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МРНТИ 76 УДК: 6
CLIL IMPLEMENTATION IN WEST KAZAKHSTAN MARAT OSPANOV STATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY: CHALLENGES AND EXPERIENCE
A.S. KARIMSAKOVA, K.K. YERMENOVA, G.A. KUZEMBAYEVA
West Kazakhstan Marat Ospanov State Medical University, Aktobe, Kazakhstan
A.S. Karimsakova - MEd, teacher of the English language;
K.K. Yermenova - Head of Foreign Languages department, senior teacher of the department; G.A. Kuzembayeva - MEd, teacher of the English language.
Abstract.
In order to improve the language proficiency of students and hence their future employability, West Kazakhstan Marat Ospanov State Medical University is developing bilingual programme. Implementing such programme, however, requires much more than simply promoting a bilingual education policy in universities or the goodwill of teachers interested in participating in them. Given the general language proficiency of teachers and students, it is necessary to design programmes that have clear objectives and sensible timelines that take into account the particular characteristics of each university. Moreover, it is essential that bilingual programmes are well organised and use the appropriate resources and support measures (training in methodology, linguistics, incentives, etc.). In this article, the basic methodological premises are reviewed that should underpin educational proposals based on the learning of academic knowledge through a language other than the students' mother tongue. The key problems faced by university education authorities when designing such programmes are analysed, and the structural, organisational and training measures that should be taken to overcome such problems and thus ensure the effectiveness of bilingual programmes are examined.
Ключевые слова: trilingualism, bilingualism, CLIL, Kazakhstan, teachers, WKSMU, languages, multilingual education, students.
Introduction. The accession of Kazakhstan to the Bologna process has played a significant role in the development of trilingualism in Kazakhstan. According to the principles of the Bologna Declaration, a system of multilingual education should be implemented in Kazakhstan, in which the English language should be used along with the Kazakh and Russian languages. The goal of the Bologna process is to create a strong competitive education system in the world.
The need for mastering Kazakh, Russian and English languages creates a basis for the formation of trilingualism. However, with linguistic planning, one should take into account the fact that bilingualism in the Republic of Kazakhstan is a natural process taking place among the entire population of the republic, regardless of age and nationality, and trilingualism is an adjustable process.
M.S. Filimonova and D.A. Krylov have noted that in general trilingualism as a modern socio-cultural phenomenon develops under the influence of the following factors: the strengthening of the role of the socio-cultural component; creation of a single educational space; the need for multilingual education; development of the global information space [1].
Thus, the essence of the transition from "bilingualism" to "trilingualism" is to ensure that every Kazakhstani citizen
is imbued with the idea of mastering three languages, and the education system - of school and university - has created real conditions for this. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the breakthrough of the economy of Kazakhstan, ensuring its competitiveness and successful entry into the world space [2].
It is essential that university students receive adequate training to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills that will enable them to compete in a globalised labour market, including the obligation to know and master a second language, especially English. In order to develop knowledge of the language and provide students with a necessary added value in the world today, university have begun to design and organize programme of study that include the teaching of subjects through a foreign language. Attempts are now being made to develop a more or less organized structure which seeks to encourage teachers to begin teaching their subjects through what for their students is an additional language.
One of the main, if not the most important, aims of implementing programmes based on the teaching of academic subjects through an additional language is to improve students' competence in the second language with the objective of equipping them with a very useful tool for their professional future. According to Coleman,
there are important reasons that explain why English is being increasingly used as the language of instruction at the university level, namely internationalisation, student exchanges, teaching and research materials, staff mobility, graduate employability, and the growing number of foreign students enrolling in university studies [3].
Purpose: to implement the CLIL technology that should underpin educational proposals based on the learning of academic knowledge through a language other than the students' mother tongue.
Materials and methods. In 2015-2016 academic year specialized groups with the English language of instruction as a pilot project were established in West Kazakhstan Marat Ospanov State Medical University (WKSMU). Such subjects as history of Kazakhstan, economics, chemistry, informatics (ICT), molecular biology, anatomy are being taught in English. In this regard, there is a need to improve the skills of teachers, developing special programme for students. Teachers are facing such a problem as a lack of preparedness to teach the subject through the English language. A certain technique for students to master the material fully in non-native language is needed. The teacher should have appropriate teaching methods to achieve his goals. One of the teaching technologies that can help teachers is the CLIL technology. CLIL stands for Content and Language Integrated Learning and refers to teaching subjects to students through a foreign language. CLIL offers a promising path towards reaching this objective, which has been tested in all areas of education, including the tertiary level.
The term CLIL was first proposed in 1994 by David Marsh and Anna Malers (Finland) as a methodology for teaching non-linguistic subjects in a foreign language [4]. This approach includes various forms of using a foreign language as a means of teaching, provides an effective opportunity for learners to apply their new language skills to practice now, rather than waiting for a suitable moment in the future. Thus, the teaching of English is interdisciplinary and closely related to other subjects. When designing a training course (a curriculum) based on this methodology, it is necessary to take into account the 4 "C" CLIL methods:
1. Content: At the heart of the learning process lie successful content or thematic learning and the acquisition of knowledge, skills and understanding. Content is the subject or the project theme.
2. Communication: Language is a conduit for communication and for learning. The formula learning to use language and using language to learn is applicable here. Communication goes beyond the grammar system. It involves learners in language using in a way which is different from language learning lessons (of course CLIL does involve learners in learning language too but in a different way).
3. Cognition: For CLIL to be effective, it must challenge learners to think and review and engage in higher order thinking skills. CLIL is not about the transfer of knowledge from an expert to a novice. CLIL is about allowing individuals to construct their own understanding and be challenged - whatever their age or ability. A useful taxonomy to use as a guide for thinking skills is that of Bloom. He has created two categories of thinking skills: lower order and higher order. Take Bloom's taxonomy for a well-defined range of thinking skills. It serves as an excellent checklist.
4. Culture: For our pluricultural and plurilingual world to be celebrated and its potential realised, this demands tolerance and understanding. Studying through a foreign language is fundamental to fostering international understanding. 'Otherness' is a vital concept and holds the key for discovering self. Culture can have wide interpretation - e.g. through pluricultural citizenship [5].
The realization of these four principles should put Content and Language Integrated Learning into a position of a major and significant contribution to the efforts to achieve the goals of WKSMU staff.
Results and discussions. It should be noted that the introduction of multilingual education has caused a number of problems. The need for knowledge of several languages in the modern world and the demand for a multicultural person in society are obvious and a motivation for learning. However, the professional orientation of schoolchildren suggests their trilingual training in the basic subjects of the future specialty. Thus, future chemists-technologists from the school must master three languages within a certain thematic minimum in the discipline "Chemistry", future economists must master knowledge of economics, economic theory in three languages, etc. However, Kazakhstan, in comparison with the European countries, because of its geographical location, has no conditions for the natural development of mass polyglotism with knowledge of an actively functioning world language. Consequently, in secondary education, it is necessary to organize the educational process in such a way that graduates have a sufficient level of multilingual competence for the subsequent continuous increase of speech and communication competence in three languages. This requires a special design of the learning process for non-linguistic disciplines, which would facilitate, without increasing the hours in the curriculum, the pursuit of both a standard for mastering the content of the academic discipline and mastering the three languages within the chosen discipline. This problem has not been solved yet in the educational institutions of Kazakhstan.
In October 17-20, 2017, within the framework of the Erasmus + project, 30 people of the teaching staff of Marat Ospanov State Medical University passed the training to master the CLIL technologies (Picture №1). The project,
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Picture №1
which WKSMU participates in, aims to further promote the modernization and sustainable development of education and training systems, as well as to improve the skills of teachers. The main purpose of the workshop is the transfer of experience of pedagogical ideas aimed at raising the status and competitiveness of teachers using CLIL technology in teaching subjects in conditions of multilingualism.
The participants are very positive to using content and language integration as a means to enhance learner engagement and confidence in language use as well as to giving the students a deeper knowledge of the subject areas. The participants all emphasize the importance of creating activities that trigger cognitive processes and collaboration to be able to construct knowledge on a deeper level, and to engage the learners. They also stress that freedom and structure need to be balanced to create learning situations where all students can use their abilities to their best potential (Picture №2).
One of the main problem of CLIL is that language teachers lack knowledge on the subjects while subject teacher have minimal knowledge of foreign languages.
Another main concern is undeniably the lack of materials there is to teach CLIL. Publishing houses have not yet come up with such thing because they will have to be personalized for each country and each subject according to their curricula and culture. Therefore, for a teacher to create their own materials it will be time-consuming and will overload him/her. They would need to personalize them to suit their learners needs so as to enable them to develop until they are working at high levels of cognitive and linguistic challenge. Anyway, the lack of materials could be a problem but I do not know to what extent because as we have seen, books or materials are only a help but not the whole course could be based on them.
Each country or university has a clear objective when defining a language teaching program. According to Hugh Baetens Beardsmore, no one version of CLIL is "exportable". It may sound as a disadvantage but this argument just reinforces the notion that CLIL has been purposefully designed by a board of Education or school
Picture №2
coordination and should reflect the thought of a National Educational Program. Each country has its own needs, deals with its own reality and will establish its own way of implementing CLIL as a methodology or not.
So, CLIL can be applied taking into account a local reality and it will fit into a particular school context, which is surely an advantage. The possibilities of building an exclusive material are enormous, even the possibility of choosing a weak or strong version of it, according to each needs.
As you can see here, I disagree with "exportability" being a disadvantage.
Reflecting upon content and the level of proficiency, another important issue to be considered is the fact that it is still unknown how well a student can transfer knowledge from a second language to his/her mother tongue. We still do not know if when learners are transferring that knowledge will do it conceptual-linguistically correctly. Without a doubt, one of the main advantages of CLIL is to promote students awareness of the value of transferable skills and knowledge, which is the result of an intense acclimatization work. In order to have it successfully done, I must say students would have to slowly get used to the teaching approach before "traditional" CLIL can be introduced.
Studying the experience of implementing CLIL in other countries, the following advantages of this method are revealed:
Learners' Advantages of adopting a CLIL approach:
Increasing motivation as language is used to fulfill real purposes to learn the substantive material.- It is not the same to learn a language with no real purpose in mind as that as to know a second language, than to have the need to do it. This makes it more purposeful and therefore more motivating for the learner.
Introducing learners to the wider cultural context. Learning a subject such as History makes the learner understand the L2 culture far too much.
Developing a positive 'can do' attitude towards learning languages.- Learning not only grammar, but personalizing the language through teaching something
meaningful might lower the affective filter.
Developing student multilingual interests and attitudes. Knowing more about a language increases sometimes the learners' interests in different cultures such as the one they are learning the language from. It also broadens their horizons.
Preparing students for further studies and work. Knowing a language and subjects and culture in L2 can increase the learners' opportunities in life.
Access subject specific target language terminology. Which may be difficult otherwise to acquire or even to be exposed to.
CLIL creates conditions for naturalistic language learning. By having to communicate in the target language, to fulfill some of the tasks or even to understand the subject is how this kind of learning takes place.
CLIL provides a purpose for language use in the classroom. Since learners need to communicate among each other in order to help cooperative learning.
It has a positive effect on language learning by putting the emphasis on meaning rather than on form.- By having non-disposable contents, it focuses on meaning, grammar is embedded. Some of my students absolutely hate grammar learnt as it, so this will help them cope with grammar in a more meaningful way and help them acquire it more than "studying" it.
It drastically increases the amount of exposure to the target language [6]. By teaching a curricular subject which is already going to be taught but in the target language, it might double or more the time of exposure to it.
It takes into account the learners' interests, needs and cognitive levels. As we have read, the level of the learners is closely related not to their level of knowledge of L2 but to their cognitive level, making it better suited for what they are supposed to know in their own language according to their age.
Teachers' Advantages of adopting a CLIL approach may include:
The use of innovative methods, materials and e-learning.
Individual and institutional networking opportunities and professional mobility. Teachers knowing something more than just a "language", I mean, mastering a curricular subject are more likely to get more opportunities and in this case the opportunities might happen abroad because of the reasons just mentioned.
The development of good practices through cooperation with teachers in other departments, schools and countries. Very similar to the last point where the networking takes place but in this case within their community or even abroad.
Conclusion. It can be concluded that the implementation of CLIL technology in the educational
process is necessary, because CLIL helps to introduce the wider cultural context, to prepare for internationalization, to improve overall and specific language competence, to develop multilingual interests and attitudes and to increase learner motivation.
Any innovation presents both benefits and challenges. What is important in implementing CLIL as an innovation is that it should be part of a negotiated enterprise amongst administrators, curriculum planners, and teachers and it is this last group that will be responsible for the success of CLIL implementation. This may show that top-down decisions need to be carefully engineered so that changes and decision-making processes begin by addressing teacher development first rather than last in the educational system.
References:
1. Филимонова М.С., Крылов Д.А. Билингвизм как тенденция языкового развития современного общества. Современные проблемы науки и образования 2012;1:133-136.
2. Назарбаев, Н.А. Новый Казахстан в новом мире: Послание Президента Республики Казахстан народу // Актюбинский вестник. 2015;
3. Coleman, James A. English- medium teaching in European higher education. Language Teaching. 2006;39(1):1-14
4. Marsh D., Anne Maljers, Aini-Kristiina Hartiala. Profiling European CLIL Classrooms. 2001;134-140.
5. Coyle D. CLIL. Planning Tools for Teachers. 2005; URL: http://www.unifg.it/sites/default/ files/allegatiparagrafo/20-01-2014/coyle_clil_ planningtool_kit.pdf
6. Baetens Beardsmore Hugo, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd, c1986
7. Dalton-Puffer C. Discourse in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) classrooms. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins 2007;87-104.
8. Dimova, S., Hultgren, A., Jensen, C. English-Medium Instruction in European Higher Education. English in Europe 2015;3:158-159.
9. Bentley K. Primary Curriculum Box. CLIL lessons and activities for younger learners. Cambridge University Press 2009;87-89.
10. Gardner, Robert C. Motivation and Second Language Acquisition- The socio educational model New York: Peter Lang Publishing Inc. 2010;65-67.
11. Marsh D. CLIL/EMILE - The European Dimension: Actions, Trends and Foresight Potential. Brussels: The European Union 2002;54-63.
12. Teaching Knowledge Test - Content and Language Integrated Learning. Handbook for Teachers: University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations. 2016;111-115.
ТУЙ1Н
МАРАТ ОСПАНОВ АТЫНДАГЫ БАТЫС ЦАЗАЦСТАН МЕМЛЕКЕТТ1К МЕДИЦИНА УНИВЕРСИТЕТ1НДЕ CLIL ТЕХНОЛОГИЯСЫН ЖУЗЕГЕ АСЫРУ МЭСЕЛЕС1: ПРОБЛЕМАЛАР МЕН ТЭЖ1РИБЕ
А.С. КАРИМСАКОВА, К.К. ЕРМЕНОВА, Г.А. КУЗЕМБАЕВА
Марат Оспанов атындагы Батыс К^азакстан мемлекетпк медицина университетi, Актебе, К^азакстан
Тшдер кафедрасынын шет тiлдер курсы
Каримсакова А.С. - п.г.м., курс окытушысы, e-mail:[email protected];
Ерменова К.К. - шет тшдер курсына жауапты;
Кузембаева Г.А. - педагогика жэне психология магистр^ курс окытушысы.
Студенттердiн тiл бшмшщ денгейiн кетеру максатында М.Оспанов атындагы БКММУ ек1 тiлдi багдар-ламаны дайындайды. Б^л багдарлама бойынша ж^мыс жасау ек1 тiлдi багдарлама саясатын университеттер-де енгiзу мен окытушылардыц кызыгушылыгынан герi кептi кажет етедг Окытушылар мен студенттердiн тiл мецгеру денгейiн есепке ала отырып, эр университеттщ ерекшелiктерiн камтитын накты максаты мен уакыты белгiленген багдарламалар дайындау кажет. Сонымен катар ек1 riTOi багдарламалар жаксы ^йымдастырылып, кажеттi ресурстарды колдануы тиiс. Б^л макалада бшм алушылардыц ана тiлiнен езге тгвде академиялык бiлiм алу кезiнде бшм беру ^сыныстарын камтитын негiзгi методологиялык эдiстер карастырылады. Жогары оку орындары осындай багдарламаларды дайындауда кезiгетiн непзп мэселелерi талданып оларды шешу жолдары мен ек1 тiлдi багдарламалардыц тшмдшп талкыланады.
Heeisei свздер: Yш тшдШк, билингвизм, Clil, Казахстан, оцътушылар, БКММУ, тшдер, KenmMi бшм беру, студенттер.
РЕЗЮМЕ
К ВОПРОСУ РЕАЛИЗАЦИИ CLIL - ТЕХНОЛОГИИ В ЗАПАДНО -КАЗАХСТАНСКОМ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОМ МЕДИЦИНСКОМ УНИВЕРСИТЕТЕ ИМЕНИ МАРАТА ОСПАНОВА: ПРОБЛЕМЫ И ОПЫТ А.С. КАРИМСАКОВА, К.К. ЕРМЕНОВА, Г.А. КУЗЕМБАЕВА
Западно-Казахстанский государственный медицинский университет имени Марата Оспанова,
Актобе, Казахстан
Курс иностранных языков кафедры языков
Каримсакова А.С. - магистр педагогических наук, преподаватель иностранного языка кафедры языков курса иностранных языков, e-mail:[email protected];
Ерменова К.К. - ответственный за курс иностранных языков;
Кузембаева Г.А. - магистр педагогики и психологии, преподаватель иностранного языка кафедры языков курса иностранных яыков
В целях повышения уровня владения языком студентов и, следовательно, их будущего трудоустройства Западно-Казахстанский государственный медицинский университет имени Марата Оспанова разрабатывает двуязычную программу. Однако реализация такой программы требует гораздо большего, чем просто продвижение политики двуязычного образования в университетах или желания преподавателей, заинтересованных в их участии. Учитывая общий уровень владения языком преподавателей и студентов, необходимо разработать программы, которые имеют четкие цели и разумные сроки, учитывающие особенности каждого университета. Кроме того, важно, чтобы двуязычные программы были хорошо организованы и использовали соответствующие ресурсы. В этой статье рассматриваются основные методологические предпосылки, которые должны подкреплять образовательные программы на основе изучения академических знаний на языке, отличном от родного языка учащихся. Проанализированы ключевые проблемы, с которыми сталкиваются высшие учебные заведения университетов при разработке таких программ, а также проанализированы структурные, организационные и учебные меры, которые необходимо принять для решения таких проблем и, таким образом, обеспечить эффективность двуязычных программ.
Ключевые слова: трехязычие, билингвизм, CLIL, Казахстан, преподаватели, ЗКГМУ, языки, многоязычное образование, студенты.
