Abstract

This paper presents the results of a research study of a university English language

course which utilizes a Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) framework. CLIL is a

burgeoning educational approach which draws on aspects of bilingualism education, second

language acquisition theories, and content-based education. The current centralized English

education English education policies in Japan have intended to steer secondary and tertiary

curriculums towards preparing the citizenry for an increasingly globalized society. Nihon

Universitys Faculty of Humanities and Sciences English Department draws on the solid

theoretical foundations of CLIL, and its success in similar EFL contexts, to create an English

curriculum in line with MEXTs stated goals.

Key Words: Content and language integrated learning (CLIL), Acquisition versus learning,

Cognition, Sociocultural theory

1 Introduction

The teaching of subject areas through a foreign language, often referred to as Content-Based

Language Learning (CBLL) and Content Language and Integrated Learning (CLIL), is growing

in popularity. Through pioneering bilingual immersion programs in Canada and the USA

(Cummins & Swain, 1986; Genesee, 1987), there has been a progression of bilingual education

worldwide, especially in Europe, where institutions have realized that foreign language learning

is not only a means to economic, health and cognitive advancement (Marsh & Mehisto, 2011),

but also a route to cohesion and community building (Moreno de Diezmas, 2016). Thus,

Europe has seen a rapid expansion of CLIL, considering it to be an effective model of language

acquisition.

Although CLIL has become a highly topical issue due to its substantial increase in

15

Towards a CLIL Syllabus in Japanese Universities

Richard Caraker

Towards a CLIL Syllabus in Japanese Universities

popularity (Lagasabaster & Zarobe, 2010), it has made few inroads to the Japanese foreign

language curriculum. One reason for this may be historical; due to the centuries-long self-

imposed isolation of the Edo Period, foreign language learning in Japan did not begin until the

end of the 19th century. Since then, English education at the secondary and tertiary levels has

primarily been carried out using the Grammar Translation Method or yakudoku (Gorsuch,

1998), primarily for the purpose of introducing western knowledge and technology into Japan.

The main activity of this method is the verbatim translation of English texts into Japanese, and

students are given little opportunity to speak except in instances of rote repetition. As a result,

Japan has found itself lagging behind other EFL countries in English proficiency. In fact, recent

TOEFL scores rank Japan as at or close to the bottom (ETS, 2009).

This disadvantage has not been lost on the Ministry of Education, Sports, Science and

Technology (MEXT), which has for some time recognized that due to globalization, an

increased influx of foreigners into Japan, and most recently the upcoming 2020 Tokyo

Olympics, Japan has a growing need for communicative English skills. Thus, MEXT over

the years has taken various measures to remedy this situation. These measures included

incorporating oral communication into high schools (MEXT, 2002), designating foreign

language as a compulsory subject in high schools, emphasizing practical communicative

abilities (MEXT, 1999), and enacting the Five-year Action Plan to Cultivate Japanese with

English Abilities (MEXT 2003), in order that basic and practical abilities will be acquired so

that the entire public can conduct daily conversation and exchange information in English (p. 1).

Despite good intentions by MEXT, most high school graduates enter the university lacking

adequate intercultural, communicative, cognitive and linguistic skills. It is within this context

that the present article introduces a case study conducted in a Japanese university which aims

to enhance linguistic competence, cultural awareness and cognitive ability as part of an English

syllabus within a CLIL framework. The paper reflects on the large potential of authentic

literary texts and linguistic content in promoting the above pedagogical skills. With these

goals in mind, this paper describes the advantages of using CLIL as a pedagogical approach.

The first part of the paper will describe the theoretical underpinnings of CLIL, followed by the

description of a CLIL curriculum known as Academic English (AE), and finally the results of a

study investigating the efficacy of the AE curriculum will be presented.

2 Theoretical underpinnings of CLIL

The development of a CLIL syllabus draws in part on four key aspects of language education:

genre based language teaching, task-based methods, the centrality of texts, and continuous

assessment (Lorenzo, 2010), as well as the integration of language and content.

16

Towards a CLIL Syllabus in Japanese Universities

2.1 Genre-based language teaching

Language education which focuses on a genre approach draws on influences as wide ranging

as functional linguistics (Halliday 1994), and the sociology of language (Bernstein 1971).

Hallidays functional linguistics emphasizes how language is used, rather than its form. As

Halliday notes:

Every text that is everything that is said or written unfolds in some context of use;

furthermore it is the uses of language that, over tens of thousands of generations,

have shaped the system. Language has evolved to satisfy human needs; and the way it

is organized is functional with respect to these needs (1994, xii).

Bernstein (1971) in his socio-linguistic approach to learning prefers to focus on how the

language system is a consequence of the social relations of speakers. In combining these

two influences, language policies around the world, but especially in Europe, have designed

language programs which incorporate a variety of texts with social and academic value,

including minutes, announcement, literary narratives, memos, complaint forms, and power

point presentations (Lorenzo, 2011).

2.2 Task-based methods

As children begin to communicate in their first language, they do so without using

sentences, often uttering pairs of nouns which can be interpreted in various ways depending

on the intonation and context. Thus, it can be argued that grammar is subsidiary to lexis, and

it is possible to be meaningful with limited grammar. Task-based language teaching methods,

which grew out of communicative language teaching, see meaning as the starting point for

language education, and teachers should have students use the language as much as possible

to communicate, especially engaging in activities in what Breen describes as

a range of work plans which have the overall purpose of facilitating language

learning from brief and simple exercise types to more complex and lengthy activities

(qtd. in Willis & Willis, 2007, 12).

Such work plans in a CLIL oriented syllabus have students engage in tasks in a closely

defined area of study, such as linguistics or literature.

17

Towards a CLIL Syllabus in Japanese Universities

2.3 Centrality of Texts

Authenticity of materials is a defining notion of CLIL. Too often language education engages

in a formalist approach that marginalizes texts in the language syllabus. In order to make

language meaningful, it is necessary to go beyond the sentence, a language unit without social

value or meaning, and draw students attention by selecting literary, authentic, and commercial

texts, thus getting them involved in language analysis, processing and meaningful engagement

with the text.

2.4 Continuous Assessment

CLIL follows a process model of knowledge assessment. While traditional assessments

models tend toward evaluating students metalinguistic knowledge with final exams, CLIL

offers students a continuous assessment technique which evaluates students knowledge and

performance in smaller increments.

3 What is CLIL?

CLIL is an educational approach in which an additional language is used as the medium

of instruction. Education using the students second language is hardly new. According to

Horace (2011), Conquered Greece took prisoner her rough conqueror and introduced the

arts to rustic Latium (p 10). That is to say, as far back as ancient Rome, when Greek territory,

language and culture was absorbed by the Roman Empire, families educated their children in

Greek in order to afford them the linguistic, social and economic benefits such an education

would provide (Coyle et al., 2010).

Fast forward to the present day, and we can see, as mentioned earlier, that the demands of

globalization influence who learns what language. Although the driving forces of each region

affect how languages are taught, wanting to achieve the best results in the shortest time can

be a common objective. Thus, CLIL draws on both learning theories and theories of second

language acquisition. Learning theories beginning with the cognitive revolution of Bruner

(1960), who broke with behaviorism by saying that learners construct their own meaning, and

Vygotsky (1986), who focused on mentorism and social interactionism in which knowledge