Primary Teachers’ Practices of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in Taiwan

Abstract

The purpose of the present study aims to explore teachers’ actual practices of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and provide detailed discussions on the 4C (cognition culture content communication culture) framework Through literature review researchers have shown that different emphasis in teaching result from different teacher aims Since there are still many researchers and practitioners who are not sure what CLIL is or how it could be included in their curricula It will be difficult for CLIL teachers to implement CLIL lessons if their understanding of CLIL is limited This study aims to collect and demonstrate possible features of CLIL implementation based on a thorough examination under the rationale of 4C framework Moreover interviews were employed to examine the collected data To achieve the purpose three classes of different disciplines in the CLIL program of a primary school were observed for eight weeks Moreover interviews were employed to examine the collected data The major findings of the study are listed as follows 1)CLIL teachers are not familiar with the 4Cs framework (Coyle 2007); therefore they encountered some difficulties in implementing CLIL 2)Teachers still focus a lot on linguistic features than communicative competence in language teaching Nevertheless interactive activities are much more than in traditional classrooms 3)As CLIL’s aim is to use English to teach content an effective way to make students learn content and language relied on the activity design Especially involving classroom English and transdisciplinary knowledge are a satisfactory idea The paper presents teachers’ focus on language and content learning and its implementation in real teaching condition Moreover the study provides difficulties in curriculum design and teaching condition for reference It also provides relevant background knowledge for future teachers and researchers to better comprehend CLIL implementation

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English
Supervisor	Wen-Li Tsou (Supervisor)