Teaching Young Learners in Bilingual Settings

Bilingual education, or CLIL, at primary school varies greatly across European educational contexts. Teaching Young Learners in Bilingual Settings reports on a study that explored one such CLIL context in Dortmund, Germany. Through interviews and classroom observations, the researcher and author sought not only to document some of what takes place in CLIL classrooms but to describe and understand teachers' thoughts and beliefs about their CLIL teaching practices. This research contributes to a better understanding of primary school CLIL programs and teachers and is relevant for researchers working in the fields of foreign language education, bilingual education, and language teacher cognition research. Furthermore, the insights into CLIL teachers' thinking can support CLIL teachers, administrators, and policy makers as they seek to further develop CLIL pedagogy and programs.

Paul Berge ist Grundschullehrer in Dortmund. Er promovierte an der Universität Trier.

1 Introduction 1.1 Background and rationale 1.1.1 Historical and theoretical foundations of CLIL 1.1.2 Research results on CLIL outcomes in Germany 1.1.3 The CLIL context of the present study: Dortmund International Primary Schools (DIPS) 1.1.4 Researching teachers' cognitions 1.1.5 Research results on CLIL teachers' cognitions 1.2 Purpose of the study 1.3 Eliciting teachers' cognitions related to CLIL practices 1.4 Outline of chapters 2 CLIL and its Foundations in Theories of Second Language Acquisition 2.1 CLIL and Immersion: Foundations and principles 2.1.1 Immersion 2.1.2 Content and Language Integrated Learning 2.1.3 CLIL goals 2.2 Theories of second language acquisition 2.2.1 Usage-based theories: Input, output, and interaction 2.2.2 Sociocultural theory: Mediation, zone of proximal development, and collaborative dialogue 2.2.3 Complex systems approach: Affordances, co-adaptation, and learner agency 2.3 Summary 3 Early Foreign Language Learning at Primary Level 3.1 Principles of foreign language instruction at primary school 3.1.1 Authenticity 3.1.2 English as the language of instruction 3.1.3 Multisensory Learning 3.1.4 Play-based Learning 3.1.5 Visualization 3.1.6 Prioritizing listening and speaking 3.1.7 Differentiation and individualization 3.1.8 Theme-oriented teaching 3.2 CLIL at primary school in Germany 3.2.1 Age and foreign language learning 3.2.2 Organization 3.2.3 Subjects 3.2.4 Curricula: English and Science 3.2.5 Teacher requirements and competences 3.2.6 Classroom interaction 3.2.7 L1 and L2 use 3.2.8 Motivation 3.3 Summary 4 Teacher Cognition 4.1 History of the study of teacher cognition 4.2 Goals of teacher cognition studies 4.3 Terminology and constructs of teacher cognition 4.4 CLIL teachers' cognitions 4.4.1 Teacher types 4.4.2 CLIL teachers' goals 4.4.3 Teachers' approaches 4.5 Summary 5 Methods and Research Design 5.1 Aims and research questions 5.2 Methods 5.2.1 Collecting and analyzing verbal data 5.2.2 Semi-structured interviews 5.2.3 Classroom observations 5.2.4 Qualitative content analysis 5.3 Research design 5.3.1 Research context: Dortmund International Primary Schools 5.3.2 Research participants 5.3.3 Data gathering procedures 5.3.4 Data analysis procedures 5.4 Research quality 5.4.1 Validity 5.4.2 Reliability 5.5 Summary 6 Results 6.1 Research question 1: What cognitions do teachers hold about teaching and learning in primary school CLIL? 6.1.1 Cognitions about the role of content, L1, and L2 6.1.2 Cognitions about young learner SLA in CLIL 6.1.3 Cognitions about choosing CLIL topics and activities 6.1.4 Cognitions about teacher competences and demands 6.1.5 Cognitions about student characteristics 6.1.6 Summary 6.2 Research question 2: What language-related educational goals do teachers work toward? 6.2.1 Foreign language learning goals 6.2.2 General pedagogic goals that support language learning 6.2.3 Summary 6.3 Research question 3: What approaches do teachers believe are best for achieving these goals? 6.3.1 Focus on input 6.3.2 Know the students 6.3.3 Scaffolding 6.3.4 Motivate students 6.3.5 Student choice of language 6.3.6 Teach language explicitly 6.3.7 Plan for more time 6.3.8 Build links to other subjects 6.3.9 Summary 7 Discussion 7.1 Teachers' cognitions about teaching and learning in primary school CLIL 7.2 Teachers' cognitions about language-related educational goals in CLIL 7.3 Teachers' cognitions about approaches most effective for achieving CLIL goals 7.4 Influence of the DIPS program design on teachers' cognitions 7.5 Summary 8 Conclusion 8.1 Limitations 8.2 Implications 8.3 Further re