Crossing over to CLIL

Crossing over to CLIL From Business English to

Business in English

Dr. Helen BicknellHochschule Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, IdsteinELTAF (English Language Teachers’ Association, Frankfurt)

Besig 2008 CLIL workshop [email protected] ELTAF 2

Okie Dokie•Do you teach Business English?

•Do you teach BE at a university?

•Do you teach Business Skills, Presentation techniques, Intercultural Skills etc?

•Do you teach Business or Economics (e.g. International Marketing, International Management courses etc)


My background

• Business English• FH Mainz (2000-

2007)• HSF Fresenius

since Oct 2007• International

Management, and Business English


Agenda

1.What is clil?2.Survey on clil challenges 3.Discussion, Q & As


CLIL(Content and Language Integrated

Learning)• CLIL covers a wide variety of situations – in

schools and HE• CLIL and English (over 50% - no 2nd for. lang)• EU 27, 23, 3, 60, 175• EU policy

to encourage language learning and promote linguistic diversity in society;

to promote a healthy multilingual economy; to promote social integration though improved knowledge and acceptance of languages.

• Grassroots situation


Surveys open till 15.12.08

• survey 1 for experienced CLIL teachers http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=gEh7z2YWfK0zaswezxpigA_3d_3d

• Survey 2 for teachers who have not yet taught in Englishhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=U7W7nn0GwW74jt4FrZ4waw_3d_3d

• Survey 3 for students:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=scPtamqVXFXB_2feePtzpQ6w_3d_3d


Survey 1 – Teacher replies

• 23 FH university lecturers – Business Studies departments

• 17 Germans, 4 US, 1 UK, 1 Polish• Aged: 28 – 67 (18 = aged 35-55)• 6 females, 17 males• Survey 2 – teachers with no CLIL experience• Survey 3 – student responses







Teachers’ answers


Students’ answers


How helpful would it be to receive General English training on a regular basis?

N/A4%

extremely useful

13%

not helpful13%

useful57%

no difference

13%


0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

N/A not helpful nodifference

useful extremelyuseful

Would Team Teaching be helpful?


coordinating course content with BE teachers

no difference

17%

useful52%

extremely useful

9%

No answer13%

not helpful9%


Should English teacher help mark assignments?

extremely useful

9%

not helpful26%

no difference13%

No answer35%useful

17%



Other comments• Poor English skills may prevent some students

from receiving a better grade. It is obvious that some students do not understand course texts or exam questions, which puts them at a disadvantage. Particularly many students with an immigration background (e.g. Eastern Europe) who have not gone through the German education system often lack the required language skills. Students with poor English skills have to work harder in the courses as it takes them much longer to read case studies, handouts etc. Finally, if content courses are part of the curriculum, students should be required to take a college entrance exam that tests their language proficiency (required level B2, if not C1).


Other comments

• If at all possible, course held in English should be undertaken by English native speakers.

• English courses should be exclusively taught by native speakers or teachers spent several years abroad.


Other comments• Depending on the subject more courses should be

taught in English. This certainly is problematic for subjects with dominating national perspective like taxation or auditing but it certainly is possible for Marketing, Management, Controlling and the like. I think it is important to lower the entry barriers for colleagues who want to start to teach in English e.g. by offering the possibility of co-teaching, splitting up a course or other possibilities to reduce initial workload. I also think it is a good idea to offer an incentive to teach in English to value the extra work it means and/or to build recognition.


Discussion Time

• Does your university teach content courses in English? What kind of courses? BA? MA/MSc? Other?

• to only ‘German’ students? Or ‘mixed groups’ German and Erasmus students?

• Is a proven and tested proof of English level required for participants?

• If so, which test? / which level?


Discussion Time•Do you think Content-based courses taught in English should be only taught by native speakers or C2 level teachers?

•What kind of materials should be used?

•How could CLIL courses be improved where you work?

•What support do you think non-native CLIL teachers need?


To sum up

• CLIL in HE means English • Has received little research attention

(see survey!)• Assumes non-native speakers of

English require little or no extra training or resources

• Success often due to enthusiastic efforts of both teachers and students


References/further reading

• Graddol, D (2006) English Next• Coleman, J (2006) English-

medium teaching in European higher education

• European Commissionhttp://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/news/news2853_en.htm

Crossing over to CLIL

Documents

clil workshop

clil experiencesurvey

clil challenges discussion

experienced clil teachers

english language teachershave

business skills

business englishbesig

english teacher premark