Combining TBLT and CLIL to teach English and Chinese in Foreign Language contexts

Abstract

[EN]English and Chinese are the two most widely spoken languages in the world. The United States and China, as the two most powerful countries in the world, have experienced many changes in political and economic status in the few past decades, which leads to a new social phenomenon: that English and Chinese are two of the most demanded foreign languages in non-English-speaking and non-Chinese-speaking countries. As more people around the world are starting to study English and Chinese as a foreign language, there has been a growing interest in developing new methodologies which can facilitate the acquisition of these languages. The aim of this thesis is to try to find a compatible method of foreign language teaching and learning that will contribute to the body of knowledge being created around the teaching of these two great languages. Furthermore, it seeks innovative teaching methods that would provide for Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL) in such a way as to increase the time available for the natural practice of language skills in class. Two prevalent foreign language teaching methods were selected to be combined for this goal: Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT), representing task-centered FL teaching methods, and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), one of the current new FL teaching methods. In addition, this thesis also examines whether the TBLT-CLIL combinations would provide some stimulation in TEFL and TCFL or in any other foreign language teaching field, by exposing their particular features to class experiments. The main aim was to show empirical evidence for the extent to which the combination of TBLT and CLIL could improve FL learners’ motivation to learn the target foreign language naturally. This evidence was sought through class experiments. The other concern was to provide a compatible methodology for FLT researchers and teachers to explore, research and use in all foreign language classrooms, while at the same time stimulating researchers to seek improved foreign language teaching approaches based on this study. Twelve groups, aged between 14 and 22, from five universities and schools in four countries participated in 20 classroom experiments for the two new proposed TBLT-CLIL combinations. After detailed introduction and comparisons of TBLT and CLIL, a questionnaire produced basic information on each participant such as age, gender and linguistic background, before class experiments began. During each experiment a class observation report was produced to record class performance, and post-experiment participant satisfaction evaluation forms were collected. The analysis of all classroom experiments showed some improvements in the two TBLT-CLIL combinations in language skill competence and in FL learners’ motivation regarding target foreign language and subject content compared with their previously used teaching methods. It was the intention of this study to analyze the data as produced, rather than to compare them to other data. Therefore, neither its findings nor conclusions are necessarily generalizable to other contexts and should only be viewed as tentative recommendations that can be taken into account when teaching EFL or CFL or any other foreign languages. The perspective intends to be an open field and topic, requiring further research from future pioneers in the foreign language teaching field.