CLIL in Norway

1. CLIL in Norway Førsteamanuensis Glenn Ole Hellekjær Institutt for lærerutdanning og skoleutvikling Universitetet i Oslo

2. Overview of talk • Immersion and CLIL- what are they? • CLIL in Norway • Some research results • How to start up and teach

3. What is CLIL? • CLIL – is an umbrella term describing the teaching of non language subjects – such as History, Geography or Physics – in a foreign language, with both language learning and content learning as goals. • Bilingual instruction • Extended language learning • Content based language instruction • TCFL- teaching content in a foreign language • FLAC- foreign languages across the curriculum • Foreign language/English medium instruction

4. Immersion • At least 50% of the curriculum is taught through the foreign language • Total and partial immersion • Early, delayed, and late immersion Genesee, 1987, p.21

5. Immersion goals • Additive immersion - majority language students - bilingualism as goal • Submersion - subtractive immersion - language minority - assimilation and monolingualism as goal • Maintenance/heritage language programs- Sami in Kautokeino • Colin Baker (2001) Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, chapter 9.

6. Principles of organization theme-based courses: • “modules”, FL or subject-matter teachers sheltered-instruction: • a subject matter course, separate class, • subject matter teacher adjunct-instruction: • linked subject-matter and language courses • used for language development/enhancement • successful for French/German CLIL classes • See LK06 syllabus - opens for cooperation between language and content subjects

7. CLIL in Norway • 1993 - the first 4 classes, History, Religion, Tourism, Cooking theory • Requirements: • volunteer pupils, • standard Norwegian curricula • 30% of instruction minimum • exams in target language preferred (SUE aims to provide English exam papers!) • included in school diplomas • Uneven development in the late 90s • New guidelines needed, old are still in force

8. CLIL/Immersion in Norway • International Baccalaureate classes • Eurydice survey - January 2005 • 15 to 20 upper secondary schools (4-5%) • Single subject, sheltered CLIL classes in History, Physics, Religion • Largely the result of initiatives from schools, teachers, counties • Vulnerable to reductions in student numbers, difficulties in getting teachers

9. Is CLIL worth it? • The Acid Test:Does Upper Secondary EFL Instruction Effectively Prepare Norwegian Students for the Reading of English Textbooks at Colleges and Universities? • I examine the role of upper secondary English as a Foreign Language instruction in preparing for higher education

10. Exploratory and descriptive study Combination of surveys and reading tests Self assessment items as indicators of reading proficiency The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Quantitative analysis 217 senior upper secondary level students from 7 schools (IELTS test) 578 students from the faculties of Education, Social Science, and Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo (self-assessment) 53 students from Østfold University College, the University of Bergen, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (IELTS and self-assessment) Method and samples

11. The upper secondary school sample • 217 students from 7 upper secondary schools (General Studies branch) • 178 students had EFL instruction only, 25% Foundation Course, 17% 3 or 5 lessons in second year, 56% Advanced English Course • 39 students had a single CLIL subject Modern History or Physics taught in English • Tested with the IELTS Academic Reading Module (24 out of 38 points required)

12. RESULTS The EFL sub-sample Band 6 level

13. Reading problems persist in higher education - 35% of students have problems • Study experience does not correlate with reading proficiency • Grades and interest for English have positive correlations • Extracurricular reading also correlates positively- avid readers have an initial advantage that keeps growing • The Advanced English Course - no consistent correlation with IELTS scores to be found --> too little reading

14. The CLIL sub-sample Band 6

15. CLIL students quickly learn to read for overall meaning, to tolerate uncertainty and vagueness • Better able to adjust reading strategy to reading purpose • Able to guess/deduce word meaning from context--> expanding their vocabulary in the process • The same is the case for proficient readers in higher education, and for extracurricular readers

16. What about Norwegian? • Norwegian teachers often feel threatened by CLIL • Canadian and Swedish studies show little or no negative impact on L1 proficiency • Canada - an initial slowdown in L1 development in early immersion • Sweden - a marginal increase in errors in L1 writing, often interference errors, spelling, word division etc.

17. Starting up with CLIL ORGANIZING • Information to parents, pupils, colleagues • Long preparation time, start early • Important to find good textbooks, consult schools with CLIL programs • My experience --> initial skepticism - recruit from several classes, later you can use “survivors” for recruiting • Continuous need for comforting-troubleshooting

18. Teaching CLIL is more than just teaching through a foreign language Language constrains both teachers and pupils Necessary to maximize redundancy, in particular through good visual aids Do not expect them to be able to take notes during instruction

19. Student FL proficiency generally inadequate generally insufficient, BICS not CALP, disguises proficiency gap Swain and Richardsen 1997 Bridge the FL proficiency gap Conceptually new X Linguist-ically new Linguistically familiar x Conceptually familiar

20. Teaching • Go slow to start with • Standardized lessons, glossaries • Pre-reading • Study skills/ reading skills necessary- read for meaning • Group work as follow up • Tests - let them choose language, encourage use of FL but do not insist, particularly in writing • Prepare/drill for examinations • my experience with a History examination DRAMATIC LANGUAGE LEARNING GAINS and FUN TEACHING!

21. Resources • “Easy Does It: Introducing Pupils to Bilingual Instruction” • http://zif.spz.tu-darmstadt.de/jg-04-2/beitrag/hellek1.htm • ALPME- contacts, references, literature • http://www.upf.es/dtf/alpme/ • www.fremmedspraksenteret.no