Teacher language awareness in content-based activity design

Abstract

With extensive numbers of English learners in public schools worldwide, content-based language instruction (CBI) is prevalent in the preparation of second language (L2) teaching professionals. This study investigated how aspects of Teacher Language Awareness (TLA) manifest as pre-service L2 teachers develop lesson plans for CBI contexts. The authors examined the interplay between three factors: the participants’ perceived utility of their teacher preparation coursework, the participants’ ability to identify language demands in a content-area text, and the types of pedagogical activities participants suggested for subsequent CBI lessons. Descriptive and qualitative data were obtained by combining a survey with a constructed lesson-planning task. Findings yielded paradoxical results pertaining to participants’ perceptions of language-focused coursework and their ability to apply TLA during CBI lesson plan development.

Teacher language awareness and scaffolded interaction in CLIL science classrooms

“…TLA is potentially significant in influencing how language is instructed, organised, and learnt in the ESL/EFL classrooms. Studies show that it is equally relevant to CLIL teachers (Andrews & Lin, 2018;García, 2009;Lindahl, Baecher & Tomas, 2013). As such, however, there remains a paucity of empirical study in CLIL contexts on how to enhance the TLA of content subject teachers and thereby improve their pedagogical practices.…”

What's on the “LO” Menu? Supporting Academic Language Objective Development

“…Content-compatible terms from this same lesson might be "independent," "compromise," or "exploration," terms that are still academic in nature and apply to the social studies context but Downloaded by [Stony Brook University] at 15:20 14 October 2014 can be found in other contexts as well. Distinguishing between these two bodies of words is important, because most teachers tend to focus on content-obligatory terms when identifying language demands and composing language objectives (Lindahl, Baecher, and Tomaš 2013;Regalla 2012). However, knowledge of contentcompatible vocabulary may be more useful to ELLs in the long term, because these words are used more frequently across content areas and academic contexts (Coxhead 2011).…”