On The Application Of CLIL In College Bilingual Instruction

CLIL(content and language integrated learning)that has gained momentum in Europe refers to the perception that an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of non-linguistic contents.Based on the 4Cs(content,communication,cognition,culture)teaching framework,the CLIL approach provides a guideline for the bilingual instruction in our country.This thesis mainly focuses on the application of CLIL in college bilingual instruction for non-English major of undergraduates.It firstly presents the literature relevant to the CLIL approach and bilingual instruction explicitly to reveal the context,the significance and the questions involved.Secondly,a case study about Ningbo University is involved in this research.It describes the methods to be used for the study including questionnaire,semi-structured interview,classroom observation as well as the results.The data was analyzed through the Microsoft Excel 2010.Non-English major classes respectively from Arts and Science were selected to participate in the questionnaire survey and classroom observation.The results gained from these methodologies show that there are still some problems existing in the bilingual instruction including: low language proficiency of students attending bilingual classes,limitation of instructors’ subject or language competence,inefficient classroom learning environment,unreasonable use of bilingual teaching materials,and rigid form of assessment.Some countermeasures,therefore,are presented for these issues based on the CLIL approach.1)Levels of English proficiency should be required for students attending the bilingual classes.Results showed that students who got an excellent score in CET4 or pass CET6 could benefit from the bilingual instruction.This implies that an explicit regulation should be established during the selection of bilingual classes to guarantee the implementation and quality of the bilingual instruction.2)The faculty construction should be strengthened as indicated in the empirical study.According to the requirements of the CLIL approach,bilingual instructors should be specialized not only in the language but also the professional knowledge of disciplines concerned.Thus,some countermeasures are proposed to settle the problems summarized through the empirical research.Some school-based training programs are workable to improve the quality of bilingual instruction.Complementary training programs for language and subject specialists can be fostered to lower the unwillingness of using the medium of English,and the performance evaluation standard of bilingual teachers are effective means to enhance the quality of bilingual teachers.3)The atmosphere of the bilingual instruction should be improved as evidenced in the survey and observation.English proficiency could be enhanced on the basis of cognitively challenging contents.Researches showed that L1 is correlated significantly with the foreign language learning.Using L1 appropriately in bilingual instruction could help students overcome communicative difficulties to build their confidence.Group work or cooperative learning employed in bilingual instruction which requires a depth of processing could enhance the cognitive ability and language competence through interaction and comment.To improve the classroom environment of bilingual classes,the input of teachers’ discourse should be based on the cognitive competence of students,and appropriate use of mother language and cooperative or group-work learning could also be used by instructors to achieve the integration of content and language.The construction of vibrant bilingual classroom atmosphere comes in line with the bilingual communicative competence and reasonable interaction.4)The selection of contents has to take students’ English proficiency into consideration in the implementation of the bilingual instruction.The integration of content and language has to involve the factor like text readability,disciplines’ share,frequency of communication,etc.Besides,cognitive affective elements are also essential to the smooth integration,such as motivation,anxiety,etc.5)Classified assessment mechanism should be established for assessing bilingual instruction through the combination of formative and summative assessment including assessment objectives,self-assessment and peer-assessment.The bilingual instruction should provide a holistic and dynamic evaluation for students.Explicit evaluating objectives would benefit the setting of instructional objectives;self-and peer-assessment could better reflect the attitude,method,level of efforts and students’ performance in the teaching process.