In this paper we explore language learning in relation to motivation. The correlation between teachers' didactic choices and their relation with the learners is crucial to create motivation. When we did our research of how these things correlated, we mainly focused on the effects that CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) and CBI (Content Based Instruction) had on motivation among learners. We used the database ERIC and searched for articles relating to CLIL, CBI, ESL (English as a Second Language) and motivation. We discovered that CLIL and CBI are teaching methods that allow the teacher to find subjects that are interesting to the students and use these to build motivation among the learners. Motivation grows by interactions and an understanding about the subject. We found a wide range of research that supported the approach of implementing CLIL and CBI in language learning. As a result of our findings we propose greater consideration in Swedish schools regarding the use of CLIL and CBI.

In South Africa learners do not achieve as well as their international counterparts on tests of literacy, and language proficiency is often blamed for their poor academic performance. In this study, the relationship between English language proficiency, reading ability and the academic performance of Grade 7 students in submersion contexts was investigated using quantitative methods. The participants of the study were Grade 7 students based in a former Model C school in the South African city of Johannesburg. Their English language proficiency and reading ability were measured by means of The Proficiency test English Second Language: Intermediate level and the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability tests respectively. The students’ performance on these tests was correlated with the students’ average summative assessment results using the Pearson-product moment correlation. Results showed that both English language proficiency and reading ability were significantly correlated with academic performance, with language proficiency having the most robust correlation. These findings indicate that teachers should aim at improving language proficiency by using multilingual teaching strategies that support home language as a cognitive tool. / English Studies / M.A. (TESOL)

The thesis focuses on the topic of language and content integration in ELT in a broad sense, i.e. it discusses not only CLIL but also other models of content-based teaching, viz. ESP (English for Specific Purposes), EAP (English for Academic Purposes), and EMI (English-medium Instruction). In the theoretical part of the thesis, these models are described as regards their history, typical features, teachers, learners, as well as benefits and negatives. The empirical part of the thesis explores the current practice of language and content integration at Czech general secondary schools ("grammar schools"). The research is based on case studies of five teachers who teach various courses belonging to this category. The preliminary research investigated what courses are currently being offered at grammar schools in Prague; they are mostly elective courses. Our research findings suggest that language and content integration in the form of elective courses is a rather common practice, although often unconscious. Teachers tend to act on the basis of their intuition rather than their knowledge of theory and practice of language and content integration. Generally, it seems that more emphasis is put on content than language in these lessons. Content-based English lessons may be beneficial for learners for...

Previous studies have shown that teachers and students using English as the medium of instruction (EMI) in science classrooms encounter many language challenges with teaching and learning processes. Problems include the limited English communication skills of science teachers, the lack of EMI training for science teachers, the students' different language abilities and science teachers' beliefs that they are not responsible for addressing students' language needs in science. Teachers' lack of language awareness has led to poor teaching practices and limited interactions in the classrooms. This lack of language awareness, in turn, suggests that there are limited opportunities for students to learn English as a second language in the science classroom. This study extends the research on EMI classroom interactions in Hong Kong (Lo and Macaro, 2012) to the previously unexamined context of senior secondary science classrooms. A total of 19 teachers and 545 students from grades 10 and 11 EMI science class were recruited in Hong Kong from 'early-full EMI' schools (full EMI instruction from grades 7 to 12) and 'late-partial EMI' schools (Chinese medium from grades 7 to 9 and partial EMI instruction from grades 10 to 12). The project used multiple sources of qualitative data (i.e. semi-structured interviews and 33 videotaped classroom observations) to explore the similarities and differences in classroom interactions during the first and second years of the senior science curriculum (grades 10 and 11) in the two types of EMI schools. This project also investigated these science teachers' and students' perceptions of EMI teaching and learning processes, their preference of instructional language and their beliefs about teaching and learning in the EMI environment. Interviews also probed teachers' language awareness, teachers' and students' belief about EMI, students' self-concepts in science (students' perceptions or beliefs about their ability to do well in science, see Wilkins, 2004)) and their perceptions of language challenges and coping strategies in EMI classrooms. The results from the observational data show similar interactional patterns in both early-full and late-partial EMI science classrooms when measured as percentages of interaction time, distribution of time between teacher and student talk and frequency of pedagogical functions. However, the nature of the interactions is different. In late-partial EMI schools, overall, there are more (but shorter) student initiations and responses, more use of higher-order questions from the teachers but less direct feedback to students. Both teachers and students tend to use their L1 more. In both types of schools, there was less interaction time and a lower maximum length of student turns and more L1 use in grade 11 than in grade 10. The discourse analysis of the four biology lesson transcripts also shows that both early-full and late-partial EMI students predominantly produced incomplete sentences consisting of short, technical nouns or noun phrases referring to scientific items. Science teachers rarely made any attempts to correct their students' language mistakes, nor did they encourage students to produce a complete sentence. This lack of teacher feedback on students' L2 language production perhaps reflects the fact that EMI science teachers rarely provide comprehensible input to facilitate students' L2 language learning. These findings suggest the important role of the teacher's modified input in teacher-student interaction in developing students' content knowledge and language skills. The adoption of EMI appears to lead to the development of students' comprehension of content knowledge more than development of their language production skills. As a result of their language shortfalls, the students' L2 productive skills remain under-developed despite English instruction. This lack of language support by teachers appears to indicate a gap between the aims of the EMI policy and its implementation. The interview and questionnaire data show that the science teachers from both the early-full and late-partial EMI schools held many of the same views about their EMI teaching experiences, but they differed in their attitudes towards the value of English language skills and their language awareness. The early-full EMI teachers believed English language skills were important and these early-full teachers have a higher language awareness than the late-partial EMI science teachers. Students from both types of schools also held similar views about their EMI learning, indicating that they welcome the adoption of EMI instruction. However, while the late-partial EMI students see EMI as an opportunity to improve their English, those in the early-full EMI schools believe that EMI discouraged them from learning. By providing an evidence-based, pedagogically focused analysis of teacher and student classroom interactions and their perceptions, this research sheds light on ways to improve the quality of instructional practices in different EMI classrooms in Hong Kong and in similar contexts around the world.

In South Africa learners do not achieve as well as their international counterparts on tests of literacy, and language proficiency is often blamed for their poor academic performance. In this study, the relationship between English language proficiency, reading ability and the academic performance of Grade 7 students in submersion contexts was investigated using quantitative methods. The participants of the study were Grade 7 students based in a former Model C school in the South African city of Johannesburg. Their English language proficiency and reading ability were measured by means of The Proficiency test English Second Language: Intermediate level and the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability tests respectively. The students’ performance on these tests was correlated with the students’ average summative assessment results using the Pearson-product moment correlation. Results showed that both English language proficiency and reading ability were significantly correlated with academic performance, with language proficiency having the most robust correlation. These findings indicate that teachers should aim at improving language proficiency by using multilingual teaching strategies that support home language as a cognitive tool. / English Studies / M. A. (TESOL)

La tesis analiza un corpus de 74 cederrones dedicados a la enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera fechados mayoritariamente entre los años 1997 y 2007 con los siguientes objetivos: a) determinar el panorama de este tipo de soporte a partir de sus características intrínsecas, de acuerdo con las teorías de las adquisición de segundas lenguas y, especialmente, las de enseñanza de lenguas asistida por ordenador. b) establecer el eventual rendimiento de esos materiales didácticos concretos en ese soporte en el proceso de enseñanza / aprendizaje del ELE a partir de sus características intrínsecas. c) diseñar, en relación con lo anterior, unos instrumentos de análisis didáctico y también de valoración. d) finalmente, subordinado a los resultados del análisis, proponer una serie de recomendaciones didácticas (y en menor medida técnicas) para el diseño, implantación y uso de estos materiales en este u otros soportes análogos.

Deutschlandweit nehmen die Schulen zahlenmäßig von Jahr zu Jahr zu, die ein bilinguales Angebot z.B. als Zweig oder als Modul in ihr Unterrichtsprogramm aufnehmen. Die meisten Angebote sind in englischer Sprache, aber auch andere – vor allem europäische Sprachen – spielen eine Rolle. Mittlerweile gibt es bilinguale Angebote in fast allen Fächern, wobei die gesellschaftswissenschaftlichen Fächer wie z.B. Geschichte und Geographie nach wie vor dominieren. Überraschenderweise spielt das Fach Darstellendes Spiel in der Diskussion um potenziell geeignete bilinguale Fächer weder in der Theorie noch in der Praxis eine nennenswerte Rolle. Mit der Wahl dieses Themas für die vorliegende Dissertationsschrift wird der bilinguale Sachfachunterricht Darstellendes Spiel erstmals in das Blickfeld der Forschung gerückt. Damit werden sowohl dem Sachfach als auch dem bilingualen Unterricht neue Perspektiven eröffnet. In der vorliegenden Dissertation wird folgenden übergeordneten Fragestellungen nachgegangen: Wie kann das bilinguale Sachfach Darstellendes Spiel für die Sekundarstufen I und II der allgemeinbildenden Schulen konzipiert werden? Worin liegt das besondere Potenzial des bilingualen Sachfachunterrichts Darstellendes Spiel? Welches sind seine spezifischen Merkmale? Dabei soll aufgezeigt werden, wo und in welchem Maße der Einsatz der Fremdsprache die sachfachliche Arbeit positiv oder negativ beeinflusst bzw. welche Auswirkungen der Unterricht im Sachfach auf den Fremdsprachenerwerb hat. Zur Beantwortung dieser Fragen wurde eine Auswahl existierender Ansätze zum szenischen Spiel im Fremdsprachunterricht unter Einbeziehung allgemeiner Überlegungen zur Funktion von Theaterspiel analysiert und zu den Besonderheiten des bilingualen Sachfachunterrichts in Beziehung gesetzt. Das auf dieser Basis erstellte Konzept wird in seinen vielfältigen Potenzialen analysiert und ausgelotet und mit Hilfe eines Praxisbeispiels in englischer Sprache veranschaulicht. / The number of schools in Germany which offer to teach one or more subjects in a foreign language (content and language integrated learning = CLIL) is still growing. The subjects often chosen for this type of instruction are Geography and History. Other subjects are less frequently taught in a foreign language. The courses vary in length (a number of school years or only some weeks). Drama is very rarely chosen as a CLIL-subject, and there are hardly any reports of successful teaching of or scientific literature about CLIL Drama. This thesis puts CLIL Drama for the first time in the centre of scientific research, thus opening new prospects for Drama and CLIL. The main questions this thesis attempts to answer are the following: What could a concept for CLIL Drama look like for pupils at state schools aged between 13 and 18? How can the potential value added of CLIL Drama be described? What are its key features? This thesis also points to the advantages and disadvantages of CLIL Drama. In the search for an answer to the above questions the author has analysed existing approaches to teaching a foreign language (mainly English, but also German and French) with the help of drama, including the current German discussion about bilingual teaching at state schools. Furthermore, the author presents an alternative look into what theatre is about in this context. On the basis of the results of her research the author draws up a broad concept for CLIL Drama at German secondary schools. The thesis concludes with an illustration of a CLIL Drama project (in English) launched among 14-year-olds at a German gymnasium.

The theme of this dissertation thesis is the relation of bilingual education and educational projects aimed at European issues. The research part was conducted at bilingual upper secondary schools in the Czech Republic, Germany and Great Britain (Wales). In the thesis the themes such as European politics, intercultural dialogue, international peace, human rights, humanitarian aid and language education are primarily included into European issues. The empirical research was deliberately realized at bilingual schools, where the instruction is delivered throught the medium of two languages. With regard to this fact a frequent participation at educational projects with European focus (European projects) was anticipated at these schools. European projects are often interconnected with the laguage studies. In recent years education projects have been an important part of the curriculum in Czech, German and British environment and they play a vital role in education context. The projects enrich the bilingual instruction from both methodical and content perspective and enable launching cooperation between schools and other partner institutions. Bilingual education has lately been supported by international educational strategies aimed at cultural biodiversity and multilingualism. In European Union The...