Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

The original discussion of Translanguaging as a pedagogical practice by Williams and Baker included modalities of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. As it has been developed as a theoretical concept, Translanguaging embraces the multimodal social semiotic view that linguistic signs are part of a wider repertoire of modal resources that sign makers have at their disposal and that carry particular socio-historical and political associations (Kress 2015). It foregrounds the different ways language users employ, create, and interpret different kinds of signs to communicate across contexts and participants and perform their different subjectivities. In particular, Translanguaging highlights the ways in which language users make use of the tensions and conflicts among different signs, because of the socio-historical associations the signs carry with them, in a cycle of resemiotization and transformation. In a similar effort, Angel Lin builds on Halliday’s notion of ‘trans-semiotic’ (2013) and develops the term ‘trans-semiotizing’ to highlight the tension-filled yet seamless flow of entanglement of multiple meaning making resources (Lin 2019). Hawkins (2018) proposes the notion of ‘transmodalities’, linked to critical cosmopolitanism, to embrace the processes of semiosis across place, space, and time that transcend the local, to become translocal and transnational, indexing the diversity of actors engaged in new configurations of communicative engagements in a globalized, technologized world.  The present issue gathers together a range of studies based in a variety of sociolinguistic, economic-political and educational contexts.

Acquisition of intensifying constructions in
English by French-speaking CLIL and non-CLIL learners

In this contribution I will present the research domain, objectives and methodology of a new interdisciplinary project on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in French speaking Belgium. CLIL is a didactic method in which school subjects are taught in a different target language than the mainstream school language. In particular my PhD research aims to gain insight in the acquisition of Dutch and English intensifying constructions by French-speaking CLIL and non-CLIL secondary school pupils. From a usage-based point of view, second language acquisition is presumed to be more complex than L1 acquisition because of the competition between the specific constructions of the foreign language with the L1 constructions (Tomasello 2003 ; Ellis & Cadierno 2009: 112). In Dutch and English adjectives and adverbs can be intensified through adverbial modification (heel goed /very good) and through prefixes (hypergevoelig / hypersensitive) and adjectival compounds (ijskoud /icecold). However in English adjectival compounds are less productive than in Dutch and in French they do not seem to exist at all. Thus, it can be assumed that French-speaking learners of Dutch and English will underuse the specific Germanic intensifying construction (adjectival compounds) and, inversely, overuse adverbial and prefixal modification by “constructional transfer” (Hiligsmann 1997). Since CLIL programs provide more second language input than non-CLIL programs and can be considered closer to L1 acquisition because of their inherent usage-based approach, we can expect a better acquisition of foreign intensifying constructions by CLIL pupils (Ellis & Cadierno 2009).  This will be tested carrying out a study during the 5th and 6th grade of different secondary schools in French-speaking Belgium providing CLIL or non-CLIL education in Dutch and/or English. The analysis will be based on a corpus of videotaped and transcribed spoken interactions, perception and production tests and collected written productions by pupils involved in Dutch and English CLIL programs and non-CLIL contexts (control groups). (308 words)

References
Ellis, N. & Cadierno, T. (2009). Constructing a Second Language. Introduction to the Special Section. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics 7, 111-139.

Hiligsmann, Ph. (1997). Linguïstische aspecten en pedagogische implicaties van de tussentaal van Franstalige M.O.-leerders van het Nederlands, Liège, Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres de l'Université de Liège, Genève: Droz.

Tomasello, M (2003) Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition, Harvard University Press.

Although Pǔtōnghuà is the national tongue of China, there were relatively few Pǔtōnghuà-speakers in Hong Kong in 1997 when the metropolis became under China's sovereignty again. To address this issue, the Hong Kong Government promulgated the Pǔtōnghuà curriculum in 1997 and made Pǔtōnghuà respectively a mandatory subject from primary-1 (grade 1) to secondary-3 (grade 9), and an elective subject after secondary-3. This paper provides the sociolinguistic context where the curriculum is implemented and reports the findings of a comparative study of Pǔtōnghuà abilities of two groups of participants respectively with and without exposure to the curriculum in their Pǔtōnghuà learning experience. The findings indicate that the curriculum appears to benefit the former group: the overall Pǔtōnghuà proficiency of these participants is significantly better than their counterparts whose Pǔtōnghuà learning precedes the implementation of the curriculum. Specifically, the former group of participants' grip on grammar, oral narration, conversational speaking and pīnyīn is much stronger, and their grip of the five specific Pǔtōnghuà skills appears to be more even. Additionally, participants with the following traits tend to do better in the Pǔtōnghuà tests of the study, viz. experience of Pǔtōnghuà-medium instruction, stronger Chinese-mainland backgrounds and better performance in the pīnyīn test.

Junge Flüchtlinge in Studiengänge zu integrieren überlastet aktuell vorhandene Kapazitäten der Hochschulen. Ihre stark heterogenen Beratungsbedarfe erfordern ganzheitliche Bildungsangebote, die neben Sachwissen auch Studienkompetenzen und sprachliches Handlungsvermögen umfassen. Sofern entsprechende Didaktik online skaliert, können Flüchtlinge deutschlandweit produktive Lerngruppen formen. Ein Onlinekurs zum Erwerb von Studienfähigkeiten, dessen Curriculum neben Bildungssystem und Studienalltag explizit auf Leistungsprofile und Sprachkompetenzen abstellt, wurde mit 1.200 Teilnehmern pilotiert. Das entwickelte didaktische Modell kombiniert selbstgesteuertes, fallbasiertes Lernen (problem-based learning), Elemente konnektivistischer Pädagogik (peer-learning) und immersive DaF-Methoden (content- and language-integrated learning).

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is bilingual education whereby students do not only study a second language, in addition to their native tongue, but learn a school subject in that foreign language. This study is based on the teaching of chemistry in English to Grade 9 students in the Republic of Bulgaria. Correlation exists between the performance of students in chemistry taught in English with their performance in English in Grade 8 and Grade 9. There is also a correlation between their performance and gender and regarding the second language chosen. In fact, students who opted for Russian and Spanish fared better than those who opted for German and French. More laboratory experiments at school, lessons incorporating interesting games, and stimulating interactive projects were recommended by students as useful tools to improve their scientific literacy.

Lorenzo-Galés, N (2020) "The Educational System in Catalonia. What school do I want for my children?". Barcelona Activa, Ajuntament de Barcelona. Presentation done by Neus Lorenzo at "Barcelona Expat Week", October 19/10/2020, for Barcelona Activa (Ajuntament de Barcelona). Practical information for people who arrive and want to settle in Barcelona, with children, and have a decision-making to be done on education, training and lifelong learning itineraries. More information at: https://barcelonaexpatweek.copernic.tech/en/landing/expatweek

CLIL settings involve teaching a content subject through a second or foreign language (L2), integrating both
language and content. However, this general description ignores classroom scenarios which include the use of the mother tongue (L1). The language choice may affect both methodological practices, namely classroom situations that favour the use of the L1, and also assessment instruments. Nowadays, scholars admit on
the relevance of the L1 in CLIL and legislation gradually adapts to these indications. We have conducted a pilot
study among primary school teachers in the autonomous region of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, in order to check how these issues are tackled at school. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to establish a comparison between the main views expressed by stakeholders
involved in CLIL. The study presents a review of recent trends and studies in CLIL research that take into account the role of the L1 in methodology and in
assessment, and it shows how recent policy changes in our region have adapted to research. Opinions held by in-service teachers reveal the need for clear policy
guidelines, which must necessarily be close to classroom practice.

RESUMEN:
La enseñanza AICLE implica impartir una DNL (Disciplina No Lingüística) a través de una segunda lengua o lengua extranjera (L2), integrando lengua y contenido. Sin
embargo, esta descripción general ignora los contextos docentes donde se emplea la lengua materna (L1). La elección de la lengua puede tener consecuencias tanto en la metodología, en situaciones de aula que
favorezcan el uso de la L1, como en los instrumentos de evaluación. Actualmente, los investigadores admiten la importancia de la L1 en AICLE y la legislación sigue
gradualmente sus indicaciones. Se ha llevado a cabo un estudio piloto entre maestros de Educación Primaria en la comunidad autónoma de Castilla-La Mancha, España, con el fin de comprobar cómo se abordan estos temas/retos en la escuela. El objetivo del presente estudio es comparar los principales puntos de vista de
los agentes implicados en AICLE. El estudio presenta una revisión bibliográfica de las tendencias y estudios recientes sobre AICLE y muestra cómo los últimos
cambios legislativos en nuestra región se han adaptado a la investigación. Las opiniones expresadas por maestros en activo revelan la necesidad de indicaciones
más claras en la legislación, que debe acercarse a la práctica docente.

In peer-to-peer content distribution the lack of a central authority makes authentication difficult. Without authentication, adversary nodes can spoof identity and falsify messages in the overlay. This enables malicious nodes to launch man-in-the-middle or denial-of-service attacks. In this paper, we present a trust based content distribution for peer-to-peer overlay networks, which is built on the trust management scheme. The main concept is, before sending or accepting the traffic, the trust of the peer must be validated. Based on the success of data delivery and searching time, we calculate the trust index of a node. Then the aggregated trust index of the peers whose value is below the threshold value is considered as distrusted and the corresponding traffic is blocked. By simulation results we show that our proposed scheme achieves increased success ratio with reduced delay and drop.

Over the last 15 years European Higher Education institutions have adapted to the requirements of the European Commission as regards academic degrees. Some of the key premises derived from the Bologna declaration (1999) include the promotion of employability and students' mobility as well as multilingualism at universities. More recently, the European commission language policies have established the Common European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR), making language level certification a compulsory requirement at the end of a degree. Although never declared the lingua franca among the EU member states, English has become the preferable foreign language chosen among EU universities to communicate internationally; therefore a minimum level of the English language is currently required before the end of a degree in most Spanish universities. To do so, most Spanish universities have opted to offer some of their degree subjects in English, so that students get familiar with specific subject content in English, thus implementing a Content Language Integrated Learning teaching model (CLIL). This paper presents a practical teaching example of a subject from the Humanities discipline taught in English and the challenges the content language teacher has to face in the classroom in order to follow the European commission language requirements for Higher Education

Università eCampus – Facoltà di Lettere
Insegnare la lingua, insegnare in lingua
Giornata di studi sulla didattica dell'italiano come L2 e sulla metodologia CLIL
in occasione della presentazione dei master Didattica dell’italiano lingua seconda
e Nuova didattica per le lingue: multimodale, flipped learning e CLIL
Novedrate (CO), 14 settembre 2016