Onset and expansion of L2 cognitive academic language proficiency in bilingual settings: CALP in CLIL

Abstract This paper sets out to trace the appearance and evolution of academic language structures in a second language, in formal bilingual contexts. The setting of the study was a selection of secondary schools where a content and language integrated approach (CLIL immersion-type programmes) was set up. A corpus was formed of 244 historical narratives, from 4 schools, of subjects from 9th to 12th grade (age range 13–17 years). Analytical software tools such as Synlex (Lu, 2010) were used to consider the evolution of complex syntax and cohesion. The study concludes with observations pertaining to the growth of cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) in content-driven learning settings, the non-linear development of the L2 system and the major metrics which undergo change over the period.

[1]  Michael Stevenson,et al.  Towards a blueprint of the foreign language writer: the linguistic and cognitive demands of foreign language writing , 2009 .

[2]  Jacob Cohen.  Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences , 1969, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[3]  Francisco Lorenzo,et al.  On Complexity in Bilingual Research: The Causes, Effects, and Breadth of Content and Language Integrated Learning--A Reply to Bruton (2011). , 2011 .

[4]  Pieter de Haan,et al.  The development of writing in English and Spanish as foreign languages , 2005 .

[5]  Xiaofei Lu,et al.  Automatic analysis of syntactic complexity in second language writing , 2010 .

[6]  Francisco Lorenzo,et al.  The Effects of Content and Language Integrated Learning in European Education: Key Findings from the Andalusian Bilingual Sections Evaluation Project , 2010 .

[7]  Leslie Grant,et al.  Using Computer-Tagged Linguistic Features to Describe L2 Writing Differences , 2000 .

[8]  Xiaofei Lu.  A Corpus-Based Evaluation of Syntactic Complexity Measures as Indices of College-Level ESL Writers' Language Development , 2011 .

[9]  Tom Morton,et al.  The Roles of Language in CLIL , 2012 .

[10]  Ana Llinares,et al.  Written discourse development in CLIL at secondary school , 2011 .

[11]  Danielle S. McNamara,et al.  Computational assessment of lexical differences in L1 and L2 writing , 2009 .

[12]  Mary J. Schleppegrell,et al.  Understanding the Language Demands of Schooling: Nouns in Academic Registers , 2006 .

[13]  Michael Halliday,et al.  An Introduction to Functional Grammar , 1985 .

[14]  Douglas Biber,et al.  Spoken and written register variation in Spanish: A multi-dimensional analysis , 2006 .

[15]  Christiane Dalton-Puffer.  Discourse in Content and Language Integrated Learning Clil Classrooms , 2007 .

[16]  Peter Robinson,et al.  Task complexity, theory of mind, and intentional reasoning: Effects on L2 speech production, interaction, uptake and perceptions of task difficulty , 2007 .

[17]  B. Bernstein.  The structuring of pedagogic discourse , 1990 .

[18]  K. Maton,et al.  Historical cosmologies: Epistemology and axiology in Australian secondary school history discourse , 2010 .

[19]  R. Ellis,et al.  THE EFFECTS OF PLANNING ON FLUENCY, COMPLEXITY, AND ACCURACY IN SECOND LANGUAGE NARRATIVE WRITING , 2004, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

[20]  Arthur C. Graesser,et al.  Coh-Metrix: Capturing Linguistic Features of Cohesion , 2010 .

[21]  Roumyana Slabakova,et al.  Meaning in the second language , 2008 .

[22]  Michaela Mahlberg.  Lexical cohesion: corpus linguistic theory and its application in English language teaching , 2006 .

[23]  J. Cummins,et al.  An introductory reader to the writings of Jim Cummins , 2001 .

[24]  Fred Genesee,et al.  Learning through two languages: Studies of immersion and bilingual education , 1987 .

[25]  B. Kortmann.  Adverbial subordination : a typology and history of adverbial subordinators based on European languages , 1997 .

[26]  L. Ortega.  Syntactic Complexity Measures and Their Relationship to L2 Proficiency: A Research Synthesis of College-Level L2 Writing. , 2003 .

[27]  Joseph Collentine,et al.  A Multidimensional Analysis of a Written L2 Spanish Corpus , 2011 .

[28]  T. Morton.  Reviewed of Christiane Dalton-Puffer. 2007. Discourse in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Classrooms. Amsterdam: John Benjamins , 2009 .

[29]  M. Tomasello.  Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition , 2003 .

[30]  Caroline Coffin.  Learning the language of school history: the role of linguistics in mapping the writing demands of the secondary school curriculum , 2006 .

[31]  Holger Diessel,et al.  The Acquisition of Complex Sentences , 2004 .

[32]  Elizabeth Rowley-Jolivet.  Oralising text slides in scientific conference presentations: A multimodal corpus analysis , 2012 .

[33]  Roy Lyster,et al.  Learning and Teaching Languages Through Content: A counterbalanced Approach , 2007 .

[34]  Tarja Nikula,et al.  Teacher Talk Reflecting Pragmatic Awareness: A Look at EFL and Content-Based Classroom Settings , 2002 .

[35]  F. Genesee,et al.  Critical Analysis of CLIL: Taking Stock and Looking Forward , 2014 .

[36]  Judit Kormos,et al.  Task complexity and linguistic and discourse features of narrative writing performance , 2011 .

[37]  Xiaofei Lu.  The Relationship of Lexical Richness to the Quality of ESL Learners' Oral Narratives. , 2012 .

[38]  Michaela Mahlberg,et al.  Corpus linguistic theory and its application in English language teachings , 2006 .