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Adjunct instruction in higher education: examining the effects on English foreign language proficiency
Abstract
This study aims to measure the longitudinal impact of a 60-hour adjunct instruction course, involving L2 content-based teaching with a
systematic focus on form, on students’ grammatical and lexical
knowledge and on their receptive skills (i.e. reading and listening) in a
foreign language higher education context. The participants were 52
university students enrolled in two different strands of the same
Dentistry degree: an English-Medium Instruction (EMI) group, with no
explicit L2 teaching/learning objectives, (n = 25) and an L1 group (n = 27) (Catalan/Spanish). In the L1 group, students had to read articles and teachers’ powerpoint presentations in the L2.
Quantitative data collected by means of a battery of tests over 16 weeks indicate that adjunct instruction leads to statistically significant
improvement in overall L2 language scores for all students alike.
Nonetheless, results show that adjunct instruction tends to bring larger L2 grammatical improvement and significantly higher gains in receptive skills to Dentistry students who receive minimal English Foreign Language exposure (i.e. the L1 strand) than to those with massive exposure to English (i.e. the EMI strand).
... The importance and significance of learning languages through immersion have been well-studied by previous scholars (see Aguilar & Muñoz, 2014;Aguilar & Rodrı´guez, 2012;Cheng et al., 2010;Chostelidou & Griva, 2014;Roquet et al., 2020;Thompson et al., 2021;Tsui & Ngo, 2016). In such studies, scholars scrutinised how language immersion facilitated by educational institutions work. ...
... Most previous studies explored language immersion in only one language. Further, most of the prior research has been conducted using exclusively quantitative methods (e.g Aguilar & Muñoz, 2014;Aguilar & Rodrı´guez, 2012;Baker et al., 2010;Cheng et al., 2010;Chostelidou & Griva, 2014;Roquet et al., 2020;Thompson et al., 2021;Tsui & Ngo, 2016;Van Tubergen & Wierenga, 2011). To address these empirical and methodological gaps, the current study adopts a qualitative case study to investigate how polyglots immerse themselves in particular settings while learning multiple foreign languages. ...
... The effectiveness of second language immersion in a formal education setting has been addressed by several previous studies (see Aguilar & Muñoz, 2014;Aguilar & Rodrı´guez, 2012;Cheng et al., 2010;Chostelidou & Griva, 2014;Roquet et al., 2020;Thompson et al., 2021;Tsui & Ngo, 2016). For example, Cheng et al. (2010) examined the language achievements of primary school students in English language immersion schools in China. ...
... On the other hand, there are other teaching programmes in English that focus on the foreign language as a vehicle for content instruction. In these Englishmedium instruction (EMI) programmes, students receive a significant amount of the target language through content instruction (Dueñas, 2003) and language learning is incidental rather than intentional (see Roquet et al., 2022 for further details). As such, EMI only falls marginally under the content-based instruction paradigm. ...
... This might be attributed to a plateau effect (the EMI+AI group already had high scores in CAF measures at T1), and also to the time span, which may not have been long enough to detect differences in development using such micro level features of analysis. These results are also in line with previous studies that show that abundant exposure to the L2 in EMI may not lead to grammatical improvement in short-time spans (Roquet et al., 2019(Roquet et al., , 2022. Our study also adds that syntactic complexity may not be developed in EMI+AI at least when learners' initial writing level is high and the development is measured across six months. ...
... In addition, the use of the same questions at both times of data collection as written prompts to write texts could have helped the L1+AI learners, who started at a significantly lower level of accuracy than the EMI+AI group, to increase accuracy. These results coincide with previous studies that show that adjunct instruction helps to develop learners' grammatical accuracy in minimal exposure contexts (i.e., L1+AI) (Grim, 2008;Rodgers, 2006;Roquet et al., 2022). The results also indicate that neither lexical nor syntactic complexity developed for the L1+AI group over six months despite the use of a similar written prompt across time. ...
Adjunct instruction (AI), a form of content-based instruction, can provide students with opportunities to learn disciplinary discourse in context. Few studies have explored the extent to which AI affects students’ written production over time. This study aims to analyze the impact of a 60-hour AI course in English on writing complexity, accuracy, fluency (CAF) and on holistic measures in two groups with different exposure to English. The participants were 51 first-year Dentistry students from two strands, English-Medium of Instruction (EMI) ( n = 21) and first language (L1 Catalan/Spanish) ( n = 30). After 60 hours of AI, the EMI+AI group improved lexical diversity, while the L1+AI group improved accuracy and some holistic measures. Correlations between CAF and holistic measures indicate defining features of second language writing in each strand. The benefits of adjunct instruction for writing development are discussed in the light of the two settings explored.
... The above-stated studies all point to experiences in which ESP and EMI are seen as complementing each other. This vision is in concert with the experiences of "adjunct teaching" (Brinton et al., 1989), which has existed for many years in multicultural contexts, such as that of the United States, where parallel and shared ESP courses are carried out together with disciplinary courses (for encouraging results of adjunct teaching in EMI, see Roquet et al., 2020), thereby possibly creating an environment in which both disciplines support one another (Arnó-Macià et al., 2020;Arnó-Macià & Mancho-Barés, 2015;Dearden, 2018;Leonardi, 2015;Macaro, 2018;Sobhy et al., 2013). Roquet et al. (2020) clarify that "[…] adjunct instruction refers to a language course taught by a language specialist in parallel with a content class, and which addresses content topics and associated language knowledge and skills necessary to follow the content instruction successfully" (p. ...
... This vision is in concert with the experiences of "adjunct teaching" (Brinton et al., 1989), which has existed for many years in multicultural contexts, such as that of the United States, where parallel and shared ESP courses are carried out together with disciplinary courses (for encouraging results of adjunct teaching in EMI, see Roquet et al., 2020), thereby possibly creating an environment in which both disciplines support one another (Arnó-Macià et al., 2020;Arnó-Macià & Mancho-Barés, 2015;Dearden, 2018;Leonardi, 2015;Macaro, 2018;Sobhy et al., 2013). Roquet et al. (2020) clarify that "[…] adjunct instruction refers to a language course taught by a language specialist in parallel with a content class, and which addresses content topics and associated language knowledge and skills necessary to follow the content instruction successfully" (p. 3). ...
Partly because of the Bologna Declaration, the so-called English-Medium Instruction (EMI) courses in universities have undergone a strong surge in the last 15 years. This initial phase of growth in EMI has had an impact on LSP (Language for Specific Purposes) courses, which have in some cases suffered a consequent decline. This article seeks to highlight the potential of LSP to prepare students in EMI communication, support academic disciplinary skills, develop transversal skills, and foster intercultural communication. The study analyses an LSP-focused curricular design that aims to help students develop English-language communicative effectiveness for a domain-specific context: social and human services. The various integrative practices inherent in LSP instruction call attention to its potential as a harmonizing and empowering force for content- and language-integrated learning when used alongside EMI.
Keywords: English-Medium Instruction (EMI); Language for Specific Purposes (LSP); English for Specific Purposes (ESP); Content-and-language integrated learning (CLIL); Integrating content and language in higher education (ICLHE).
... In the context of language instruction, the adjunct model refers to a method wherein students are enrolled in both a language course and a content course simultaneously, and receive specialized language courses alongside their content-based classes (Roquet et al., 2022). This model can also be utilized in EFL contexts, where EFL teachers possessing subject knowledge create diverse teaching activities to enhance students' language proficiency. ...
Language instruction based on content is not a new idea; it originated in English-speaking countries such as the USA, Canada, and many European countries that study content subjects in English. Accordingly, it has become a widely adopted pedagogical approach to English for Academic Purposes. The teaching of English to speakers of other languages, including Algeria, however, abounds with multiple acronyms, causing teachers to become confused, and even disoriented when considering English for Specific Purposes, English for Academic Purposes, and Content-Based Instruction. The rationale of this purely theoretical-based article is to understand the current pedagogical practices in language across the curriculum and strive to unearth and uncover how English for Specific Purpose courses can be taught by implementing Content-based Instruction as a syllabus, by reviewing some linguistic, and pedagogical rationales as well as principles for the application of this framework for foreign language learners in higher education, more precisely in the ESP context. Besides, the study suggests some teaching models that are meant to help English language instructors to be content teachers in some circumstances and language-competent teachers in other contexts. Keywords: Content-Based Instruction; teacher; Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.
... Therefore, Spanish higher education institutions should provide support to EMI teachers 'in the form of continuous teacher professional development' (Dafouz, 2018, p. 550), as they regularly feel abandoned to the extent that many of them consider that the success of EMI rests squarely on their shoulders (Doíz & Lasagabaster, 2018). Although EMI has the potential to foster language learning while content is acquired, it does not substitute the necessary teaching of academic and specialized language, a task that can be best performed by implementing collaborative experiences between language specialists and content teachers (Lasagabaster, 2018;Mancho-Barés & Aguilar-Pérez, 2020;Roquet et al., 2020). ...
... Therefore, Spanish higher education institutions should provide support to EMI teachers 'in the form of continuous teacher professional development' (Dafouz, 2018, p. 550), as they regularly feel abandoned to the extent that many of them consider that the success of EMI rests squarely on their shoulders . Although EMI has the potential to foster language learning while content is acquired, it does not substitute the necessary teaching of academic and specialized language, a task that can be best performed by implementing collaborative experiences between language specialists and content teachers (Lasagabaster, 2018;Mancho-Barés & Aguilar-Pérez, 2020;Roquet et al., 2020). ...
The introduction of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) has changed higher education enormously in many European countries. This development is increasingly encapsulated under the term Englishization, that is, the increasing dispersion of English as a means of communication in non-Anglophone contexts. Englishization is not undisputed: legal challenges have arisen in several countries. Nor is it uniform; universities across Europe embrace Englishization, but they do so in their own way. In this volume, authors from 15 European countries present analyses from a range of perspectives coalescing around core concerns: the quality of education, cultural identity, inequality of opportunities and access, questions of justice and democracy, and internationalization and language policy. This book will appeal to researchers in applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, educational sciences, and political science, as well as policy makers and people with a concern about the direction of higher education.
... Therefore, Spanish higher education institutions should provide support to EMI teachers 'in the form of continuous teacher professional development' (Dafouz, 2018, p. 550), as they regularly feel abandoned to the extent that many of them consider that the success of EMI rests squarely on their shoulders (Doíz & Lasagabaster, 2018). Although EMI has the potential to foster language learning while content is acquired, it does not substitute the necessary teaching of academic and specialized language, a task that can be best performed by implementing collaborative experiences between language specialists and content teachers (Lasagabaster, 2018;Mancho-Barés & Aguilar-Pérez, 2020;Roquet et al., 2020). ...
... Therefore, Spanish higher education institutions should provide support to EMI teachers 'in the form of continuous teacher professional development' (Dafouz, 2018, p. 550), as they regularly feel abandoned to the extent that many of them consider that the success of EMI rests squarely on their shoulders . Although EMI has the potential to foster language learning while content is acquired, it does not substitute the necessary teaching of academic and specialized language, a task that can be best performed by implementing collaborative experiences between language specialists and content teachers (Lasagabaster, 2018;Mancho-Barés & Aguilar-Pérez, 2020;Roquet et al., 2020). ...
In our increasingly multilingual modern world, understanding how languages beyond the first are acquired and processed at a brain level is essential to design evidence-based teaching, clinical interventions and language policy. Written by a team of world-leading experts in a wide range of disciplines within cognitive science, this Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the study of third (and more) language acquisition and processing. It features 30 approachable chapters covering topics such as multilingual language acquisition, education, language maintenance and language loss, multilingual code-switching, ageing in the multilingual brain, and many more. Each chapter provides an accessible overview of the state of the art in its topic, while offering comprehensive access to the specialized literature, through carefully curated citations. It also serves as a methodological resource for researchers in the field, offering chapters on methods such as case studies, corpora, artificial language systems or statistical modelling of multilingual data.
Aquest estudi examina els efectes de l'ensenyament de llengua basat en continguts (CBI per les seves sigles en anglès) en la producció de vocabulari acadèmic en una tasca escrita de classe. Els textos van ser redactats per estudiants universitaris de primer any inscrits en dues modalitats diferents, anglès com a mitjà d'instrucció (EMI per les seves sigles en anglès) i el mateix programa en la seva L1 (Català / Castellà), durant un semestre. Tant els materials utilitzats a la classe com el corpus d'estudiants es van examinar per identificar el grau en què incorporen elements de tres llistes de terminologia acadèmica interdisciplinària, específicament les llistes de vocabulari (AVL), de col·locacions (ACL) i de fórmules acadèmiques (AFL). Els resultats van indicar que tant els estudiants de L1 com d'EMI van produir un major nombre de paraules acadèmiques i tècniques després del curs. Els estudiants d'EMI també van augmentar l'ús de col·locacions i fórmules. Els beneficis de CBI per adquirir terminologia acadèmica i desenvolupar l'alfabetització disciplinària es discuteixen a la llum de les dues modalitats estudiades.
In EMI, some topics such as language ideologies, language policies, attitudes towards EMI, domain loss for languages other than English, and multilingual models of EMI have also been analysed. However, in this paper we will concentrate on four areas: the EMI teacher as language teacher, team teaching, language assessment, and the use of the L1.We intend to do this from the students’ perspective, our reasons for which are explained below.
Although English-medium instruction (EMI) courses are burgeoning at university level on a global scale, there is a scarcity of pedagogical guidelines about how to implement effective courses, while most higher education institutions rarely offer courses aimed at helping EMI teachers tackle this new teaching context. An additional concern has to do with the fact that content EMI lecturers tend to avoid language aspects, a weakness that could be overcome by boosting team teaching, that is, the collaboration between language and content teachers. Previous research reveals that team teaching improves undergraduates’ learning and can also be a gratifying experience for the teaching staff involved, who usually highlight the motivational boost it gives them because it stimulates reflection on their pedagogical knowledge and practices. In this paper I put forward research tasks with a view to enticing researchers to embark on projects focused on this uncharted territory, as team teaching is a research field in which much remains to be done.
After outlining why a systematic review of research in English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education (HE) is urgently required, we briefly situate the rapidly growing EMI phenomenon in the broader field of research in which content and language have been considered and compare HE research outputs with those from other phases of education. An in-depth review of 83 studies in HE documents the growth of EMI in different geographical areas. We describe studies which have investigated university teachers’ beliefs and those of students before attempting to synthesise the evidence on whether teaching academic subjects through the medium of English as a second language (L2) is of benefit to developing English proficiency without a detrimental effect on content learning. We conclude that key stakeholders have serious concerns regarding the introduction and implementation of EMI despite sometimes recognising its inevitability. We also conclude that the research evidence to date is insufficient to assert that EMI benefits language learning nor that it is clearly detrimental to content learning. There are also insufficient studies demonstrating, through the classroom discourse, the kind of practice which may lead to beneficial outcomes. This insufficiency, we argue, is partly due to research methodology problems both at the micro and macro level.
A report on the global phenomenon of EMI: A bird's eye view of EMI in 55 countries
Globalisation and international mobility in the 21st century has led to the internationalisation of the English language (Crystal, 2003). Research regarding linguistic gains at university levels is however extremely scarce. This study aims to address this gap of knowledge and provide some answers as to how much linguistic gain can be expected after one year of English medium instruction. Two groups of undergraduate students enrolled in different levels of English medium instruction (EMI) were given a pre and post-test over a 1 year period. Results were analysed statistically; significant gains were found only in the semi- immersion group in the grammatical domain; although, there was a trend for improvement as well as higher scores for full immersion students. It might be interpreted that in order for linguistic gains to be seen in adults there needs to be some focus on form and language guidance (Muñoz, 2007; Pérez-Vidal, 2007). Thus, an integrated content and language (ICLHE) approach is more effective than a solely content based EMI model for university level content courses, if linguistic gains are the desired outcomes of the programme.
DOI: 10.18870/hlrc.v5i1.239
The aim of the present paper is to provide insights into experimental research on a CLIL project for reading skills development in the context of Greek tertiary education. The research design involved conducting interviews and administering a CLIL test with a focus on reading skills and the content of the target discipline. The data provided support for the efficacy of implementing CLIL in higher education as the experimental group outperformed the control group in terms of both reading skills and content knowledge and showed a considerably higher positive attitude towards the CLIL course than their peers in the control group.
For years, universities worldwide have offered English-medium degrees as a way to attract international students and staff, enhance their institutional profile and promote multilingualism. In Europe and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), English-medium instruction (EMI) is more recent, but the dimension and speed of its implementation has outpaced language policies, methodological considerations and empirical research. In view of this, this paper focuses on an empirical study examining the effect that the teaching of a Business Administration degree in English as a foreign language may have on Spanish students’ academic performance (as measured through coursework and final grades), when compared to their counterparts’ learning in Spanish. Students’ grades are analysed in three different disciplinary subjects and treated statistically. Findings show that both cohorts obtain similar results, suggesting that the language of instruction does not seem to compromise students’ learning of academic content. Differences, however, are found regarding learners’ performance in the three disciplinary subjects under scrutiny, with history yielding slightly higher results than accounting and finance. This finding runs counter to the general belief that the more verbal subjects, like history, would have a ‘limiting’ effect on EMI students’ final performance and, moreover, raises questions concerning disciplinary differences and assessment.
From a disciplinary discourse perspective, all university courses can be said to involve content and language integrated learning (CLIL) even in monolingual settings. Clearly, however, things become much more complex when two or more languages are involved in teaching and learning. The role of this paper is to introduce readers to the linguistic situation in Swedish universities, where two languages—English and Swedish—are commonly used in the teaching and learning of a number of disciplines. The paper describes the linguistic landscape of Swedish higher education and presents an illustrative case study from a single discipline (physics) with a hierarchical knowledge structure (Bernstein, 1999).
Semi-structured interviews were carried out with ten physics lecturers from four Swedish universities. The lecturers were asked about their disciplinary language-learning expectations for their students. These interviews were analysed using qualitative methods inspired by the phenomenographic approach. Six main themes resulting from the analysis are presented and discussed. From a CLIL perspective, one recurring theme is that none of the lecturers saw themselves as teachers of disciplinary Swedish or English. The paper concludes by discussing the generalizability of the findings to other disciplines with similar (hierarchical) knowledge structures.
This article surveys recent work on content-and-language integrated learning (CLIL). Related to both content-based instruction and immersion education by virtue of its dual focus on language and content, CLIL is here understood as an educational model for contexts where the classroom provides the only site for learners’ interaction in the target language. That is, CLIL is about either foreign languages or lingua francas. The discussion foregrounds a prototypical CLIL context (Europe) but also refers to work done elsewhere. The first part of the discussion focuses on policy issues, describing how CLIL practice operates in a tension between grassroots decisions and higher order policymaking, an area where European multi- and plurilingual policies and the strong impact of English as a lingua franca play a particularly interesting role. The latter is, of course, of definite relevance also in other parts of the world. The second part of the article synthesizes research on learning outcomes in CLIL. Here, the absence of standardized content testing means that the main focus is on language-learning outcomes. The third section deals with classroom-based CLIL research and participants’ use of their language resources for learning and teaching, including such diverse perspectives as discourse pragmatics, speech acts, academic language functions, and genre. The final part of the article discusses theoretical underpinnings of CLIL, delineating their current state of elaboration as applied linguistic research in the area is gaining momentum.
Recently, there has been growing interest in content-based instruction (CBI) in foreign language education, particularly in English as a foreign language (EFL) education. However, there are a number of challenges for successful implementation of CBI in EFL contexts, and its implementation therefore needs to be carried out with careful consideration and preparation. Based on a review of previous studies as well as the author’s observation of various CBI classes in EFL contexts in East Asia, this paper identifies factors that influence the effectiveness of CBI including: (a) program setting and curriculum, (b) characteristics of teachers, (c) characteristics of learners, and (d) resource availability. The paper concludes with a series of suggestions for the successful implementation of CBI in EFL contexts, with particular emphasis on the implementation of CBI in East Asia. 近年、外国語としての英語教育環境下（EFL） で、コンテント・ベース教授法 （CBI）に対する関心が高まっている。しかし、EFLにCBIを導入するには解決すべき課題も多く、効果的な導入には、慎重な検討と周到な準備が不可欠である。本論文では、CBI に関する先行研究や、筆者自身の東アジア 諸国での多種にわたるCBI導入ケースの観察に基づき、以下の４点をCBIの効果を左右する要因として指摘する。すなわち、（a）プログラムの施行状況とカリキュラム、（b）教員の特徴、（c）学習者の特徴、（d）資源サポートのありかたである。これらを詳細に分析し、主に東アジア地域に焦点を絞りながら、CBIを効果的に導入するにはどうしたらよいかについて具体的な提案を行う。
This article provides a comprehensive, updated, and critical approximation to the sizeable literature which has been produced on the increasingly acknowledged European approach to bilingual education: content and language integrated learning (CLIL). It begins by tracing the origins of CLIL, framing it against the backdrop of its predecessors: North American immersion and bilingual education programs, and European international schools. It then provides a synthesis of the research which has been conducted on our continent into the effects of CLIL programs. It transpires from this review that, while at first blush it might seem that outcome-oriented investigations into CLIL effects abound throughout our continent, there is still a well-documented paucity of research in this area. The article concludes by identifying future research agendas to continue mapping the CLIL terrain. The ultimate aim of this three-pronged examination of the past, present, and future of CLIL is to depart from the lessons learned from recent research and to signpost ways forward in order to guarantee a success-prone implementation of this timely solution to European plurilingual education.
One effect of the Bologna Declaration is that teaching staff and students are becoming more mobile, increasing linguistic diversity in the European Higher Education Area. This multilingual internationalisation is especially noticeable in bilingual universities such as the University of the Basque Country in Spain, where English-medium instruction is becoming more popular. In order to understand higher education multilingual contexts, it is essential to analyse the personal, social, cultural, political and economic struggles that surround the different languages in contact, while becoming critically aware of what this multilingualism implies. Through discussion groups in which different members of the community participated, we researched how the university community deals with the main issues surrounding the university's multilingual policy and practices. We shall address the concerns that different members of the community have expressed in this new context, and the interplay between Basque, a minority language, Spanish, the mainstream language and English.
In the new European higher education space, Universities in Europe are exhorted to cultivate and develop multilingualism. The European Commission's 2004–2006 action plan for promoting language learning and diversity speaks of the need to build an environment which is favourable to languages. Yet reality indicates that it is English which reigns supreme and has become the main foreign language used as means of instruction at European universities. Internationalisation has played a key role in this process, becoming one of the main drivers of the linguistic hegemony exerted by English. In this paper we examine the opinions of teaching staff involved in English-medium instruction, from pedagogical ecology-of-language and personal viewpoints. Data were gathered using group discussion. The study was conducted at a multilingual Spanish university where majority (Spanish), minority (Basque) and foreign (English) languages coexist, resulting in some unavoidable linguistic strains. The implications for English-medium instruction are discussed at the end of this paper.
Content-based instruction (CBI) is an overarching term that refers to instructional approaches that make a dual, though not necessarily equal, commitment to additional language- and content-learning objectives. Since early developments in the second half of the twentieth century, a variety of CBI
models and frameworks have been developed, implemented, and researched in a host of contexts for learners with a multiplicity of learning goals. During this time, major contributions have focused on the language- and content-learning specifications of various CBI models and frameworks, the language of academic content areas
, an examination of teacher practices in CBI classrooms, and an understanding of the relationships among second language acquisition (SLA) processes and CBI curricula. More current work examines the effectiveness of various CBI models and frameworks, especially with respect to scaffolded instructional techniques and academic skill development, with particular attention paid to reading skills. In addition, current efforts document the evolution and spread of content
and language integrated learning (CLIL)
programs in Europe and beyond. CBI approaches, in their various configurations, are not without their challenges, which include paucity and suitability of instructional materials; language and content teacher qualifications, recruitment, and training; effectiveness of professional development and teacher collaboration; and teacher and public perceptions (and misperceptions) of CBI approaches – especially in highly politicized contexts. A call for future research in these areas as well as others arises from the implementation of CBI in a range of instructional contexts.
As higher education institutions (HEIs) across the world strive to become increasingly international, English-medium instruction (EMI) is swiftly becoming mainstream in contexts where English has traditionally held a foreign language status. This change in the language of instruction has given rise to a number of concerns, which are still largely under-explored. Amongst these, research into the effects of EMI on students' disciplinary knowledge is of great importance and should be regarded as crucial so that HEIs offer the same possibilities for student construction of knowledge, irrespective of the language used.
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/DirU7AmaFa8MZHdtN5yG/full
ABSTRACT
The present study aims to shed some light on how engineering lecturers teaching in English at a Spanish university view their work (teaching goals) within the current European internationalisation trend of offering courses and master programmes in English. A questionnaire where content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and English-medium instruction (EMI) were differentiated and with questions on their self-attributed duties, training preferences, assessment and internationalisation issues, among others, was prepared. The 41 lecturers who participated were asked to identify the modality they were following and their views related to the key factors in their courses. Findings point to the fact that EMI is the modality they follow and that they do not want to shift to CLIL because they refuse to teach language. To gain qualitative information about their beliefs, six lecturers were later interviewed. These interviews suggested that lecturers attach no importance to language integration. More specifically, they do not usually reflect on their lecturing, they welcome the idea of distinguishing both modalities in higher education (HE), they regard English proficiency as a key factor for all stakeholders and finally they think CLIL better suits less proficient students in HE.
CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) as an innovative educational approach reflects EU policies of promoting multilingualism in Europe. It takes language learning beyond traditional topics and curriculum by offering non-linguistic content as the basis for learning and teaching. CLIL builds on the principles of 'good' teaching and learning, namely, active involvement of students, current and authentic materials, active teaching and learning methods, task or project based learning. It views learning as a social process during which knowledge is constructed by being actively involved in 'meaningful' communication, group activities and doing cognitively demanding tasks. CLIL is promoted as means of solving problems of traditional language learning, such as sometimes unsatisfactory student achievement levels, lack of student motivation, overcrowded curriculum. Tertiary education has relied for many years on offering LSP (Language for Specific Purposes) courses for students, where the content for language learning is taken from their field of study, i.e. business, law or sciences or is based on developing academic skills. However, it seems that innovative ideas are needed to adapt this kind of teaching to the challenges of the 21st century and apply interdisciplinary curriculum development approaches to designing integrated courses. The article is based on the literature analysis and a survey conducted at ISM (University of Management and Economics) in order to find out students' attitude to using problem-based tasks in their language classes, i.e. introduction of integrated content and language learning into their studies. The article analyses key dimensions of both LSP and CLIL by looking at main similarities and differences of both approaches and identifies the main aspects that can enrich traditional tertiary level language classes. http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sal.0.18.418
Recent studies have highlighted the benefits of CLIL instruction regarding general competence in the acquisition of second languages. However, it is not clear whether these benefits extend to specific areas of grammar. Here we compare the general proficiency and specific linguistic features of a group of learners of L3 English in a CLIL programme with two EFL groups: one matching the CLIL group in age and hours of exposure and a second group two grades ahead. The results confirm that the benefits of CLIL in general competence do not extend to the acquisition of specific linguistic features. In this respect, the best results were obtained by the older EFL learners suggesting that CLIL benefits do not extend to the acquisition of English verbal morphology.
In a context characterized by the increasing presence of CLIL programs in universities with a tradition of ESP courses, we analyze the case of a university in Catalonia (Spain) with regard to the position of CLIL and ESP. As CLIL programs are promoted to improve students' language proficiency in English, we explore the importance of language learning in these programs and the implications derived for ESP. Data were obtained from institutional documentation, class observation, and lecturer and student views on CLIL expressed in focus groups and a questionnaire. Findings show imprecise guidelines for CLIL implementation. Although we can observe an institutional shift from ESP to CLIL, the latter courses do not generally include language support. Lecturer and student perspectives provide useful insights for action that can be taken by ESP course designers to adapt courses to make them more relevant to students' discipline-related needs. Faced with these findings, we propose engaging in collaboration with content lecturers to develop graduates' proficiency in English. This collaboration can take place both through the integration of language in content courses and through the integration of content in ESP courses to make them more relevant to disciplines' communicative needs.
This article describes the adjunct model of language instruction, in which English/ESL courses are linked with content courses to integrate better the reading, writing, and study skills required for academic success in the university setting. Following a rationale for the adjunct model and a description of its key features as employed in the Freshman Summer Program (FSP) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the findings of two studies carried out at UCLA are presented: (a) former students' evaluation of the program and (b) follow-up interviews with selected ESL students and results of a simulated examination comparing the FSP follow-up students and non-FSP ESL students.
This article describes and discusses two case studies of content-based instruction for second language education — foreign/second language immersion for majority language students in Canada and dual language education for minority language students in the U.S. After discussing the rationale for CBI in general, we examine 45 years of research on each program model and provide empirical evidence on a number of important issues, including: students’ proficiency in the two languages used for instruction; non-language academic outcomes; whether age is an important factor in students’ language outcomes; and the relationship between age of first exposure to the second language and outcomes in that language. Two outstanding major issues are discussed at some length; namely, the suitability of these programs for at-risk learners and the need for a coherent model of how best to integrate language and content instruction to maximize second language proficiency without detracting from academic achievement. Suggestions for future directions are provided.
This paper seeks to provide insights into the local context of ICLHE (Integrating Content and Language in Higher Education) in Italy. Its principal aim is descriptive although it also discusses theoretical models since it seeks to establish the extent to which Focus on Form (FonF) is present in ICLHE lectures. By means of observations, recordings and transcriptions, data were obtained from Italian university lecturers teaching in their scientific fields and using English as medium of instruction. The analysis of the results reveals a type of pre-emptive FonF on the part of the lecturers (namely, codeswitching) which is rarely presented as such in the literature. Finally, the results furnish a pedagogical perspective, with evidence that content lecturers make certain use of FonF, thus revealing some degree of linguistic interest and awareness which could be further enhanced through the support of the language academic staff and which should be taken into consideration when designing training courses for university-level education.
This paper reports on a follow‐up study of a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) pilot experience with bilingual postgraduate engineering students at a Spanish university. It aimed at examining learners' gains in listening and grammar skills after a CLIL course in English for a semester, in particular whether students' listening and grammar skills were affected similarly and whether participants' proficiency level played a role. Paired‐sampled t‐tests showed the difference between the mean scores in the pre‐and post‐listening test was significant but it was not for the pre‐and post grammar tests. When students were distributed into three groups on the basis of their pre‐test scores, a repeated measures ANOVA showed that less proficient students obtained higher gains in listening and grammar skills than more proficient students. Este artículo presenta los resultados de un estudio de seguimiento de una experiencia piloto de AICLE con estudiantes bilingües de ingeniería (postgrado) en una universidad española. El objetivo del estudio era examinar las mejoras en las destrezas auditivas y gramaticales después que los estudiantes hubieran cursado un curso AICLE en inglés durante un semestre; en particular, se trataba de examinar si las destrezas auditivas y gramaticales cambiaban de forma similar y si el nivel de competencia lingüística era un factor importante. Los t‐tests de muestras pareadas mostraron diferencia entre los valores medios de la comprensión auditiva en el pre‐test y el post‐test pero no en los valores de la destreza gramatical. Cuando se distribuyeron los estudiantes en tres grupos según sus resultados en el pre‐test, la ANOVA de medidas repetidas mostró que los estudiantes con dominio más bajo mejoraban más que los que tenían un dominio superior tanto en las destrezas auditivas como en las gramaticales.
This article presents a study focusing on the oral production of students enrolled in adjunct or content-based ESL and FSL language courses linked to an introductory psychology course. The two-year study measured changes in students' oral production over two semesters during the 90-minute-per-week adjunct course. Instruments used were an elicited imitation exercise and a discussion task administered at the beginning and end of the course. These were recorded in the language laboratory for later analysis. The elicited imitation task was corrected for accuracy and for the presence of certain prosodic, syntactic, and discourse features. The discussion task scored on content, speed of delivery, pronunciation, grammatical accuracy, and precision of vocabulary. A detailed qualitative analysis was done on the discussions produced by a subgroup of students who had shown gains in grammatical accuracy. The authors discuss the results of the study and its implications for the teaching of oral production in content-based language courses.
Considerable evidence suggests that cloze techniques can create tests which measure aspects of students' second language competence. However, it remains unclear how variations in the cloze procedure affect measurement. This study compared results obtained from cloze passages constructed from the same text using four different procedures: fixed-ratio, rational, (rational) multiple choice, and C-test. The four procedures produced tests similar in reliabilities but distinct in levels of difficulty and patterns of correlations with other tests. These results are discussed in view of theoretically-based expecta tions for convergent and discriminate relationships of the four cloze tests with other tests.
Discussions of diagnostic tools that gauge students' conceptual understanding permeate the literature. Many instructors report their class' normalized gain to characterize the change in scores from pre-test to post-test. We describe a new procedure for characterizing these changes. This procedure, which we call the normalized change, c, involves the ratio of the gain to the maximum possible gain or the loss to the maximum possible loss. We also advocate reporting the average of a class' normalized changes and utilizing a particular statistical and graphical approach for comparing average c values.
This article reports on a strategy training study that investigated the lexical processing
strategies (LPSs; ignore, consult, infer) used by L2 learners when they encounter unfamiliar
vocabulary while reading and the impact of these strategies on vocabulary learning. A time-series
with repeated-measures design was used. Introspective data were gathered from eight participants
(Francophone university students, intermediate ESL proficiency) on eight texts over 5 months to
elicit LPS use on self-identified unfamiliar words. Then, 1 week after each reading, participants
completed a cued recall task to measure their learning of these words. An analysis of overall LPS
use (changes in patterns and effectiveness of strategy use with LPS-focused instruction) and word
retention rates demonstrates the potential for vocabulary learning through reading and indicates
that some LPSs lead to higher retention rates than others. This research increases our
understanding of the role of LPS use in vocabulary learning and suggests some reevaluation of
current pedagogic practice.
Our study is of the collaborative output of students engaged in grammar dictation tasks (Dictogloss) in a British EFL context. Our key aim was to investigate the effect of pre-task focus on form work on task output processes. The main focus of this paper, however, is on how we refined the framework of Language Related Episodes (LREs) used by other researchers to analyse L2 output processes, and produced our own taxonomy of episodes. We also discuss the role of collaborative output in L2 development, particularly the use of metalanguage. We argue that analysis based on LRE counts, although valuable, fails to capture completely the complexity of the interaction, and go on to discuss the 'value' and 'nature' of episodes. The former term is concerned with differences in the length of episodes and the extent of learners' engagement with the language item concerned. The latter reflects the messy nature of L2 interactional data and the difficulty of 'untangling' it to identifying episodes. It deals with features like discontinuity, embedding and overlapping.
Cloze tests have been the focus of considerable interest in recent years as easily constructed and scored measures of integrative proficiency. Although there has been debate as to whether all forms produced by the cloze procedure are equally reliable and valid, as well as controversy over what is actually measured, the balance of evidence favors a positive view of the cloze test as an effective testing instrument. These implications are especially significant in the EFL situation in which many English teachers are nonnative speakers who want to include an integrative measure of EFL proficiency within the English portion of their college entrance examinations. The study reported here presents the necessary steps in the development of a reliable and valid cloze test and uses the form produced to measure EFL proficiency in two groups of Japanese college students, English majors and nonmajors. Cloze test performance is correlated with essay scores and TOEFL scores to determine whether the cloze test can function as an alternative measure of integrative language ability. Issues regarding construct and predictive validity are addressed, and it is suggested that well-designed cloze tests are capable of assessing language skills ranging from basic to advanced. Use of cloze tests in their fixed-ratio deletion, exact-word scored format is recommended, with certain limiting considerations, as a substitute for essay tests on English proficiency examinations.
Swain (1985) pointed out the need for increased modified output in the classroom in order to encourage learners to engage in more syntactic processing and, thus, make more form-meaning connections. Research in content-based instruction (CBI) (Musumeci, 1996; Pica, 2002) has revealed few occasions of pushed modified output from learners. Therefore, one questions whether CBI classes are effective in promoting and developing not only content knowledge, but also form–function abilities, specifically in the expressive skills. Second language (L2) learners from a 3rd semester university-level content-based geography course (N= 43) completed 2 (or 3) production tasks at the beginning and end of the regular semester. The findings revealed that learners made significant improvements in both content knowledge and functional linguistic abilities. However, it is possible that that latter still has room for improvement.
The model of content-enriched instruction focuses on the integration of grammatical and lexical forms within content to beginning-level learners (Ballman, 1997). This study used quantitative data to examine the efficiency and application of this model for second- and third-semester college French. It specifically responds to the following question: Which type of focus-on-form instruction through a content-enriched instruction lesson is more effective for learning second language (L2) grammar, vocabulary, and cultural content in intermediate French L2 classes? The three instructional treatments administered were planned focus on form, incidental focus on form, and focus on meaning. The findings point to positive significance mainly toward the planned focus on form treatment, in grammar, vocabulary, and culture. This encourages a more concrete integration of content and form at low-intermediate !eve(s.
This article reviews insights into second-language (L2) learning that have been revealed through over a decade of research on the social interaction and negotiation of L2 learners and their interlocutors, begining with the seminal work of Hatch (1978a, 197810) and Long (1980 et passim), and withereferenceto a corpus of informal, experimental, and classroom data from published studies. This research illustrates ways in which negotiation contributes to condi- tions, processes, and outcomes ofL2 learningby facilitating learners' comprehension and structural segmentation of L2 input, access to lexical form and meaning, and production of modified output. The research points out areas in which negotiation does not appear to assist L2 learning, especially with respect to the learner's need to access L2
The importance of noticing as a cognitive process in second language (L2) acquisition has been increasingly recognized by applied linguistics researchers. However, issues concerning how noticing is related to composing and subsequent feedback processing, and what impact such noticing has on L2 writing improvement, need to be addressed. We conducted a case study to investigate these issues with two Mandarin background adult English-as-a-second language (ESL) learners. The study documents the relationship of noticing, both in the composing stage (Stage 1) and the reformulation stage (Stage 2, where learners compare their own text to a reformulated version of it), to the improvement of the written product in the posttest (Stage 3) of a three-stage writing task. The findings suggest that while composing and reformulation promote noticing, the quality of noticing, which relates directly to L2 writing improvement, is different for learners with different levels of L2 proficiency. We argue that while promoting noticing is important, promoting the quality of that noticing is a more important issue to be addressed in L2 writing pedagogy.
Content-Based Instruction has been described as a new paradigm in language education, centered on fostering student competence in a second or foreign language while advancing in the knowledge of a subject matter. This approach is widely used in an extensive number of contexts and educational settings all over the world in a variety of models: some of the most common ones in foreign language education at post-secondary level are theme-based courses, adjunct/linked courses, sheltered subjectmatter instruction, and second language medium courses. Since the possibilities are multiple and purposefully designed to match different needs, this paper aims at offering a conceptual description of the main characteristics, specific applications, and perceived effectiveness of the different models as these are reported in the literature available. Prior to the presentation of the models, the rationale and evolution of the mainstream CBI paradigm will be presented, and a review of the existing literature contemplated. Additionally, an extensive, up-dated list of works in the area will be included in the reference list.
refer to the 'strong' version of EMI as a hybrid model of CBI, namely 'English-medium courses in which the content and language goals are intentionally aligned and where there is explicit focus on developing language skills as well as increasing language knowledge' (12)
- Brinton Snow
Snow and Brinton (2017) refer to the 'strong' version of EMI as a hybrid model of CBI, namely 'English-medium
courses in which the content and language goals are intentionally aligned and where there is explicit focus on
developing language skills as well as increasing language knowledge' (12). In our review of the CBI models in
European HE, and following the terminological distinctions outlined in Smith and Dafouz (2012), this version
of EMI corresponds to ICLHE.
Tandem Teaching in CLIL for Tertiary Education
- J M Cots
- M Clemente
Cots, J. M., and M. Clemente. 2011. "Tandem Teaching in CLIL for Tertiary Education." In Aprendre en un altra llengua,
edited by C. Escobar, and L. Nussbaum, 165-184. Bellaterra, Spain: Servei de Publicacions de la Universitat
Autónoma de Barcelona.
English-medium Instruction in Multilingual University Settings: An Opportunity for Developing Language Awareness
- E Dafouz
Dafouz, E. 2018. "English-medium Instruction in Multilingual University Settings: An Opportunity for Developing
Language Awareness." In The Routledge Handbook of Language Awareness, edited by P. Garret, and J. M. Cots,
170-185. London: Routledge.