Evaluating Course books within a

CLIL Approach

BY: Dario Luis Banegas

the university of warwick

Presented BY Fahimeh Najafi and Sahar Zare

Introduction:
Course books are developed through a complex
circuit

The role of teachers in in this circuit is paramount
 Teachers adopt and adapt
 Teachers are critical and active agents and not robots following a
teacher’s guide
 They need to evaluate course books according to their

context, learner's need, and the approach which they seek to

explore

Author's aim
 In this chapter I focus on evaluating language and content in
course books following CLIL (content and language
Integrated Learning)
 1-provide reasons why teachers should evaluate course books
 2-offer outline of CLIL and how it maybe found in course

books
 3-suggests ways in which teachers can decide is a course

book worth adopting

Teachers as course book evaluators
 teachers’ empowerment vs disempowerment

 Mc Gath(2013, p.105) notes that "course books are normally

an investment, in more ways than one
When the course book choice is not in the hand of teachers
 They can still evaluate them to enrich them with context-
responsive teacher- made materials
 Or taking the course book as an exercise
Teachers who are not in a position to make decision can/cannot be
asked to evaluate with/without guidance
 How should a book be evaluated?
 Supported views
 Personal feelings

How can we find a course book that is perfect?
CLIL and course books
 It’s an approach in which learners develop foreign language
learning together with content
 According to Cenzo(2013) CLIL could be conceptualized as an

educational approach or a language teaching approach

 And it could be adopted through two macro models:
 Content -driven
 Language -driven
Geographies of CLIL
 The socio cultural settings where it is implemented and
recourse available
 In Europe it is becoming content-driven
What is content-driven CLIL?
 Teaching of a subject for example History or Science, through a language ,
for example English in Spain
 In this model the focus is on learning the subject matter or curriculum
content and another language at the same time
 Learners learn for example , and the specific genre , grammar , and lexis,
to talk about different Science contents
 Activities and resources scaffold both content and language
 How is assessment?
 Non-language teachers proficient in the target language
 Is CLIL innovative or original?


Language-driven CLIL
 Incorporation of curricular content into the ELT lessons
 Lessons are in teachers’ hands and they may seek support

from their non-language colleagues

 The aim is to learn language and content together
 Materials , activities, assessment prioritize language over

content
Content: how should it be?
 first: it should be curriculum related
 Secondly: the content which is curricular related, needs to

provide a cognitive challenge and be original

 Should provide authenticity of purpose
 Should encourage involvement, discovery, and awareness

Language: how should it be?
 Language should be presented through all skills
 Should help learners not only expand their content-specific

vocabulary but also the language needed to talk about the

content and solve the different tasks proposed by the teacher
 Language triptych
 1-lg of learning
 2-lg for learning
 3-lg through learning
CLIL in course books
 Guidelines for developing CLIL materials
 A)cohesion
 B) stability
 C)flexibility
 D)responsiveness connected to the curriculum
 E)contextualized sources of input and activities
 F)cognitive-rich and language-rich text
 G)inclusion of authentic sources and tasks
Argentina :language-driven in state school and
content-driven in private bilingual schools
 How CLIL is presented in general English course books
 1-little correlation between content and school curricula in 1l
 2-oversimplification of contents
 3-dominance of reading skills development
 Online survey and online data from a multi-case
study ,Morton(2013)investigated teachers’ use of CLIL materials in 4
European country
 1-Teachers did not tend to use materials designed for native speakers
 2-Teachers adapted authentic materials in line with their teaching aims
 3-Teachers developed their own materials from
 4-Teachers were concerned with appropriateness of materials in terms
ofcontent,language, and context
 Both authors suggest that the market can
not cater for all teachers 'need and context
 we can find CLIL books mainly produced for the European
country
 CLIL as a language learning approach , is still at an embryonic

stage
What to look for?
Evaluating CLIL course books
Teachers can choose
1-Course books written in English as a the l1 for the students in
English speaking countries
2-general English language learning course books
3-specially written CLIL course books, which have a European
audience in mind
Coursebook written in English as the L1

 USE a-level study guides for geography, history, and literature to expand on a reading text in an ELT
course book.
 Consider learners' motivation, needs, development and etc. and the curriculum which is expected
to be responded.
 There is no need to follow it strictly as if it were a script.
 According to Tomlinson(2008) we should not treat linguistically low level learners as intellectually
low level learners.
The author asks himself these questions:

 Does the coursebook contain contents and ideologies which are similar to
my own curriculum?
 To what extent is it UK-driven?
 Is it easy to purchase and affordable?
 Is the language accessible?
 Is the book content-rich and language-rich?
 Does it encourage lower- as well as higher-order thinking skills?
 Are texts broken down into manageable units?
 Does it contain summaries?
 Does it contain graphics and useful visual support scaffold learning?
 Does it include a companion website with free access activities?
 Does it come with activities, boxes with key words, or a glossary?
 if there are activities, does it include answer key for self study or peer
correction and reflection?
 Does it flexibility in terms of content organization?
General English language learning course books

 The author is critical with ELT for a number of reasons:

 1. He is a teacher
 2. Course book writers are ELT experts or knowledgeable of

our field
 3. Coursebook still dominate the ELT scene.
 As teacher we need to look for general English coursebooks

where CLIL is systematic and responsibly included rather than

CLIL as a watered down alternative.
General English coursebooks with a CLIL
component:
 What target audience does it does the book aim at?
 Is CLIL included as a regular or add-on component?
 Is a given curricular content the core of unit?
 Is the content relevant and cognitively challenging?
 Is the content related to my school curriculum?
 Is content presented through different oral, audiovisual, and
written format?
 Is the language accessible and scaffolding?
 Are there activities which integrate content and language through
activities which focus on vocabulary, syntax, and discourse?
 Are there activities to promote language of/for/through learning?
 CLIL coursebooks:

 Although CLIL coursebooks are relatively new and tend to be European-focused, teachers may wish
to consider this option because the coursebook approach and rationale are (or should be) based on
CLIL research and theoretical underpinnings.
 The activities must take learners from lower to higher-order thinking skills and that the content
should be complex enough in order to ensure cognitive development and motivation.
 The coursebook should aim at providing learners with language of/for/through learning and
features of subject-specific discourse through awareness raising and explicit notes.
some guiding questions to help teachers decide
whether they wish to adapt a CLIL coursebooks:
 Does the coursebook contents reflect my curriculum and learners’
interests as well as needs?
 Is there variety in terms of sources of input and activities?
 Is the language too easy or too difficult?
 Are there authentic texts or modified texts?
 Is the content too easy or too difficult?
 Are contents related and sequenced?
 Is the coursebooks internally coherent and cohesive?
 Is it flexible? Can I skip parts?
Conclusion:
 It is essential that learners and their context are assessed
against coursebooks and our CLIL aspirations.
 The coursebooks needs to be taken as a tool, not a coreset.
 Evaluating a coursebook is not an easy task because our decision

will have an impact on our teaching and learning practices.

 coursebook evaluation is a process that starts before we teach a

course and continues even after we finish with the course.

 Evaluating coursebooks within a CLIL approach should be seen

as a professional development opportunity to be carried out

collaboratively.
THANK YOU DEAR READERS