Interculturality in English Language Teaching – A Small Study with Portuguese Teachers

UNESCO and many other organisations worldwide have been working on approaches in education to develop tolerance, respect for cultural diversity, and intercultural dialogue. Particularly, the Council of Europe has laid out guiding principles in several documents to promote intercultural competence, following Byram’s and Zarate’s efforts in integrating this important component in language education. The commitment to developing the notion of intercultural competence has been so influential that many countries, e.g., Portugal, have established the intercultural domain as a goal in the foreign language curricula. However, this commitment has been questioned by researchers worldwide who consider that action is needed to effectively promote intercultural competence. The research coordinated by Sercu, for example, suggests that, although foreign language teachers are willing to comply with an intercultural dimension, their profile is more compatible with that of a traditional foreign language teacher, rather than with a foreign language teacher, who promotes intercultural communicative competence. In this study, I propose to examine teachers’ perceptions and beliefs about intercultural communicative competence in a cluster of schools in Portugal and compare these findings with Sercu’s study. Despite a twelve-year gap, the present study draws similar conclusions.

Implementing CLIL in Schools: The Case of the GoCLIL Project in Portugal

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), an educational approach in which an additional language is used to teach school subjects, has become increasingly widespread within state schools across Europe since the acronym was coined in the mid-nineties. This now includes Portugal where CLIL activity across educational levels has been growing in recent years. Like other national contexts in Europe, this has also been through the grassroots initiatives of individual schools keen to influence positive change in educational practices and reap the benefits which CLIL is purported to bring about. One such case is the GoCLIL project at Escola Secundária Dr. Joaquim Gomes Ferreira Alves in Valadares, Vila Nova de Gaia, which has been operating a CLIL programme through English since the academic year 2013-2014. This article outlines fundamentals of implementing CLIL in schools and provides an overview of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of the case. It uses data collected from questionnaires administered to teachers, pupils and parents, lesson observations, pupil focus groups, and teacher reflections obtained during the ongoing monitoring process led by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto. The data contribute to the rich description of the project from which it has been possible to identify and compare findings across years, as well as factors which have contributed to its sustainability. Insights gained from this case study will be interesting and potentially useful for schools which are considering setting up a project of this kind.

What Students Tell Teachers about Practices that Integrate Subjects with English in a Lower Secondary School in Portugal

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is an approach thought to provide, mainly during Content (non-language, subject) classes, a meaningful environment at school for the use and learning of a foreign language (FL), and may also improve conditions and practices of the specific subject. Moreover, CLIL can represent a research context to gauge the importance of language-aware teaching as is the case with the Portuguese “English Plus” project (EP), in which History and Science are taught/ learnt with/in English at lower secondary school. Our doctoral research is designed as a descriptive-explanatory case study on the EP project and its participants (English and Science teachers, former and current students). More specifically, this work focuses on students and shows their relationship with the EP approach and (dis)advantages in learning a subject with a FL. Data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire and interview, with subsequent content analysis. The importance of “integrated learning” and of diverse strategies used by the teacher to support/scaffold learning is present in students’ perspectives which may further influence teaching practices

Digital Competence and CLIL: The Use of WebQuests in Bilingual Education

This paper discusses the use of WebQuests as an activity to combine competencybased learning and digitalization in a CLIL context through social tasks. In the 21st century, people need to use the knowledge they acquire in multiple scenarios. Thus, the educational system must provide learning contexts where students develop competences so that they are able to apply the knowledge they need in a culturally heterogeneous world. Integrated learning advocates the use of social tasks in bilingual scenarios. In order to solve a problem or explore an issue while creating a specific learning product, students connect different types of knowledge and thus acquire a more contextualized perspective of learning as a socially relevant activity. This kind of learning can be perceived as a bridge between the students’ educational context and daily lives. The digitalization of education is crucial for understanding how society advances and works as many of the jobs that appear in the future will require digital literacy. In this paper, an example of a WebQuest in a CLIL class in Spain is presented as a model for competency-based learning and digitalization through a social task.

New Technologies, Multiple Literacies and Teaching English as a Foreign Language

This article presents and briefly discusses the results from a survey conducted with English teachers of the third cycle and secondary education in Portugal as part of a study on multiple literacies and Web 2.0 in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom (Cardoso). Based on the answers provided, it can be assumed that among this group of teachers, new technologies tend to be part of their professional practice. However, it is unclear if digital tools have been used to actually promote more innovative ways of teaching or just as a different way to approach more traditional methods. Moreover, it seems that suitable guidance, training and further development of appropriate materials are required to facilitate and better integrate new technologies in the EFL classroom.

English Medium-Instruction as a Way to Internationalization of Higher Education in Kazakhstan: An Opinion Survey in the Innovative University of Eurasia

This article presents the results of a survey conducted in the Innovative University of Eurasia (InEU) about the necessity of implementing English as a medium of instruction (EMI) at the baccalaureate and master’s degree levels. It describes the findings obtained through semi open-ended questionnaires and interviews with two focus groups: InEU administration members and faculty representatives. The data collected suggest a rather positive general attitude of the respondents of both groups to English-medium instruction at the university, a special emphasis being made on the global status of English and internationalization of education. However, the majority of respondents raised concern about the impact of English-medium teaching on the quality of subject learning since it depends on an English proficiency level of both students and teachers and their motivation to study/teach in English. The survey data also indicate other important issues connected with teaching-in-English implementation at the university, such as finance, the pace of implementation, preparedness of students and teachers, support structures and incentives.

Developing Learners’ Intercultural Understanding through a CLIL Approach

Language and culture are interconnected and teaching a language should also be concerned with offering learners a wide range of opportunities to gain insights into other cultures. Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) approaches have an invaluable contribution to make towards developing learners’ intercultural understanding (ICU), by making the content culturally relevant to the language of instruction. Within this paradigm, this paper presents the findings of an action-based research project seeking to develop ICU among secondary learners of French in England, through the teaching of a series of lessons following a CLIL approach. Stemming from its findings, it is proposed here that a renewed understanding of CLIL be defined, in which CLIL would stand for Content and Language Intercultural Learning. Within this framework, the content would be conceptualised through the lens of culture, to offer learners opportunities to compare and contrast experiences and viewpoints, to develop their cultural knowledge, as well as their intercultural skills and attitudes – by means of exposure, independent exploration and collaborative work. The language, still driven by the content, would encompass both the language of learning, and the language required through the learning processes - and would be language that is both accessible and cognitively challenging. Learning would occur through cognitively demanding content that is real, relevant and engaging, yet accessible to all.

Focus on Form in Content-Based Instruction: in Primary School Arts and Crafts CLIL

Despite their alleged dual focus on content and language learning, CLIL classes are, more often than not, focused on meaning transmission and comprehension and promote an incidental approach to language learning. Yet, empirical evidence from second language acquisition research points out that a mere focus on meaning is not enough for learners to reach proficiency in the target language and some awareness of the linguistic form is necessary for language learning to occur. In order to foster simultaneous subject matter and foreign language learning, CLIL practitioners need to create opportunities for learners to notice the language of the content while performing content-related activities and tasks. We propose a series of pedagogical strategies to achieve this awareness of the form in the context of the CLIL class, drawing on empirical evidence from language learning research and our own experience as CLIL teachers and teacher trainers.

CLIL4CHILDREN: Teaching Materials for CLIL Lessons in Maths, Geography and Science for Primary School

This article describes the didactic principles underlying the creation of a ready-made fifteen lesson plan package for primary CLIL (for Maths, Geography and Science) for pupils aged 5 to 12, developed through the collaboration of an international group of English and primary teachers, teacher educators, researchers and teaching materials developers across four European countries in the framework of the CLIL for Children (C4C) project (2015-2018) on educating teachers for CLIL teaching environments. These principles are presented in the framework of a brief state-of-the art discussion on the lack of ready-made teaching materials for CLIL, their importance for teacher development and quality teaching and learning in CLIL classrooms, and criteria they should conform to. The article proceeds by summarising the findings of two C4C surveys, one on best CLIL teaching practice through national reports of four European countries (Italy, Portugal, Poland and Romania) and the other on Open Educational Resources (OER) available for CLIL Maths, Science and Geography, as well as by drawing on C4C Guidelines. The article then demonstrates these principles in practice through a module of a three lesson plan sequence for CLIL Science on the topic “The World of Plants” by showing how language (vocabulary or content-specific terminology and language functions), specific communication skills, content and culture are integrated and developed through a child-centred, holistic (Brooks and Brooks), constructivist approach. Digital technologies are included as everyday learning processes for access to knowledge and playfulness in learning. Methodologies for active, experiential, discovery, problem solving and cooperative learning are foregrounded. The article further highlights how teacher cooperation and teacher identities (English and primary education teachers) as individuals with multilingual repertoires, expectations, and expertise are crucial for producing quality CLIL materials and resources.

(Net)Working CLIL in Portugal

Recent growth in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) across educational levels in Portugal has positioned it in European Commission reports (Eurydice 2012; 2017) and attracted much needed attention to the educational practice which warrants further in-depth exploration in order to better understand it and ensure quality provision in the country. This article explores the concept of CLIL at work in Portugal and highlights its brief trajectory to date as well as the challenges and opportunities it presents teacher educators and researchers. It provides an overview of the recently established Working CLIL research strand of TEALS (Teacher Education and Applied Language Studies) which is actively engaged in connecting CLIL communities in Portugal and beyond.