Our starting point will be a sociopolitical one: The European Union comprises 24 different languages and has made the „1 + 2 languages“-formula (= L1 + L2 + FL or L1 + 2 FLs) its official language policy. Not to forget that English is still the major international language for communication. English-medium teaching has thus gained ground in many countries around the world. Germany (especially Berlin) has a particularly rich linguistic landscape with regard to content and language integrated learning (= CLIL) in all its educational institutions: bilingual „Kindergärten“, two-way immersion schools (= SESB), bilingual tracks at the secondary school level teaching selected subjects in a foreign language, bilingual modules, project or seminar courses at the A level „Sek II“ etc. All these curricular concepts teach scholastic content in a foreign „working language“ (= Arbeitssprache). The language of schooling (= „Bildungssprache“ in German educational registers) is, however, not identical with the everyday language used among peers in the school yard or in the street. Thus we have to look into the linguistic properties of this special use of language. You are expected to adopt a functional view of language; ie. shun the model of language as rule (particularly the generative and innatist positions). You are invited to see language as a resource for meaning-making; that is, for construing meaning by way of selecting language exponents from the various linguistic sub-systems. The seminar will give you an introduction to Halliday’s „Systemic Functional Linguistics“, and we’ll try to transfer and adapt it to the linguistic demands posed by the various curricular concepts which are based on English-medium content teaching. Since both bi- and multilingualism and bi- or plurilingual education are individual and social phenomena at the same time, we will also have to look at the psychological dimensions involved in intellectual development and in subject-matter learning – and the role language plays as a mediating tool towards cognition: Vygotsky’s ideas on verbal thought and learning in a ZPD / „challenge zone“ are highly relevant here. It is my hope that we can cover the major curricular domains in which English-medium teaching takes place in our schools: the natural sciences and the social sciences plus the preparatory bridging support as well as the exit qualifications to be attained with the „Abitur“. Depending on the second subjects of participants, we might bring in subjets or topis suitable for bilingual modules. · CLIL programmes in the school system: the Berlin Europe-School, bilingual tracks (= „Zug / Zweig“), bilingual modules; subjects taught bilingually; curricular planning, analyzing text books and genres, providing input and output scaffolding (esp. with reading and writing) · functional linguistic analyses of bilingual material: subject-specific texts and tasks, beyond the subject = the notions of a general academic proficiency / advanced biliteracy Recommended pre-reading: Michael Halliday (1985 / 1994): Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold. – Thomas & Meriel Bloor ( 2013): The Functional Analysis of English. London & New York: Routledge [3rd Edition]. You are expected to attend regularly, prepare an oral presentation, upload your slides on the moodle platform [Code: AcadLiteracy2014/15] and use English in class. Depending on the regulations you can hand in a written assignment by mid-March 2015 or later (to be negotiated, if you decide to write it in this field). – Please, register with the office, Frau Eirich, engldida@hu-berlin.de. First session: Oct 20, 2014 |
