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- Volume 8, Issue 2, 2020
Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education - Volume 8, Issue 2, 2020
Volume 8, Issue 2, 2020
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Building in language support in a Hong Kong CLIL chemistry classroom
Author(s): Michael Kai-yip Tsangpp.: 149–172 (24)More LessAbstractScience writing has played a crucial part in science assessments. This paper reports a study in an area that has received little research attention – how science lessons in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) can increase the science knowledge development of English as a foreign language (EFL) students in Hong Kong. The data come from a school-based interventional study in chemistry classrooms, with written data from questionnaires, assessments and teachers’ logs and verbal data from interviews and classroom observations. The effectiveness of the CLIL teaching and learning activities in various chemistry classrooms were compared and evaluated, with a discussion of some implications. The paper concludes that CLIL teaching and learning activities yielded positive learning outcomes among chemistry learners with low English ability.
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Effects of input on L2 writing in English and Dutch
Author(s): Luk Van Mensel, Amélie Bulon, Isa Hendrikx, Fanny Meunier and Kristel Van Goethempp.: 173–199 (27)More LessAbstractThis study aims to explore the impact of formal and informal input on learners’ variability in writing, and to compare two target-language conditions (Dutch and English) in CLIL and non-CLIL settings in French-speaking Belgium. A regression model shows that CLIL is a significant predictor of L2 outcomes for both target languages, but that the relative impact of formal and informal input differs depending on the target language. In short, the amount of formal language exposure predicts the outcomes of the written productions of the learners of English, and the frequency of informal exposure those of the learners of Dutch. We argue that this observation is likely related to the difference in status that each of these languages holds among the pupils in our sample. The findings thus highlight the importance of the L2 status in research on CLIL, since different L2s can yield different results.
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A focus on language in the immersion language arts curriculum
Author(s): Blair Bateman, Michael Child and Eliane Berlendis Buenopp.: 200–229 (30)More LessAbstractGrounded in research on explicit and implicit knowledge and on the role of conscious awareness in language learning, this interpretive case study examined the efforts of one Portuguese teacher to implement a focus on language within a language arts curriculum based on literary genres with a class of fourth grade (9-year-old) students over the course of an academic year. The study found that lessons on authentic literary texts provided a meaningful context for calling students’ attention to nominal and verbal agreement patterns in Portuguese. By the end of the year, students’ nominal and verbal agreement had improved dramatically on a written test, but only their nominal agreement had improved significantly in an unstructured interview, although they had begun to use a greater variety of verb forms. Students were also able to correct many of their own errors and to use metalinguistic terminology to explain the language patterns involved.
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Repeated readings and Chinese immersion students’ reading fluency, comprehension and character recognition
Author(s): Ellen Knell and Shin Chi Fame Kaopp.: 230–256 (27)More LessAbstractAlthough reading fluency instruction has been identified as an important literacy focus for English proficient students, little research has examined its role in foreign language settings, and it has not been studied in Chinese immersion education. The current research compared two seventh grade Chinese immersion classes. One class did repeated timed readings in student pairs, while the other class spent more time on comprehension activities. Both groups increased their correct Chinese characters per minute rates over the treatment period, but the repeated readings group outperformed the other group on reading fluency, character recognition, and reading comprehension measures. In addition, the students who engaged in repeated readings were better able to generalize reading fluency gains to new, but related, reading materials; they also reported more confidence and enjoyment when reading Chinese. Suggestions for integrating peer reading fluency procedures into language arts instruction are proposed.
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EMI lecturers’ practices in correcting English
Author(s): Guzman Mancho-Barés and Marta Aguilar-Pérezpp.: 257–284 (28)More LessAbstractResearch on English-medium instruction (EMI) has pointed to lecturers’ refusal to teach or correct English. This study seeks empirical evidence to investigate the extent to which content lecturers’ assessment practices align with their expressed beliefs regarding language teaching. Drawing on three types of data – a questionnaire, interviews and students’ exams – we aimed at finding and exploring EMI lecturers’ written corrective feedback (WCF) as part of language assessment practices. Findings suggest that while EMI content lecturers repeatedly express their refusal to teach English, their actual teaching practices show evidence of some provision of language-related feedback. These findings are discussed against university language education policy. A gate opener lecturer profile is identified whose corrective feedback creates opportunities for correctly using disciplinary English.
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Review of Macaro (2018): English Medium Instruction
Author(s): Patrick Studerpp.: 285–288 (4)More LessThis article reviews English Medium Instruction
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Review of Ó Duibhir (2018): Immersion Education. Lessons from a Minority Language Context
Author(s): Muiris Ó Laoirepp.: 289–291 (3)More LessThis article reviews Immersion Education. Lessons from a Minority Language Context
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