Even though the implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and its results have been researched extensively, fewer works have focused on the effect of contextual factors (CF) ...on teachers’ beliefs and on which ones are perceived as constraints. Furthermore, no research has explored how training might change those beliefs and help to adjust or modify some of the negative effects that CF exert on teaching practices. This qualitative study explores six in-service CLIL secondary teachers’ beliefs about CF and the effect a training course had on them. Results confirmed CF are perceived as constraints to the successful implementation of CLIL, and training appears to have a positive effect in shaping negative teachers’ beliefs and attitudes into more favourable ones. This, in turn, may help teachers to cope with the unfavourable teaching situations that CF may provoke on a daily basis. Since CF still seem to hinder CLIL success, considering teachers’ beliefs about them in CLIL teacher training programmes may contribute largely to teachers’ effectiveness.
This article provides an updated account of the evolution of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), from an initial period of CLIL craze to one of CLIL critique to, at present, what could ...be considered a CLIL conundrum. The controversies which currently affect this approach are documented on three main fronts (characterization, implementation, and research), illustrating how the so-called pendulum effect is at work in all of them. The concomitant challenges posed by these controversies are identified and specific ways to redress them are provided via concrete research-based proposals stemming from two governmentally-funded research projects. The ultimate aim is to identify the chief hurdles which need to be tackled within the CLIL arena in the very near future and to signpost possible ways of superseding them in order to continue advancing smoothly into the next decade of CLIL development.
El objetivo de la presente investigación fue la validación de un cuestionario de Evaluación de Sesiones de Educación Física a través de AICLE (CESEFA). Se trata de uno de los primeros instrumentos ...para la evaluación de AICLE en sesiones de Educación Física cuyo diseño cuantitativo de carácter descriptivo se ha basado en los hallazgos más recientes de la literatura científica. Se llevó a cabo una evaluación por expertos para la confirmación y redacción de los ítems seleccionados con una concordancia entre ellos del ,73 en el índice Kappa. Para su validación se utilizó una muestra de 146 (V=87 y M=59) docentes de Educación Física, un análisis exploratorio y un análisis factorial confirmatorio que apoyó la estructura factorial de tres dimensiones del instrumento. El cuestionario tiene una validez aparente y un buen nivel de consistencia permitiendo su extrapolación a otros contextos. Además, puede ser una buena herramienta para la guía y autoevaluación del profesorado de Educación Física bilingüe que utiliza AICLE en sus clases.
Whilst researchers agree that the integration of content and language goals is the operative principle behind any successful CLIL programme, there is an ongoing debate over how we can best ...conceptualise this integration for practical use. A promising way of integrating content and language goals in CLIL teaching is foregrounding the subject/pluriliteracies skills relevant to the respective CLIL subjects, and using them as a guide to offer targeted language support and multimodal scaffolding measures. Yet the content teachers typically involved in CLIL programmes in Austria are seldom trained in subject literacy education or foreign language teaching methodology, which makes the task of translating a content and language integrated model into CLIL practice especially demanding. This becomes even more challenging at Austrian technical colleges, where CLIL programmes typically focus on highly specialised technical content subjects in which cognitive demand is high in terms of both content and language. To support teachers at technical colleges in implementing an integrated CLIL model, this project aims at developing a CLIL lesson planning tool that operationalises subject literacy for the context of technical colleges. Following a design-based research (DBR) approach, the tool is designed in collaboration with two novice CLIL teachers and tested in their respective subjects recycling technology and control engineering. Both the process and the outcome of this project offer new insights into CLIL lesson planning and vocational CLIL in general. The lesson planning tool itself holds the potential to improve CLIL practice in the often-neglected context of vocational CLIL, thus bridging the gap between theory and practice.
Despite the unanimous endorsement of the Content and Language Integrated Learning in mainstream education, the bilingual programme is not free from challenges. Hence, the main objective of the study ...was to examine the primary school teachers’ perceptions of the dual-focused approach to detect the major limitations and determine if there were potential differences within each cohort of teachers. Data were obtained from a questionnaire sent to all bilingual primary schools in Andalusia (Spain). For the purpose of the present study qualitative data were analysed using the software NVivo. The results of the study revealed that teachers’ needs have not been addressed sufficiently as they expressed deep concern over the scarcity of teacher training schemes, insufficient time for coordination, inappropriate design of the materials, little or no support provided to them and increased workload. Furthermore, with regards to the within-cohort comparisons, content teachers seem to be in greatest need of more assistance and training initiatives. These outcomes merit further attention and should feature on the agenda of educational policymakers as not addressing these issues properly might threaten the viability of the bilingual project.
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