Genres in CLIL Subjects

The Genre of Science

CLPA Primària – Carme Florit Ballester

CLSA Secundària – Joan Alberich Carramiñana
Source: Llinares, Morton and Whittaker, The Role of Languages in CLIL, CUP, 2012
 Genres of Science at school

Reflect the process of building

scientific knowledge

School science reduces, simplifies, generalises and idealises

centuries of scientific activity, in order for students to
assimilate important understandings and to move on to
“real science”, i.e. empirical research and dispute.
Veel 1997:167
 Students come into contact with three text types:

PROCEDURES: Texts which instruct them how to carry out

the steps of an experiment or report how one was done.

REPORTS: Texts which organise scientific knowledge.

EXPLANATIONS: Texts which explain scientific processes.

PROCEDURES
A written procedure includes the
following stages:

Aim & Equipment

+
Materials & Method
Example of PROCEDURES
Example of PROCEDURES
 Example of PROCEDURES

Aim Comparing the carbon doixide content of inspired and

expired air
Equipment You can use either lime water or hydrogen carbonate
and indicator solution for this experiment. Lime water
Materials changes from clear to cloudy, but hydrogen carbonate
changes from red to yellow when carbon dioxide
dissolves it.
Method 1. Set up the apparatus
2. Breath in and out gently through the rubber tubbing.
Do not breathe too hard. keep doing this until the liquid
in one of the flasks changes colour.
 REPORTS: three types
1. Descriptive reports:
Classify a phenomenon and then describe its features.

A written Descriptive REPORT includes the

following stages:

Classification
&
Description (divided into Phases)
 Example of Descriptive reports:
Definitions:
Planets are spherical bodies moving around the Sun or
another star.
Classification:
Viruses are very strange organisms.
Description:
Phase 1: They are not made of cells, but just some protein
molecules.
Phase 2: They can not do any of the things living things do,
like breathe or grow.
Phase 3: They can not do amnything until they get inside
another living-cell where they begin to reproduce.
 REPORTS: three types
2. Taxonomic (classifying) reports:
Sub-classify a number of phenomena with respect to
a given set of criteria.
A written Taxonomic (classifying) REPORT includes
the following stages:

Classification System
&
Types
 Example of Taxonomic (classifying) reports:
Classifying:
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia (also
called Metazoa). Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although
some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their lives.

Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently.
All animals must ingest other organisms or their product for sustenance.

Types:
Animals can be classified according to different criteria.
According to its body structure, animals can be vertebrate or invertebrate.
Vertebrate animals are built along the basic chordate body plan: a stiff rod running
through the length of the animal (vertebral column or notochord), with a hollow tube
of nervous tissue (the spinal cord) above it and the gastrointestinal tract below.
Invertebrate animals are animal species that do not possess or develop a vertebral
column, derived from the notochord .
 REPORTS: three types
3. Compositional reports:
Describe the components of an entity, that is, part-
whole relationships.
A written Compositional REPORT includes the
following stages:

Classification of Entity
&
Components
 Example of Compositional reports:

Classification of entity:
A house is a type of building in which people live.
Components:
Many houses have several large rooms with specialized functions and several
very small rooms for other various reasons. These may include a living/eating
area, a sleeping area, and (if suitable facilities and services exist) separate or
combined washing and lavatory areas. Additionally, spa room, indoor pool,
indoor basketball court, and so forth. In traditional agriculture-oriented
societies, domestic animals such as chickens or larger livestock (like cattle) often
share part of the house with human beings. Most conventional modern houses
will at least contain a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen or cooking area, and a living
room. A typical "foursquare house" occurred commonly in the early history of
the US where they were mainly built, with a staircase in the center of the
house, surrounded by four rooms, and connected to other sections of the home
(including in more recent eras a garage).
EXPLANATIONS
A written EXPLANATION includes the
following stages:

Phenomenon & Explanation

(in Phases)
+
Extension
Example of EXPLANATIONS:
Phenomenon In many flowers, pollination is carried out by insects.
Sequencial Phase 1
explanation Small insects come to the flowers attrracted by their colour or
sweet scent.
Phase2
The small insect follows the guide-lines to the nectaries,
brushing past the anthers as it goes. Some of the pollen will stick
to its body.
Phase 3
The insect will probably then go to another flower, looking for
mnore nectar.
Phase 4
Some of the pollen it picked up at the first flower will stick onto
the stigma of the second flower when the insect brushes past it
because the stigma is sticky.