Language Across the Curriculum & CLIL in English as an Additional Language (EAL) Contexts

This book will be of interest to a broad readership, regardless of whether they have a background in sociolinguistics, functional linguistics or genre theories.  It presents an accessible “meta-language” (i.e. a language for talking about language) that is workable and usable for teachers and researchers from both language and content backgrounds, thus facilitating collaboration across content and language subject panels. Chapters 1 to 3 lay the theoretical foundation of this common meta-language by critically reviewing, systematically presenting and integrating key theoretical resources for teachers and researchers in this field.  In turn, Chapters 4 to 7 focus on issues in pedagogy and assessment, and on school-based approaches to LAC and CLIL, drawing on both research studies and the experiences of front-line teachers and school administrators.  Chapter 8 provides a critical and reflexive angle on the field by asking difficult questions regarding how LAC and CLIL are often situated in contexts characterized by inequality of access to the linguistic and cultural capitals, where the local languages of the students are usually neglected or viewed unfavourably in relation to the L2 in mainstream society, and where teachers are usually positioned as recipients of knowledge rather than makers of knowledge. In closing, Chapter 9 reviews the state of the art in the field and proposes directions for future inquiry.

Angel Lin is Professor of English Language and Literacy Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. She received her Ph.D. from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto in 1996. Since then her research and teaching have focused on classroom discourse analysis, bilingual and multilingual education, academic literacies and language policy and planning in postcolonial contexts. She has published six research books and over ninety research articles, and serves on the editorial boards of a number of leading international research journals.

“With the publication of this book, teachers, teacher educators, advanced students and researchers can welcome a user-friendly guide to integrating subject-area content and language skills for English language learners. Based on many years’ practical experience with teachers and courses, Lin provides a sound research-based account of how to use a register and genre approach to issues of teacher development and pedagogical content knowledge, cross-subject collaborations, joint curriculum design, and balanced assessment, illustrated with numerous real-world examples. Particularly to be welcomed are the thoughtful review of the research on different approaches and the candid and critical discussion of how to serve students’ best interests while maintaining an honest intellectual commitment to justice, diversity, and creativity. Highly recommended.” (Professor Jay Lemke, University of California, San Diego, Author of “Talking Science: Language, Learning, and Values”)