Investigating Scaffolding Opportunities

in ICL Higher Education Classes

Nashwa Nashaat / Monika Wozniak Institute of Modern Languages (USJ)

2015

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SCAFFOLDING

COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT

AIM

Highlight presence/absence of scaffolding strategies for

comprehensible input

in the practice of Content HE teachers in a Spanish ICL context.

3 Nashwa Nashaat - Institute of Modern

Languages (USJ)

OUTLINE

1. The structure that governs content & language teacher collaboration.

2. Teacher profiles & excerpts from classroom recordings done prior to a conducted TT course (Some findings )

3. Some conceptual /theoretical underpinnings of the TT course

4. Screenshots of sample activities from the TT course

5. Towards a scaffolding framework for comprehensible input.

6. Observed outcomes (mini-teaching) 4

Objective: - Ss would become competent users of English (B2-C1 in

all language skills needed in their discipline) - Quality teaching and learning

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Content & Language teacher collaboration

TEACHERS OF ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

CONTENT TEACHERS

MANAGEMENT

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Content & Language teacher collaboration

Content teachers: • have a minimum B2 level on CEFR scale • are assigned to an ESP teacher for CLIL support

(methodological + linguistic) • are encouraged to attend CLIL training sessions (recently

structured) • are encouraged to have classroom observations

Students need to DECODE content embedded knowledge in academic text (discuss - co-construct - evaluate…)

INTRODUCE SUBJECT-SPECIFIC VOCABULARY ACT as MEDIATORS by moving between BICS and CALP (explaining, recasting - reformulating) to simplify target content and make input comprehensible. USE CLASSROOM DISCOURSE as a SUPPORTING STRATEGY (adapt their talk)

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Contextual and discursive differences

_______________________________

• Discipline,

• Ss’ educational level

• Language ability of teachers/students (Dafouz, 2010)

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Observations

TEACHERS PROFILES

NUMBER OF TEACHERS

DEGREE PROGRAM

TEACHER EDUCATION

TEACHING EXPERIENCE IN HE

TRAINING IN ICLHE

EXPERIENCE INTEGRATING CONTENT AND LANGUAGE

1 PHARMACY NO (E) 6 YEARS 10 HOURS + ONE-ON-ONE SESSIONS

5 YEARS

3 SPORTS SCIENCES

Yes (C) 2 YEARS 4 HOURS + ONE-ON-ONE SESSIONS

2 YEARS

NO (J) 2 YEAR

4 HOURS + ONE-ON-ONE SESSIONS

2 YEARS

NO (L) 2 YEARS

3 HOURS + ONE-ON-ONE SESSIONS

2 YEARS

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Observations

• Teachers tend to build on students’ previous knowledge.

“These papers are about information you know. You’ve learnt this information several years when you were younger. There are gaps in some sentences you have to fill”

POSITIVE FINDINGS

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Observations

Teachers tend to engage students in top-down processing & may use L1 to aid schema building.

“Read about these scientists. What do they have in common?”

“What does the video talk about?”

“Whenever you don’t know a word in English it’s very possible that it is very similar in Spanish. Don’t ask why”.

“Pride, what is Pride? Orgullo in Spanish”.

“Watch this video (Olympic Hispanic runners) in Spanish and then we’ll discuss in English”.

POSITIVE FINDINGS

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Observations

Teachers tend to:

- model/give an demonstration what they want students to do - for organizational purposes

- respect wait time until a student/students have answered

POSITIVE FINDINGS

12 Nashwa Nashaat - Institute of Modern

Languages (USJ)

Observations

Giving instructions: timeliness-complexity-checking

SKILLS THAT REQUIRE FURTHER TRAINING

Objective of the activity: explicit purpose

Confirmation checks: substituted for comprehension checks

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Observations

• No language scaffolds (sentence starters, connectors, …) nor content scaffolds (tables and graphic organizers) were supplied by the content teacher to support in-class activities.

SKILLS THAT REQUIRE FURTHER TRAINING

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Languages (USJ)

Taking stock and moving

forward

Need for structured training

(methodological and linguistic)

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Languages (USJ)

LINGUISTIC NEEDS

METHODOLOGICAL NEEDS

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Languages (USJ)

A conceptual framework for scaffolding English

Language Learners (Walqui, 2006)

Scaffolding as Process

Scaffolding as Structure

MACRO-LEVEL

(CURRICULUM PLANNING)

MICRO-LEVEL

MOMENT BY MOMENT

INTERACTION

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Focal points in initial 16-hour

Teacher Training

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COGNITION

for effective learning

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The effect of being engaged in LOTS and

HOTS.

Lewis Carroll's Jabberwockey It was brillig, and the slithy toves gyred and gimbled in the wabe All the borogoves were mimsy, and the mome raths outgrabe.

1. What were the slithy toves doing in the wabe? 2. How would you describe the state of the borogoves? 3. What can you say about the mome raths? 4. Why were the borogoves mimsy? 5. How effective was the mome raths’ strategy?

Knowledge

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COMMUNICATION

for effective learning

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I WOKE UP AT 8 AM

…..IS A RESULT OF ….

OBESITY…………..CHOLESTEROL

CORRECT YOUR ANSWERS IN PAIRS

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PLANNING A

A CLIL LESSON

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PLANNING A

A CLIL LESSON

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PLANNING A

A CLIL LESSON

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PLANNING A

A CLIL LESSON

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http://www.ccn-clil.eu/index.php?name=File&nodeIDX=5060

https://www.leraar24.nl/video/3046#tab=0

LANGUAGE: VISIBILITY for NOTICING

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http://www.ccn-clil.eu/index.php?name=File&nodeIDX=5060

https://www.leraar24.nl/video/3046#tab=0 32

http://www.ccn-clil.eu/index.php?name=File&nodeIDX=5060

https://www.leraar24.nl/video/3046#tab=0

LANGUAGE: VISIBILITY for NOTICING

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http://www.ccn-clil.eu/index.php?name=File&nodeIDX=5060

https://www.leraar24.nl/video/3046#tab=0

CONTENT: Meaningful, Motivating, Authentic materials,, challenging tasks

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Focal points in conducted TT

(16 intensive hours) Observable Scaffolding Strategies

for Comprehensible Input (PROCESS) TEACHER makes CONTENT ACCESSIBLE Breaks Complex ideas into simpler

ones (subject-specific vocabulary work – use of language frames - evidence of materials adaptation – use of graphic organizers & outlines – pacing detailed clear instructions & checking them)

promotes SCHEMA BUILDING and BRIDGES new information to existing knowledge.

Uses cognitively regulated activities that engage students in top-down and bottom-up schema building to facilitate comprehension. Builds on existing knowledge (creates or activates links) and contextualizes new input (Visuals , L1, BICS to explain CALP, gives examples, and models)

makes use of EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

Wait time – peer support - asks

questions (concept checks, display

and referential questions)

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Outcome

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Training Outcomes Excerpts from the feedback given to TTs

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Subject-specific language was reviewed using online flashcards in the first 15 minutes, using both BICS and CALP (participants were prompted to change certain expressions from specific academic register to basic everyday register).

Clear learning outcomes: “ Sports science students should be able to give exercise instructions in English”

Teachers began mini-teaching with a prediction activity, which engaged participants.

Instructions were clear and broken down into doable steps in the handout

Training Outcomes

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Subject-specific language was reviewed using online flashcards in the first 15 minutes, using both BICS and CALP (participants were prompted to change certain expressions from specific academic register to basic everyday register).

The second part of the teaching focused on movement analysis, on the flexion and extension of the hip. This was successfully done via visuals and demonstrations. Mnemonics were used (space ship - raising arm – abduction), but it was done very fast that not all participants picked up on it.

The third part focused on whole movement analysis through a video which was paused at intervals to commentate and ask questions. New terms were taught in relation to the movements: snatch, jerk...

Language and content scaffolding was provided through controlled exercises (comprehension level), the answers to which required paying attention to the teachers’ explanations and clarifications. … immediate application of the three key concepts of this mini-teaching (treatment plane-traction-compression and gliding).

Training Outcomes

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Language and content scaffolding was provided through controlled exercises (comprehension level), the answers to which required paying attention to the teachers’ explanations and clarifications. … immediate application of the three key concepts of this mini-teaching (treatment plane-traction-compression and gliding).

Training Outcomes

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Instead of posing the question: “is all clear up till now?”, a quick comprehension check using True/False or yes/no questions would have been more effective to assess participants’ comprehension.

a graphic organizer and a language frame is recommended to push students to justify their evaluations of the pictures in an elaborate manner (move from the word-level to the sentence-level)

Participants did not start dialoguing until 15 minutes of the mini-teaching had passed. As agreed, activating participants’ prior knowledge and actively involving them during the warm up/lead in stage is very important to establish a student-centered class.

Taking stock and moving

forward … AGAIN • Training has a positive impact.

• The surface has barely been scratched: available data needs further analysis.

– Noticeable change in content teachers’ discourse (emails – one on one sessions)

• Current and future opportunities for Pre/Post training classroom recordings

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References • Dafouz, E. (2010). English as the medium of instruction in Spanish

Contexts: A look at teacher discourses. In Yolanda Ruiz de Zarobe, Juan Manuel Sierra & Francisco Gallardo del Puerto (eds). Content and foreign language integrated learning: contributions to multilingualism in European contexts. Peter Lang. pp. 189-210.

• Dafouz, E. and Núñez, B. (2010) Metadiscursive devices in university lectures: A contrastive analysis of L1 and L2 teacher performance, in Christiane Dalton-Puffer, Tarja Nikula and Ute Smit (eds.) Language Use and Language Learning in CLIL Classrooms, Amsterdam / Philadelphia, John Benjamins, pp. 213-231.

• Dafouz Milne, E & Sánchez García , D. (2013). Does everybody understand? Teacher questions across disciplines in English-mediated university lectures: An exploratory study. Language Value, 5 (1). 129-151.

• Walqui, A. (2006). Scaffolding instruction for English language learners: A conceptual framework. The International journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 9(2), 159-180.

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Thank you

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Dra. Nashwa Nashaat Sobhy

Instituto de Lenguas Modernas

Coordinación inglés en los grados

http://institutolenguasmodernas.usj.es