Effects of teacher collaboration on teaching and learning in the content and language integrated learning (CLIL) classroom

Abstract

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) enables students to learn non-language subjects (e.g., history, physics) through a language that they are learning as a(n) additional/second/foreign language (L2). In this way, students are expected to learn content and the target language simultaneously. Bearing this characteristic, CLIL, together with immersion and English medium instruction (EMI), has been promoted worldwide. However, research on the implementation of CLIL has revealed that learners encounter obstacles (e.g., insufficient L2) when learning content knowledge in their L2 and that teachers also face challenges (e.g., integrating content and language) when conducting teaching. To resolve these challenges, collaboration between content and language teachers has been advocated. While previous research has proposed frameworks illustrating the mechanism of teacher collaboration (TC) and identified factors affecting TC, little research has been implemented to examine its effectiveness in enhancing teaching and learning. To address such a gap and to tackle teaching and learning challenges imposed on teachers and students, this quasi-experimental study investigated the effectiveness of TC on teaching and learning in a CLIL higher education classroom. It involved a content teacher and an L2 expert in English with their 50 students in two intact drama classes (n = 25/each) at a Chinese university. The drama lesson lasted for 90 minutes/week in a 13-week semester, and the two classes were assigned to an experimental group where the content teacher adjusted her practice to integrate content and language in collaboration with the language expert, and a control group where she practiced her normal, content-oriented teaching. This study evaluated the effectiveness of TC on teaching and learning through collecting multiple data such as teachers’ meetings, lesson observations, and teaching materials. Through triangulating such data, this study showed how the drama teacher collaborated with the language expert to implement content and language integrated teaching through revising the drama course outline and instructional practices in the lessons. Such teaching in turn affected student learning. To investigate whether students improved their learning, all students were required to complete two character analyses, in which they analyzed a fixed character, and then anyone covered in the course. These two pieces of writing served as the pretest and posttest of the intervention of this study (i.e., TC), and were graded according to content and language criteria respectively. With inferential statistical tests and textual analysis, the study showed that students in the experimental group improved their content and L2 learning with a better essay structure (language) and more appropriate supporting details (content), thereby demonstrating the effects of CLIL. Moreover, interviews with the two teachers and selected students showed how they perceived their TC, teaching and learning process. This study contributes to current research on TC by proposing a revised theoretical framework to guide TC. As one of the very few studies adopting a quasi-experimental design, it also establishes the causal relationship between TC and student learning. This study also offers some instructional insights into content and language integrated teaching to inform pedagogical practices in similar CLIL contexts across the globe.