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Evaluating Course Books Within A CLIL Approach

The document discusses evaluating course books within a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) approach. It provides reasons why teachers should evaluate course books, outlines what CLIL is and how it may be implemented in course books. The document suggests ways for teachers to evaluate if a course book is suitable for adoption, including considering the context, learners' needs, and the teaching approach. It provides questions teachers can ask about how content and language are integrated in potential course books to determine if they appropriately support CLIL.

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Klára Bicanová
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76 views25 pages

Evaluating Course Books Within A CLIL Approach

The document discusses evaluating course books within a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) approach. It provides reasons why teachers should evaluate course books, outlines what CLIL is and how it may be implemented in course books. The document suggests ways for teachers to evaluate if a course book is suitable for adoption, including considering the context, learners' needs, and the teaching approach. It provides questions teachers can ask about how content and language are integrated in potential course books to determine if they appropriately support CLIL.

Uploaded by

Klára Bicanová
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Evaluating Course books within a

CLIL Approach

BY: Dario Luis Banegas


the university of warwick

Presented BY Fahimeh Najafi and Sahar Zare


Introduction:
Course books are developed through a complex
circuit

The role of teachers in in this circuit is paramount
 Teachers adopt and adapt
 Teachers are critical and active agents and not robots following a
teacher’s guide
 They need to evaluate course books according to their

context, learner's need, and the approach which they seek to


explore

Author's aim
 In this chapter I focus on evaluating language and content in
course books following CLIL (content and language
Integrated Learning)
 1-provide reasons why teachers should evaluate course books
 2-offer outline of CLIL and how it maybe found in course

books
 3-suggests ways in which teachers can decide is a course

book worth adopting


Teachers as course book evaluators
 teachers’ empowerment vs disempowerment

 Mc Gath(2013, p.105) notes that "course books are normally


an investment, in more ways than one
When the course book choice is not in the hand of teachers
 They can still evaluate them to enrich them with context-
responsive teacher- made materials
 Or taking the course book as an exercise
Teachers who are not in a position to make decision can/cannot be
asked to evaluate with/without guidance
 How should a book be evaluated?
 Supported views
 Personal feelings

How can we find a course book that is perfect?
CLIL and course books
 It’s an approach in which learners develop foreign language
learning together with content
 According to Cenzo(2013) CLIL could be conceptualized as an

educational approach or a language teaching approach


 And it could be adopted through two macro models:
 Content -driven
 Language -driven
Geographies of CLIL
 The socio cultural settings where it is implemented and
recourse available
 In Europe it is becoming content-driven
What is content-driven CLIL?
 Teaching of a subject for example History or Science, through a language ,
for example English in Spain
 In this model the focus is on learning the subject matter or curriculum
content and another language at the same time
 Learners learn for example , and the specific genre , grammar , and lexis,
to talk about different Science contents
 Activities and resources scaffold both content and language
 How is assessment?
 Non-language teachers proficient in the target language
 Is CLIL innovative or original?


Language-driven CLIL
 Incorporation of curricular content into the ELT lessons
 Lessons are in teachers’ hands and they may seek support

from their non-language colleagues


 The aim is to learn language and content together
 Materials , activities, assessment prioritize language over

content
Content: how should it be?
 first: it should be curriculum related
 Secondly: the content which is curricular related, needs to

provide a cognitive challenge and be original


 Should provide authenticity of purpose
 Should encourage involvement, discovery, and awareness

Language: how should it be?
 Language should be presented through all skills
 Should help learners not only expand their content-specific

vocabulary but also the language needed to talk about the


content and solve the different tasks proposed by the teacher
 Language triptych
 1-lg of learning
 2-lg for learning
 3-lg through learning
CLIL in course books
 Guidelines for developing CLIL materials
 A)cohesion
 B) stability
 C)flexibility
 D)responsiveness connected to the curriculum
 E)contextualized sources of input and activities
 F)cognitive-rich and language-rich text
 G)inclusion of authentic sources and tasks
Argentina :language-driven in state school and
content-driven in private bilingual schools
 How CLIL is presented in general English course books
 1-little correlation between content and school curricula in 1l
 2-oversimplification of contents
 3-dominance of reading skills development
 Online survey and online data from a multi-case
study ,Morton(2013)investigated teachers’ use of CLIL materials in 4
European country
 1-Teachers did not tend to use materials designed for native speakers
 2-Teachers adapted authentic materials in line with their teaching aims
 3-Teachers developed their own materials from
 4-Teachers were concerned with appropriateness of materials in terms
ofcontent,language, and context
Both authors suggest that the market can
not cater for all teachers 'need and context
 we can find CLIL books mainly produced for the European
country
 CLIL as a language learning approach , is still at an embryonic

stage
What to look for?
Evaluating CLIL course books
Teachers can choose
1-Course books written in English as a the l1 for the students in
English speaking countries
2-general English language learning course books
3-specially written CLIL course books, which have a European
audience in mind
Coursebook written in English as the L1

 USE a-level study guides for geography, history, and literature to expand on a reading text in an ELT
course book.
 Consider learners' motivation, needs, development and etc. and the curriculum which is expected
to be responded.
 There is no need to follow it strictly as if it were a script.
 According to Tomlinson(2008) we should not treat linguistically low level learners as intellectually
low level learners.
The author asks himself these questions:

 Does the coursebook contain contents and ideologies which are similar to
my own curriculum?
 To what extent is it UK-driven?
 Is it easy to purchase and affordable?
 Is the language accessible?
 Is the book content-rich and language-rich?
 Does it encourage lower- as well as higher-order thinking skills?
 Are texts broken down into manageable units?
 Does it contain summaries?
 Does it contain graphics and useful visual support scaffold learning?
 Does it include a companion website with free access activities?
 Does it come with activities, boxes with key words, or a glossary?
 if there are activities, does it include answer key for self study or peer
correction and reflection?
 Does it flexibility in terms of content organization?
General English language learning course books

 The author is critical with ELT for a number of reasons:


 1. He is a teacher
 2. Course book writers are ELT experts or knowledgeable of

our field
 3. Coursebook still dominate the ELT scene.
 As teacher we need to look for general English coursebooks

where CLIL is systematic and responsibly included rather than


CLIL as a watered down alternative.
General English coursebooks with a CLIL
component:
 What target audience does it does the book aim at?
 Is CLIL included as a regular or add-on component?
 Is a given curricular content the core of unit?
 Is the content relevant and cognitively challenging?
 Is the content related to my school curriculum?
 Is content presented through different oral, audiovisual, and
written format?
 Is the language accessible and scaffolding?
 Are there activities which integrate content and language through
activities which focus on vocabulary, syntax, and discourse?
 Are there activities to promote language of/for/through learning?
CLIL coursebooks:

 Although CLIL coursebooks are relatively new and tend to be European-focused, teachers may wish
to consider this option because the coursebook approach and rationale are (or should be) based on
CLIL research and theoretical underpinnings.
 The activities must take learners from lower to higher-order thinking skills and that the content
should be complex enough in order to ensure cognitive development and motivation.
 The coursebook should aim at providing learners with language of/for/through learning and
features of subject-specific discourse through awareness raising and explicit notes.
some guiding questions to help teachers decide
whether they wish to adapt a CLIL coursebooks:
 Does the coursebook contents reflect my curriculum and learners’
interests as well as needs?
 Is there variety in terms of sources of input and activities?
 Is the language too easy or too difficult?
 Are there authentic texts or modified texts?
 Is the content too easy or too difficult?
 Are contents related and sequenced?
 Is the coursebooks internally coherent and cohesive?
 Is it flexible? Can I skip parts?
Conclusion:
 It is essential that learners and their context are assessed
against coursebooks and our CLIL aspirations.
 The coursebooks needs to be taken as a tool, not a coreset.
 Evaluating a coursebook is not an easy task because our decision

will have an impact on our teaching and learning practices.


 coursebook evaluation is a process that starts before we teach a

course and continues even after we finish with the course.


 Evaluating coursebooks within a CLIL approach should be seen

as a professional development opportunity to be carried out


collaboratively.
THANK YOU DEAR READERS

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