Exploring critical thinking through students’ reflective

papers on a CLIL cultural studies course

Chantal HemmiLecturer

CLER Sophia University

chantalhemmi@gmail.com

Outline

Part 1

• The ContextPart

2• What is CLIL?

Part 3

• What is critical thinking?Part

4

• What did I do to encourage critical thinking?

Part 5

• The study

• April-July 2012• English Literature Department• Sophia University• Second and third year• Ten female and two male students• Monday first period 1.5 hours per week (21 hours in total)

1. The context

2. What is CLIL?The most popular definitionContent and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a dual-focused educational approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language. (Coyle, Hood and Marsh 2010:1)

Mapping CLIL

GTMAL

CLT (strong)TBI

Submersion‘sink or swim’

EFL EFL/ESL ESL

CLT (weak)PPP

CLILCBI

EFL = English as a foreign language CLT = Communicative Language TeachingESL = English as a second language PPP = Presentation-Practice-ProductionGTM = Grammar translation method TBI = Task-based instructionAL = Audiolingualism CBI = Content-based instruction

Immersion

Structure-basedinstruction

Communicativeinstruction

Naturalacquisition

These slides are from Professor Ikeda’s ‘ABCs of CLIL’ presentation

10 pedagogical features1 　 Placing equal emphasis on content learning and language learning2 Encouraging the use of authentic materials (e.g. webpages, newspaper)3 　 Giving multimodal input (i.e. written/ spoken texts, graphics, statistics, videos)4 　 Using various levels of thinking skills (i.e. LOTS and HOTS)5 　 Giving many tasks

These slides are from Professor Ikeda’s ‘ABCs of CLIL’ presentation

6 　 Making the most of cooperative learning (e.g. pairwork, group work)7 　 Providing scaffolding in content and language8 Incorporating elements of cross- cultural understanding and global issues9 Integrating the four skills10 Instructing learning skills

These slides are from Professor Ikeda’s ‘ABCs of CLIL’ presentation

Sharing

• Think of a childhood memory and share your story.• Make a note of your partner’s story and report it to another

partner after you have finished sharing your stories.

3. What I did to encourage critical thinking: my story as a practitioner

This is Sister Oona, my primary school teacher.

I met her again in February (2010) at a café in Oxford.

A book I read when I was a child

What I found interesting about my partner’s story was…

• She remembered the experience so well • The experience was so memorable• She remembered how…

What is identity? Definitions

Identity answers the question, ‘Who am I?’ (Sarbin and Scheibe, 1983; Weigart et al, 1986).

‘Identities are defined with respect to the interaction of multiple convergent trajectories’ (Wenger, 1998:154).

‘A community of selves’ (Mair, 1997)

‘Identities and beliefs are co-constructed, negotiated and transformed on an ongoing basis by means of language.’ (Duff &Uchida, 1997:452)

Part 1.3Who cares? Memories of a Childhood in CareFred Fever

16 pages

1.     How old was the writer when he was adopted? 2.     What were the first parents like?3.     What was Patrick like?4.     What did David do?

Let’s check the homework.

1.     How old was the writer when he was adopted? Three months old 2.     What were the first parents like? Jenny was warm and friendly and loving. 3.     What was Patrick like? Patrick was humiliating, punishing and violent.4.     What did David do? He sexually abused him; He threatened him with castration.

What happened in the rest of the story? (True or false?)

1. In 1974, Fred was fostered by Betty and Bernard Simmonds.2. Fred made many friends in Barrow Grove.3. Fred was not interested in his school work at all.4. Fred got bad grades from school.5. Fred was happy to go to a children’s home.

The nature of autobiographies

In your view, what is the nature of autobiographies?• It is a true story. • There are real descriptions.

• However, is it alright to trust the stories?• Is it a good tool for research?

Personal reflections: What I did in the CLIL classes (Not necessarily whatshould be done in a CLIL class in a prescribed way)

CLIL classes Language-focussed classes

1. Starting the lesson Sharing session Teacher just listens to find a ‘tag’ from which to scaffold new information

WarmerAn activity focussing on the topic, often with an aim to study linguistic difficulties/student learning needs. (Often diagnostic)

2. Shape of the lesson Less-controlled-controlled-less controlled (TB)Often the background reading was set for homework so students came with prior knowledge to the classroom

PPP: Controlled-Less controlled-Less controlledTTT: Little control-Control-Little control-ControlTB: Controlled-Less controlled-Controlled

3. Correction on the language

Done in the following session to avoid distraction from the content and to avoid embarrassment

Often done on the spot because of requests from students to do so.Sometimes group correction/peer correction using codes

4. Materials Very visualAuthentic materials

VisualTextbook and authentic materials

5. Vocabulary Taught in context Pre-taught before the main activity

Personal reflectionsCLIL classes Language-focussed

classes6. Approach Task-based with an end-

productCompletely integratedContent : language (50:50)

Communicative approach Information gapSometimes task-basedProcess approachSkills-focussed and achievement orientated

7. Role of teacher FacilitatorManagerSuggestion maker for informed choices

ManagerGiver of advice on accuracy and fluencyTime-management controllerAdvocator of efficacyCounselor (0ne-on-one)

8. Thinking skills Core factor Always an important factor but the main factor was about the achievement of language accuracy and fluency

9. Study skills Very important factor Very important especially in the EAP courses I taught

10. Assessment Portfolios, exam, essay, presentation

Continuous assessment

4. What is critical thinking?

What is critical thinking?An active, persistent and careful consideration of a belief

Supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds which support it

(Dewey, 1909)Dewey, J. (1998) How We Think. Dover Publications.

Reflection

•According to Schön (1987) a reflective practitioner thinks a he/she does things (reflection in action) and reflects on the actions taken (reflection on action).

Schön, D. (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner. Jossey-Bass Publishers: London.

Critical thinking skills-a disposition?

•Ennis (1987) focused on the ability to reflect skeptically and to think in a reasoned way as one’s capability or disposition.

Ennis, R. (1987) A taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions and abilities. In J.Baron and R. Sternberg (eds.). Teaching Thinking Skills: Theory and practice. New York: W.H.Freeman.

Critical thinking: a set of skills

•Cottrell (2011:1) supports the view that critical thinking can be taught as a set of skills.

•She advocates that it is a cognitive activity that uses processes such as focussing attention, categorisation, selection and judgment.

Cottrell, S.(2011) Critical Thinking Skills, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

What are the benefits of focussing on critical thinking?

• We can help students to be able to think and present their opinions with reasons.

• We can help students to listen critically to others and agree/disagree with reasons.

• We can help students in the selection of materials they read.

What are the benefits of focussing on critical thinking?

•We can guide them to take control of their learning and become more autonomous in what and how they learn.

Research questions• What kind of reflection is shown in the students’ reflective

papers?• How did student thinking develop through the course?

5. The study

Data collection

• First six weeks of term before the students launched on a project related to identity and diversity

• Reflective papers were sent to me by e-mail

Sample paper

Data analysis

• I used a grounded theory approach to analyse the data (Glaser & Strauss, 1968), so that the findings remain close to the actual data and as far as possible retain the ‘voices’ of the participants. I aimed to identify the commonalities in the kinds of thinking that took place, but at the same time, I wished to understand the stories that individuals told about their learning and thinking.

• I analysed the data in this way so as to identify commonalities amongst what the students’ had expressed in their papers.

What kind of reflection is shown in the students’ reflective papers?

• Personalising concepts• Exploring definitions (personalising the

definitions)• Making comparisons• Analysing content• Thinking about language• Learning through collaboration• Thinking about culture• Thinking about emotions• Forming a hypothesis• Theorising personally• Thinking about suggestions

Thinking about content and language

The data from the reflective papers showed that the students had thought about both the new content learnt on the course, as well as the English language itself.

Thinking about content

Three categories emerged from the data; analysing content, personalising concepts, and making personal theories.

Personalising concepts

It is illuminating that students had personalised concepts by referring back to their own past experiences.• Eriko said,‘ I have read some biographies before, but I didn’t think about what is

the power of that what is the difference between biographies and other writings.’She is comparing biographies and other kinds of writing to understand what kind of impact they have on the readers. She compares the autobiography we read, which had real data on how Fred was abused in an orphanage. This text was used in class to analyse how Fred’s identity was formed. It is interesting that Eriko is trying to personalise a new concept about the power of autobiographies by comparing them to other books she has read.

Analysing content(Making comparisons)

When Eriko read an auto-biography of a British person who had lived in orphanages, ’Who cares? Memories of a Childhood in Care’ (Fever, 1995), there was a reference to his grades from school. Eriko wrote:• ‘I do not know whether it is a big difference or not but on the left side one which is written on

19th February in 1976, the teacher refers Fred as ‘Alfred’ though on the right side, the teacher write ‘Fred’. I know those two words refer to the same person but I wondered what has happened during five month.’

The above text shows that Eriko is comparing the way the teacher referred to the author differently and Eriko guesses that something must have happened in the relationship between the teacher and Alfred. She is questioning herself by saying, ‘ I wondered what has happening during five month’. She does not make explicit what her guesses are but she formed a question to analyse the differences in which Alfred was addressed.

Exploring definitions

• When I was a junior high school student I always changed my attitude with whom I talk and I felt difficulty in defining myself because I didn’t have my consistent character and didn’t know who I was. It was hard for me to live school life not knowing what my character was. However, one day I noticed that to try to define my character is just my ‘identity’. That is, to think about ‘identity’ is exactly identity. (Saki 1-2)

• I was very interested in the matter of identity, and I rediscovered the importance of the events in each personal lives, by listening the lectures of professor and also the opinions of the classmates. They reminded me of a traumatic episode, which changed my life. I am fascinated by the fact that our identity stands on the layers of tiny fatal occurance. (Naho 1-5)

Making personal theories

Students wrote out their own definitions in order to make personal theories about identity. For example, Saki said:• ‘Identity was a difficult thing to explain and I have not found the definition of identity yet…In the last

class, having listened to other’s opinion that identity is what makes our core, I have a definition of identity, that is, a consistent tendency that one always have.’

I was intrigued by the concept of ‘a consistent tendency that one always [has]’, as I think that Saki is thinking about the fact that one’s identity can change, depending on the people one is interacting with, and that identity is socially constructed. However, she is thinking there must be a ‘core’ person who determines who they are. She uses the word, ‘tendency’ to explain that although there is a ‘core person’ within a person, they may change. ‘Tendency’ is translated as ‘keikou’ in Japanese, and what she means here is that one may tend to behave differently depending on the circumstances of the social situation and who one’s interlocutor is. By making such a personal theory about identity, Saki is internalising the content she learnt in the lesson.

Making personal theories

• I think identity is made up with how person spend his or her life so the biographies tell the readers about the writer’s identity more deeply and efficiently than the novels they wrote. However, actually the writer might try to be a hero or heroine of tragedy throughout their writings so I agree with the opinions that ‘feelings may not be reliable’ and subjectivity would change the truth. (Eriko1-2)

Thinking about language• Content is more important than pronunciation. I think many

people in British Council thought Sadako Ogata’s speech is professional, gentle, and easy to hear, and right speed. The more I hear her speech I like Sadako Ogata’s speech more. In Japanese there are many people (including me) who think that their pronunciation is not so good. But now, I change my mind. Even I can become a good English speaker if I care about the contents and have the will to share my opinion to everyone. (Aya 2-1)

Learning through collaboration

• Before I took this class, I had thought that my words were reliable and I could talk my experiences truthfully because they were what I actually experienced and believed that both what I experienced to a thing and what others experienced were the same. However, I found that there was a difference of the way of understanding to a same thing between others and I. (Saki 1-5)

Thinking about culture

• What I found interesting was that just speaking English makes me feel I am touching foreign culture. Of course English is not Japanese culture, so it is quite natural for me, Japanese, to feel so. But through using English to communicate with other students, this might be my over-reacting but, what I think is not the same when I speak Japanese, I guess that is because speaking English is not common to me. So my brain is working more than speaking Japanese, I like this feelings. (Keisuke)

Thinking about emotions

• Autobiography is interesting. It was the first time for me to read autobiography; therefore Fred Fever’s sad childhood day’s records really touched me. I heave read a biography of my favourite author J.R.R.Tolkien and it was entirely different. The reason why Fred Fever’s autobiography touched me is its word had a ‘power’; alternatively, it included his emotion.

• As I read this article, I could experience his happiness, fear, anger and all sorts of feelings which he experienced. (Natsumi 1-1)

Forming a hypothesisand making a suggestion

• I wondered if the voters are included other English native speakers who is like from USA, Australia or Canada, the results may different from this one.

• I think if this type of research would be done, the results might be more influenced by the preferences of the selectors. (Eriko 2-2)

How did the students’ thinking develop through the course?

• They started to apply their own thinking initially to personalise new concepts that were presented in class.

• They did this by comparing things they knew, referring back to their own experiences.• They made their own definitions and understood that they were allowed to make

mistakes.• They learnt to make a hypothesis and made some assumptions with reasons.• They started to theorise and make suggestions about problems that needed to be sorted.• The developed their confidence in making critical comments about what the teacher had

said.

Development of student thinkingAnalysing content

Making compariso

ns

Thinking about

content

Thinking about

language

Learning through

collaboration

Thinking about

cultureThinking

about emotions

Forming a hypothesis

Making personal theories

Thinking about

suggestions

Bloom’s taxonomy (revised)

HOTS(Higher Order Thinking Skills)

LOTS(Lower Order Thinking Skills)

Communication

Language through learning

Language for learning

Language of learning

Communication

Conclusions and implications

• The reflective papers served as a good tool for students to think about what they learnt and what they understood.

• They also served as a good tool for analysing how the students’ thinking developed overtime.

• Students thought about content and language and culture by communicating with one another in groups and pairs

The four principles driving CLIL

CLIL

Cognition

Communication

Content

Community

Taken from uncovering CLIL Mehisto. Marsh, Frigols (2008)

Community (Culture)

WorldRegionCountryTown/citySchoolClassroom

Hypothesising and making personal theories

• Students thought about the content they learnt and in their reflection they started to make their own personal theories in the process of interpreting newly learnt content

Theorising and making suggestions

• Students theorised and made suggestions about problems that needed to be sorted.

Limitations and implications for future research

• The data gathered are small and the findings are limited to this small group of students. In future, it would be good to collect more data from other classes where CLIL is employed. By examining other groups and findings, it would help to create a multiple perspective on student reflections of things they have learnt.

• My small-scale research would only serve as a part of a pilot study for a research project. In future, it would be useful to collect data on student perspectives of what they thought they had learnt throughout the course.

CLIL Books

If you are interested in the topic of identity…