SOME EXAMPLES OF THE USE OF BASQUE IN CLIL CLASSROOMS

This section aims at presenting some of the most common uses of Basque in CLIL mostly by teachers but also by students. It illustrates examples of classroom language use. After analyzing the data from the classroom observations and the teacher interviews, we identified four trends:

• Teachers’ perception of the general role of Basque and English • Teachers’ use of Basque as a scaffold

• Students’ use of Basque • Multilingual practices

4.1. Teachers’ perception of the general role of Basque and English

The following examples provide information about the different perceptions that teachers can have of the role of Basque and English in the CLIL class.

Teacher 1 (T1), who teaches a subject related to digital literacy and technology to second graders, considers that that learning English is one of the aims of the CLIL class. For this reason, English is the main language used for communication and the main language of the classroom:

“Well, this is something that we tell them in the beginning of the course… that one of the aims of this is to learn English. In fact, when they work on their ‘group plan’ in the beginning of the course, to learn English is one of the aims they write.

So I think it is something they are asking, that’s why they have enrolled this class. I think we all have that in mind, the idea that we’ll be using English as much as we can, the idea that English should be our language of communication.(…) So I try to explain things in English as much as possible (I don’t have any problem to switch to Basque in a moment), and I think students acknowledge that.” (T1 4:19)

Her words are in line with classroom practices that were observed. Students in this class receive both communicative and academic input in English, and the teacher often encourages students to use English.

Teacher 2 (T2) is a biologist who teaches anatomy in English for high secondary school students. When asked about the languages in his CLIL classroom, he says that Basque continues to be the main language for student-teacher communication:

“The main language in our classroom is Basque, because it is how they – students- communicate with me. English is like a source of information let’s say (…) However, the language used for all my explanations is English, the test they have to pass is in English, the materials they have to work with are in English… The idea is that if students were abroad and had to work using English, they could say OK, although I don’t express myself in this language, I am able to work with it. It’s like I can use what I know to get something, to get anatomy, I’m using English to get a good level of anatomy. Yes, like a tool.” (T2 2:30)

His words are in line with the observation data, which showed clear code-switching moments in different stages of his class. English and Basque had two different functions in this class. English was the language for content transmission and teacher explanations, questions or instructions for tasks. Basque was used by students and the teacher for talking about the personal experiences or anecdotes, class management or when talking about the exam, or any other interaction that was not the curricular content.

4.2. Teachers’ use of Basque as a scaffold

Even though teachers’ understanding of how to use language may vary, both T1 and T2 used Basque as a resource to facilitate the comprehension of curricular content. The following is an example where T2 makes use of their L1 as a natural resource in everyday classroom practices.

(In a teacher-centered lesson, after a long explanation on the urinary system by the teacher in English, suddenly switches into Basque.)

T2: Zalantzak? Nefronena jarriko dizuet berriro. (shows picture on the slide) Ulertu behar duzuena da bi zatitan egiten dela (…) hemen filtrazio gehiago dago, eta ura eta beste sustantzia asko tubulo hortatik pasatzen dira eta gero odolarekin nahastean disolbatzen da. T2 1:12

T2: Questions? I will show you the nephron part again (shows picture on the slide). What you have to understand is that this happens in two parts (…) there is more filtration here, and water and many other substances go through the tubules and are dissolved when they are mixed with blood. T2 1:12

This example shows how the teacher, even though students are not asking for a translation has considered that is necessary to highlight a specific point in his previous explanation and decides to use Basque. He uses Basque to make sure content has been

The Use of Basque when English is the Medium of Instruction: Practices and Pedagogical Implications

understood. This strategy is often used by this teacher to check comprehension. In fact, many similar instances were identified in the data, both to facilitate the comprehension of academic content and to make instructions understood when they needed to be clarified because of their complexity.

Our findings suggest that Basque was also used for vocabulary explanations as in the following excerpt.

St: What is grab?

T1: Heldu (to grab), kasu honetan bere atentzioa erakarri. To grab the readers attention. Both teachers provided translations as common a strategy if students did not understand the lexicon.

Students’ use of Basque

In this given context where students only had 3 or 4 hours of instruction in English and limited exposure to it outside the classroom, students kept using their L1, Basque, in interaction among them. As T1 explains as she talks about her students: “they always use Basque among them, and they sometimes try to use English” (T1). T1, in fact, would remind students to use English in class. In the same line, in the T2 classroom, where there were no language rules, Basque was the main language used by student. In fact, the observation showed that English was used to respond to teachers’ questions when a short, simple, yes/no, number answer was required. For longer and more complex answers, students used the L1 in interaction.

4.3. Multilingual practices

In this context of language use where more than one language is used in the classroom naturally, interesting teacher-student interactions took place. The following is an example of T1 who is trying to explain her students about an extra event they could attend to carry on a task:

St: Ordu bat bakarrik edo bi? (St: Only one hour or two?)

T1: From half past two to half past three St. Noiz da hori?

(St: When is that?) T1: Next monday St: Nik azterketa daket. (St: I have an exam)

T1: Ok, so you have an exam on Monday.

In this excerpt, T1 and a student are interacting using two languages: English in the case of the teacher and Basque in the case of the student. This shows how the teacher acts as language model for students and tries to keep English as the main language of the classroom while the student prefers to use the L1. It is also interesting to observe that the situation is legitimized in the classroom.

However, the use of Basque by students can also affect the language chosen by the teacher. As shown in the excerpt, there are situations where the teacher decides to follow the student’s language.

T2: So in that case can you explain me positive feedback? St: Ba jaiotzeakoan umea, erditzean adibidez.

T2: seinale horrek adierazten du hormona bat askatu behar dela, uzkurtzeko umetokia. (T2: that signal means that a hormone has to be released, to contract the womb.)

5. CONCLUSION

The aim of this paper was to provide a picture of classroom language use, specially focusing on the use of the L1, Basque, in CLIL. Although the study is still in progress, several conclusions can be taken.

The findings suggest that Basque, as it is the main language of students and teachers, is very present in these programs where English is the medium of instruction. First, we could say that what teachers believe and understand as CLIL shapes language use in the classroom. In the examples above of T1 and T2, different views on the role of language in CLIL where shown. While T1 considered learning English as an aim and decided to use it as much as she could and encourage students to use it, T2 thought of language as a tool for learning, but not that much as a goal. This also shows the flexibility of the approach, where teachers’ choices and beliefs differ and affect students language use (Lin, 2015). In addition, the teachers did not understand CLIL as an English-only approach, which led them to use and legitimize the use of Basque in the classroom naturally.

Second, in these settings, the L1 is a common and useful pedagogical tool. The observations showed that Basque was commonly used as a resource to help students understand complex ideas or vocabulary, among others. These findings are in line with other research carried out on the use of the L1 in CLIL classrooms in similar settings (Arocena Egaña, 2018) where different functions of L1 use were identified.

In this setting where students feel the freedom of using their L1, little effort in made on trying to communicate in the target language, so we can conclude that students rarely use the target language in interaction. The limited exposure to the target language in this context may also be a reason for students to use Basque together with the fact that the presence of English in society is limited. In this situation, we could argue that students are not fully developing their productive skills in the foreign language.

Our findings also show instances of the CLIL classroom as a real communicative setting where the mother tongue and the foreign language coexist and both teacher and students navigate between languages. A deeper analysis is needed to conclude how these multilingual practices can have a positive effect on the process of learning in CLIL settings.

This paper has described briefly some practices on the use the L1 of the students and teachers in a given context, taking experiences from two classrooms in secondary Basque schools. While the aim of this paper was to get some insights of classroom realities and explore the use of the L1 in the CLIL classroom, we are aware that L1 use is a complex phenomenon and these instances need to be contextualized and analyzed in more depth before general conclusions are reached.

FUNDING

This work was supported by the MINECO/FEDER [grant number EDU2015-63967-R] and the Basque Government [grant number DREAM IT-714-13].

The Use of Basque when English is the Medium of Instruction: Practices and Pedagogical Implications

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arocena Egaña, E. (2018): “Euskararen eta gaztelaniaren erabilera ingeleseko irakaskuntza- saioetan”, Tantak, 30(1), pp. 37–55.

Cenoz, J. and Gorter, D. (2017): “Translanguaging as a Pedagogical Tool in Multilingual Education”, in Cenoz, J., Gorter, D., and May, S. (eds): Language Awareness and Multilingualism. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 309–321.

Coyle, D., Hood, P. and Marsh, D. (2010): CLIL : Content and Language Integrated Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Doiz, A. and Lasagabaster, D. (2017): “Management teams and teaching staff: do they share the same beliefs about obligatory CLIL programmes and the use of the L1?”, Language and

Education, 31(2), pp. 93–109.

Gierlinger, E. (2015): ““You can speak German, sir”: on the complexity of teachers’ L1 use in CLIL”, Language and Education, 29(4), pp. 347–368.

Kontio, J. and Sylvén, L. K. (2015): “Language alternation and language norm in vocational content and language integrated learning”, The Language Learning Journal, 43(3), pp. 271–285.

Lasagabaster, D. (2013): “The use of the L1 in CLIL classes: The teachers’ perspective”, Latin

American Journal of Content & Language Integrated Learning, 6(2), pp. 1–21.

Lin, A. M. Y. (2015): “Conceptualising the potential role of L1 in CLIL”, Language, Culture and

Curriculum, 28(1), pp. 74–89.

Lo, Y. Y. (2015): “How much L1 is too much? Teachers’ language use in response to students’ abilities and classroom interaction in Content and Language Integrated Learning”,

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 18(3), pp. 270–288.

Méndez García, M. del C. and Pavón Vázquez, V. (2012): “Investigating the coexistence of the mother tongue and the foreign language through teacher collaboration in CLIL contexts: Perceptions and practice of the teachers involved in the plurilingual programme in Andalusia”,

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 15(5), pp. 573–592.

Nikula, T. and Moore, P. (2016): “Exploring translanguaging in CLIL”, International Journal of

Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, pp. 1–13.

Pavón Vázquez, V., Del, M. and Ramos Ordóñez, C. (2018) “Describing the use of the L1 in CLIL: an analysis of L1 communication strategies in classroom interaction”, International Journal of