What is it about?
The presence of L1 in classes where English is taught as a Foreign Language and in bilingual education is a controversial issue. In bilingual contexts, the use of the L1 has been identified as a potential logical instrument to scaffold content. This paper explores the use of the L1 in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) regarding the types of L1 communication strategies and the purpose for which those strategies are used.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Our findings indicate that students exhibit a frequent, intuitive, non-systematic use of the L1, and that the lack of proficiency in the L2 is a decisive factor in explaining this overuse. Students act with a clear purpose in the L1 but their behavior is not systematic and well defined. Finally, the use of the L1 does not seem to affect the learning of content negatively, although it reduces the time students devote to the use of the L2.
Perspectives
Writing this article with Dr Víctor Pavón has been a great opportunity to explore more in depth the use of L1 in the field of Content and Language Integrated Learning. This is an area that still needs to be studied and that might be of great help to improve the learning of foreign languages in any educational context.
María del Carmen Ramos Ordóñez
University of Córdoba
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Describing the use of the L1 in CLIL: an analysis of L1 communication strategies in classroom interaction, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, August 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2018.1511681.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
