn” approaches, away from the focus on “learning to communicate” (Waters, System, 53(3), 141–147, 2015). It argues that “communicating to learn” approaches have often failed to transition into the language...
CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) research has thrived
recently. Yet, while more and more is learnt about the impact of CLIL
on motivation, proficiency, and content learning, few investigations
examine how CLIL influences students of different socio-economic
status (SES) and why. The recent large-scale English Impact study
conducted i...
Whilst CLIL research has flourished and showed some gains for CLIL learners, for example in motivation, there is little consensus about how it affects students from different social strata. The British Council ‘English Impact’ study (Shepherd and Ainsworth 2017 Shepherd, E. , and V.Ainsworth . 2017. English Impact. An Evaluation of English Language...
In recent decades, content and language integrated learning (CLIL) has become a widespread pedagogic innovation in schools all over Europe and in Spain particularly. By virtue of this approach, a foreign language, very frequently English, becomes the language of instruction of one or several curricular subjects, thereby increasing students’ exposur...
Over the last decades, the term ‘literacy’ has extended far beyond its original reference to learning to read and write. However, few data are available about its actual application in schools across Europe. This article, which is part of a larger project, tries to identify the common trends and difficulties teachers face when dealing with literacy...
“Hemos encontrado el libro de texto ideal este año. No hay nada que mejorar”. Así me contestó una alumna del máster, profesora de primaria en un centro bilingüe, a la que le acababa de proponer que llevara a cabo un proyecto de trabajo con textos en su clase de inglés. Un par de meses más tarde, hecha la experiencia, no querían saber nada del libro...
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is becoming more and more widespread at all educational levels. Learners in this kind of approach show a different attitude as well as different needs towards the foreign language. The present article suggests that these changed needs and attitudes can be met by shifting the focus of foreign language...
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is becoming more and more widespread at all educational levels. Learners in this kind of approach show a different attitude as well as different needs towards the foreign language. The present article suggests that these changed needs and attitudes can be met by shifting the focus of foreign language...
The educational authorities in the Madrid area commissioned me in 2017 to develop a new syllabus for the subject of "Inglés Avanzado" which is taught in bilingual secondary schools. In the process of developing it, I collaborated with experienced secondary school teachers (Ángela Campos, Raquel Rodríguez Vidal, Noelia Villafane) who provided initia...
This article explores how a group of educators and researchers enacted an inclusive process of conceptual growth involving teachers and teacher educators as active agents, knowledge builders and meaning-makers in the development of a Pluriliteracies approach to Teaching for Learning (PTL). The evolution of a working model based on five emergent pri...
The present article sets out to validate small-scale research projects as a tool to foster the integration of theory and practice as well as the development of a reflective mindset in trainees in teacher training courses. This case study of the process followed by an experienced teacher carrying out research as part of a Master's degree in Teaching...
The present article is written in response to Rupert Wegerif’s recent discussion of the dialogic affordances of the Internet. While not trying to negate this dialogic potential, this contribution takes a rather more critical look at the multiplicity of voices present on the web, and argues that this multiplicity alone will not guarantee that our th...
The present article sets out to validate small-scale research projects as a tool to foster the integration of theory and practice as well as the development of a refl ective mindset in trainees in teacher training courses. This case study of the process followed by an experienced teacher carrying out research as part of a Master's degree in Teachin...
Putting a Pluriltieracies into Practice was written in order to address the practical dimensions of the PTL approach. The document introduces the five principles of PTL and demonstrates how these principles will enable teachers and practitioners to design deeper learning pathways for their students.
Intermediate learners of English often show considerable skill in communicating orally, and using language productively to
solve the tasks set. However, on closer inspection, the actual language produced is often very simple and contributes little
to students’ language growth. The present article reports on a small-scale pedagogic intervention that...
This study, commissioned by the British Council Spain, constitutes a follow-up study of the 2010 research project to establish the way in which learning English was promoted in Spanish universities, and how the levels achieved were accredited.
Over the past decades content and language integrated learning (CLIL) research has predominantly focused on the language proficiency of CLIL learners. The results are very promising and show that working language skills in learners, especially reading and listening skills, can be improved through a CLIL programme. Studies focusing on subject learne...
Intermediate learners of English often show considerable skill in
communicating orally, and using language productively to solve the tasks set.
However, on closer inspection, the actual language produced is often very
simple and contributes little to students’ language growth. The present article
reports on a small-scale pedagogic intervention that...
CLIL projects have been gaining momentum over the past decades, with many studies evaluating the impact of this teaching mode on students' language levels, their content subject learning and on teachers' beliefs. However, the foreign language itself, which in principle is at the centre of a teaching approach that uses this language as a vehicle for...
Probablemente no haya ni un solo padre que hoy en día no desee una educación bilingüe para sus hijos. Pero ¿cómo lograrlo? ¿debo hablarle en inglés todo el rato? Y si lo hago ¿dominará su lengua materna? Estas y otras muchas preguntas son las que los padres nos plantean en nuestro colegio. Por eso desde el British Council School hemos intentado dar...
The launch of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has brought with it many changes for universities in Spain, especially in relation to the development of competencies. Among these, the ability to communicate in a foreign language features prominently in the general requirements of the new university studies laid down by the Spanish Ministry...
Background: Students at the Universidad de Alcala need batteries of learning objects and exercises. Although student textbooks tend to include a wide range of additional exercises, students in advanced linguistics and language courses require learning objects to obtain additional practice. Online repositories offer excellent opportunities for indep...
Teaching content through a foreign language presents students with the double challenge of having to understand new concepts and of doing so through a foreign language. To be successful in meeting this challenge teachers have to adapt their teaching style and the tasks they work on with their students. Often, however, they do not know how to do so,...
hace algunos años, el Departamento de Filología Moderna cuenta con dos laboratorios de idiomas que se utilizan en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras de forma cada vez más generalizada. Ambos laboratorios están a disposición de los estudiantes durante muchas horas al día para que estos puedan utilizarlos para complementar el trabajo llevado a cabo...
hace algunos años, el Departamento de Filología Moderna cuenta con dos laboratorios de idiomas que se utilizan en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras de forma cada vez más generalizada. Ambos laboratorios están a disposición de los estudiantes durante muchas horas al día para que estos puedan utilizarlos para complementar el trabajo llevado a cabo...
Following the implementation in 2004 of a large-scale bilingual programme in primary schools in the Madrid area, a team of teachers and researchers at the Universidad de Alcalá (Madrid) set up a research project to find out how EFL teachers with little prior training managed to put this new teaching approach into practice. Parallel to this attempt...
In response to the European Union demands for better language learning in schools, the past years have caused an increase in the number of bilingual education projects in the primary sector. Being this fact a relatively new development, it becomes necessary to find an appropriate methodology for the teaching of both the foreign language and the con...
Las últimas décadas han visto el auge de los modelos de enseña bilingüe en muchos países europeos como una forma de mejorar el conocimiento de uno o más idiomas extranjeros. En España estos modelos son relativamente recientes y no ha sido hasta hace poco que comunidades autónomas tales como la Comunidad de Madrid han puesto en marcha ambiciosos pro...
Desde hace casi tres decadas, el concepto de estrategias de aprendizaje esta siendo centro de atencion en la investigacion y practica docente de las lenguas extranjeras. A pesar de ello, existe poca claridad en torno a ellas, lo que hace necesario un gran esfuerzo de investigacion y experimentacion docente. El presente volumen ofrece una coleccion...
Explores the extent to which a reflective approach to English-as-a-Foreign/Language teacher training is suitable for teaching undergraduate students a course in methodology at the University of Alcala in Spain. (Author/VWL)
In the course of giving greater importance to trainees' previous knowledge about and experience of teaching and learning foreign languages, the role of teacher training courses as agents of change has recently been questioned. Through a research project reported in this article I tried to find out to what extent two teacher training courses I was r...
The concept of learning strategies has become quite familiar to most professionals in teaching English as a foreign language. However, one of the main difficulties of working with strategies is related to the lack of appropriate tools to measure strategy use by language students. In this study a checklist is presented and tested to see whether it c...
Ana Halbach Evaluating a course is not an easy task, since it depends on finding an appropriate instrument that does not influence trainees' responses. This article describes how learner diaries were used as a source of information about trainees' perception of a course in methodology. It also records how the data from the diaries was categorized a...
Bibliografía p. 406-429 Se aplica el método de pedagogía no directiva, o aprendizaje autónomo como se conoce en la enseñanza de lenguas, en la licenciatura de Filología Inglesa
Questions
Questions (4)
In a primary school I am working with they are starting to use a new approach to teaching EFL. One of the aspects we want to look at is how this change affects the motivation of teachers. Would anybody know of a questionnaire or other tool that we could use for this? Thank you!
Is anybody aware of any research focusing specifically on curriculum design / development for CLIL?
Would you know of any examples of CLIL curricula?
Thanks a million!
Hi there!
Is anybody aware of any research on how the implementation of CLIL-type programmes has affected the way the teaching of the foreign language is approached in these contexts? I'd be really grateful for any references! Thanks!
Ana
I am new to the field, so any indications would be more than welcome! Thanks a million!
