Bilingualism and CLIL in Education: Key Concepts
Additive vs. Subtractive Bilingualism
In additive bilingualism, the first language continues to be developed, and the first culture continues to be valued while the second language is added. On the contrary, in subtractive bilingualism, the second language is added at the expense of the first language and culture, which diminish as a consequence.
Fostering Additive Bilingualism in Education
We, as teachers, should do all we can to demonstrate to all students that their cultures and languages are equally as valid and valued as the dominant culture and language. We should provide conditions to use both languages in contexts in which the abilities to be transferred are relevant. Teachers and departments should explore every possibility to incorporate the different cultural backgrounds of our students into their daily teaching and curricular activities. Students should be encouraged to continue their native language development. When parents ask about the best ways they can help their child at home, you can answer that the child should have the opportunity to read extensively in their own language. You could suggest that parents make some time every evening to discuss with their child, in their native language, what they have done in school that day.
What is CLIL?
CLIL is a dual-focused educational approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language, with the objective of promoting both content and language mastery to pre-defined levels. CLIL allows youngsters to use another language naturally, in such a way that they soon forget about the language and only focus on the learning topic.
Main Characteristics of CLIL Methodology
- CLIL can be successful in enhancing the learning of the target language and other subjects.
- CLIL can offer youngsters a natural situation for language development which builds on other forms of learning.
- CLIL offers children the opportunity to use the target language actively, as a tool for real-life communication.
- In CLIL, students learn by doing.
- CLIL emphasizes group work when doing problem-solving tasks in class.
Key Features of CLIL
- Multiple focus
- Safe and enriching environment
- Authenticity
- Active learning
- Scaffolding
- Cooperation
What is Scaffolding in Education?
Scaffolding is a support given during the learning process which is tailored to the needs of the student with the intention of helping the student achieve their learning goals. It is a temporary supporting structure that students use to achieve learning outcomes. Scaffolding is used to access, improve, and add to current knowledge.
Benefits of Scaffolding
- Helps students to access previously acquired learning
- Helps students to process new information
- Helps students to create new relational links
- Makes students feel more emotionally secure
- Motivates students
- Provides students with building blocks needed to do complex work (language or background knowledge)
Scaffolding Techniques
- Comprehensible input
- Brainstorming
- Providing language immediately, as it is needed
- Using synonyms or definitions in parentheses in the original text
- Placing notes in margins
- Shortening sentences
- Using pictures and realia
- Reducing the number of tasks given at one time
- Highlighting the most important text in a passage
- Having students develop their own definitions for terms
- Having students sum up a text by writing headlines
- Giving clues and asking follow-up questions
Anchoring to Previous Knowledge
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Anchoring new learning to previous knowledge is essential because it helps students connect new information to what they already know, making it easier to understand and retain. Teachers can facilitate this by:
- Reviewing relevant concepts before introducing new material.
- Using analogies and metaphors to relate new concepts to familiar ones.
- Encouraging students to share their prior experiences and knowledge related to the topic.
- Activating prior knowledge through pre-reading activities, discussions, or brainstorming sessions.
What are Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)?
The acronym HOTS stands for Higher Order Thinking Skills. Students should be able to manipulate information or ideas. With the help of “higher order” questions, teachers encourage students to:
- Manipulate information and ideas
- Combine facts and ideas to synthesize, generalize, explain, hypothesize, or arrive at some conclusion or interpretation
- Solve problems and discover new (for them) meanings and understandings
- Become producers of knowledge
The teacher’s instructional task is to create activities or environments that allow students opportunities to engage in higher-order thinking.
Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS)
- Students receive or recite factual information or employ rules through repetitive routines.
- Students are given pre-specified knowledge.
- Instructional process: to transmit knowledge or to practice procedural routines.
Promoting HOTS in the Classroom
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Teachers can promote HOTS by:
- Asking open-ended questions that require analysis, evaluation, and creation.
- Designing activities that involve problem-solving, decision-making, and critical thinking.
- Encouraging students to justify their answers and explain their reasoning.
- Providing opportunities for students to work collaboratively and learn from each other.
- Using real-world examples and scenarios to make learning relevant and meaningful.