Greek Applied Linguistics Association 14th International Conference Advances in Research on Language Acquisition and Teaching 14-16 December 2007 Capsis Hotel, Thessaloniki Greece

Current trends in L2 vocabulary learning and instruction. Is CLIL the right approach?

Maria Xanthou University of Cyprus

Introduction      Educational aims of European Union  exposure to L2 increasing Teaching subject matter through the medium of a second or a foreign language  Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL).

Common European Framework: participating in courses in other curriculum subjects which employ L2 as a medium of instruction’ (Council of Europe, 2001: 2). Commission of European Communities (2003) - Action Plan 2004-2006: pupils need to be able to ‘study at least some of their curriculum through the medium of a foreign language’ (p.11).

This study examines the impact of CLIL on L2 vocabulary knowledge.

Implementing CLIL

  

Canada’s immersion education from the 1970’s (Harley et al, 1990) United States



al, 2004).

transition Last two decades



(Schleppegrell et

gaining prominence



(Chapple and Curtis, 2000) Wide applicability



the last 15 years (Hong Kong, Australia, Indonesia, Argentina, Europe)

CLIL in Europe

  CLIL approach  a fast expanding phenomenon in Europe as in the rest of the world (Van de Craen & Mondt, 2007). The Eurydice survey reveals that ‘the initiatives in the field of CLIL have increased in recent years’ (European Commission, 2005: 55 p.55)

Studies revealing foreign language gains

    Stoller (2004)  improved language abilities and content-area knowledge gains Short (1994)  retention of vocabulary and content concepts Gramkow (2001: 13)  more investigations into the effects of CLIL teaching are needed.

Wesche (1993: 74)  need for carrying out more longitudinal studies

L2 vocabulary development

  Vocabulary development is central to language acquisition (Zimmerman,1997) An effective approach: deep vocabulary learning, activating prior knowledge, learning vocabulary in context, active processing, recalling new words, being provided multiple exposures to new vocabulary allowing incremental vocabulary learning  CLIL satisfies these learning conditions

Vocabulary knowledge

Concept Lemma Mental Lexicon Lexical pointers Morpho phonological form

A view of the structure of the mental lexicon, illustrating a lexical entry (Radford et al, 1999: 233)

lemma meaning morphology syntax form lexeme The lexical entry in the mental lexicon (Jiang, 2002: 619)

 

Word pairs and lists, and the ‘Depth of processing hypothesis’

The majority of synonymous in terms of cultural or grammatical aspects.

word pairs are not wholly Depth of processing hypothesis: deep mental processing, elaborate thought and manipulation of new word (Craig and Tulvig, 1975)

Activating prior knowledge

  New words need to be incorporated into language that is already known (Schmitt and Schmitt, 1995, Stahl, 1983, Stoller and Grabe, 1993, and Martin et al, 2002) The formation of a rich network of interwoven associations around old established words seems to enable their recall.

Learning vocabulary in context

    Context = ‘morphological, syntactic, and discourse information in a given text 1988: 102) ’ ( Nation and Coady, When learning a language  Consider all systems of language –discourse, semantics, phonology, pragmatics (Rutherford, 1987, Nation, 2001) Comprehension of discourse meaningful connections between vocabulary and the contexts in which it is found  when students make Integrating content and language (CLIL) is rooted on learning new vocabulary in the environment of meaningful context.

Learning vocabulary in context

   Research in this area  exposure to meaningful language enhances vocabulary knowledge.

Coady (1997: 275-276)  synthesis of research: exposure to meaningful language enhances vocabulary knowledge CLIL methodology provides content-based language environments where contexts demonstrate the pragmatic value of target words

Active processing

  Research review on vocabulary learning by Mezynski (1983: 273) identified active processing as an important factor associated with effective vocabulary CLIL  provides opportunities for being involved actively with target L2 words.

Recalling the new word

 Vocabulary programmes should allow opportunities to the learner to recall a new word (Schmitt and Schmitt, 1995: 135)

     

Repeated exposures to target vocabulary

Providing several exposures to new words enables knowledge of the words to grow. A single exposure : not enough for learning a new word. Nation (1990)  learners need to be involved in 5-16 repetitions in order to learn a new word. Herman et al (1987)  the probability of learning a word from context after a single exposure is only .05. Repeated encounters with target words can expand word meanings and illustrate new associations with that word. Rott (1999) examined the effect of exposure frequency on intermediate learners’ incidental vocabulary acquisition: six exposures produced significantly more vocabulary knowledge than two or four exposure frequencies. A content-based approach provides recurring exposure to new vocabulary  Robinson (2005): explored CLIL teaching frequent repetition of the key vocabulary

Repeated exposures allow incremental vocabulary learning

 The meanings of a word can develop and expand while dealing with meaning making (Schmitt, 2000).

Noun phrase

Repeated exposures Linguistic frameworks

Verb phrase Adjective phrase (new informati on) Noun phrase

A buggy is a very, very simple vehicle it ’s a very, very simple moving object so it ’s going to be a very, very simple moving four wheeled object or vehicle Providing meaning using a linguistic framework (Robinson, 2005: 442)

Learning L2 vocabulary in CLIL classrooms

 CLIL: opportunities to activate background knowledge, learn vocabulary in context, process actively the new words, recall target words, and be offered multiple exposures to the new vocabulary.

The study Research methodology

    Experimental pretest – posttest research Quantitative data Observation of video-taped lessons Qualitative data

Hypothesis

The CLIL group was expected to have significant gains in L2 vocabulary knowledge, outperforming their counterparts a) who were not involved in CLIL b) who were not involved in CLIL but were exposed to the word list method

Experiment

   

The subjects involved in the experiment were sixty 11 year old – level 3 EFL learners attending public primary schools.

NonCLIL: G1



CLIL: G2



O1



P1



X content L1



X content L2



O2 (21) P2 (24) NonCLIL+Word Lists: G3



R1



word lists



R2 (15)

Figure 1

Results

There were no sig. differences between the three groups on vocabulary knowledge at the outset of the study ANOVA

GVocPre Between Groups Within Groups Total df 2 57 59 Mean Square 35,499 88,407 F ,402 Sig.

,671 CLIL - Non CLIL: t-test : ,685  no sign. difference CLIL – Word List: t-test : ,635 (<,05) 

no sign. dif .

Pre test – post test performance of the experimental group’s L2 vocabulary knowledge (CLIL) Sig.difference (,000) Pair 1 GVocPre

Paired Samples Statistics

GVocPost Mean 8,0833 33,5833 N 24 24 Std. Deviation 11,50016 20,92828

Paired Samples Test

Paired Differences GVocPre - GVocPost Mean -25,50000 Std. Deviation 11,33674 t -11,019 Sig. (2-tailed) ,000

Pre test – post test performance of the control group’s L2 vocabulary knowledge (NonCLIL) Sig.difference (,008) Pair 1 GVocPre

Paired Samples Statistics

GVocPost Mean 6,9524 7,8571 N 21 21 Std. Deviation 5,67870 5,71214

Paired Samples Test

Paired Differences Pair 1 GVocPre - GVocPost Mean -,90476 Std. Deviation 1,41084 t -2,939 df 20 Sig. (2-tailed) ,008

Pre test – post test performance of the Word List group’s L2 vocabulary knowledge Sig.difference (,000) Pair 1

Paired Samples Statistics

GVocPre GVocPost Mean 9,8000 18,4667 N 15 15 Std. Deviation 9,82853 15,36167

Paired Samples Test

Paired Differences Pair 1 GVocPre - GVocPost Mean -8,66667 Std. Deviation 7,28665 t -4,606 Sig. (2-tailed) ,000

Post tests demonstrated sig. differences between the three groups

ANOVA

GVocPost Between Groups Within Groups Total df 2 57 59 Mean Square 3760,731 246,143 F 15,279 Sig.

,000 CLIL - Non CLIL: t-test :,000  sign. difference CLIL – Word List: t-test :,014 (<,05)  sign. diff.

Observation data – Analysis of video taped lessons

CLIL provides opportunities for    1. Activating prior knowledge forests they know. e.g. Subjects talked about the Amazon forests comparing them with 2. Learning vocabulary in context mammals’.

e.g. They learned the words: ‘flora and fauna’ together with the words ‘species, plants, jungle, birds, reptiles, amphibians, 3.Active processing of new vocabulary words.

e.g. They looked at maps and searched reading texts to find information about topics and then had to decide whether some statements were true or false, or fill in missing

The Amazon basin – Amazonia

True or False?

Handout, p.3

       The Amazon is the second in length river of the world It starts from Andes (Perou) to the Pacific Ocean The biggest part of the Amazon basin is covered by plains.

The Amazon is navigable (πλωτός) Big boats can travel There are many plants because of the heavy rainfall. The jungle of Amazon is one of the most important biotopes in the world It is easy to walk and see all the jungle    √ X X √    √ √ X 

The role of the Amazon in the life of the

Flora

and country

Fauna

Handout, p.4

(

Xλωρίδα

και

πανίδα

)



Flora

(SWA 56) http://www.tourist4tourist.c

om/blog/wp content/brazil_amazonia_r ain_forest.jpg

 Look at the map. What kind of flora is there in the Amazon?

http://www.br

azadv.com/br azil_tours/flor a.asp

    Unscramble the words: rtoipacl froetss …………………………………..

Tropical forests

Amazonia: 55,000 species of plants

Observation data – Analysis of video taped lessons

 4. Recalling new words e.g. through memory games related to content comprehension and language focus activities

   

Lets play football!

1. In Brazil, it is ………… with high temperatures and rainfalls.

hot



2. The climate in Brazil is ……..



tropical

       a) Guessing game - Pictionary: Look at the drawing. What is it? (A place where plants and animals grow) biotope b) I spy a word beginning with f….

Flora d) afnua = fauna e) r------l

Observation data – Analysis of video taped lessons

 5. Repeated exposures to the target words e.g. During 2 minutes the teacher said the target word ‘tropical’ 7 times (lesson 2)  Using linguistic frameworks e.g. Plantation is a big field. It’s a very big field. It’s a very big cultivated field (cotton, tobacco) (lesson 3)

  

Pedagogical Implications

1.Impact of CLIL in content and L2 vocabulary development. 2.CLIL provides increased opportunities for exposing learners to L2 vocabulary knowledge in meaningful situations - (Celce-Murcia and Olshtein, 2000). 3.Attaching words to their surroundings increases the likelihood of comprehension and retention (Schmitt and Schmitt, 1995: 133).

  

Limitations

a) Variables such as habits, student motivation and personal exposure to other language learning environments were not controlled b) Small sample  triangulations space and time c) The post-tests examined subjects’ immediate performance. A delayed test could have examined whether learning is retained or atrophied over time. Re testing participants  long-term benefits of CLIL.

Directions for further research

    a) CLIL in subjects other than Geography  safeguard the generalisability of findings. b) Examine the CLIL group’s productive vocabulary knowledge and not only receptive.

c) Explore the optimal conditions of CLIL programs and the kind of instructional strategies being used (Crandall, 1993:119) d) Consider assessment of content-based language instruction -reliable instrument

 

Conclusion

Results provide evidence that CLIL has beneficial effects on L2 vocabulary learning. Kaufman (2001: 313) acquisition.

 the symbiosis of foreign language and content seems to be promising in enhancing foreign language

        

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