UNIT 2- LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-Understanding Language across Curriculum
Part 1-BEd notes
Prepared by
Sabarish P
Contents
- Teacher in the global context- Linguistic skills for professional communication in world-wide classrooms
- Linguistic plurality and multi-cultural education with special reference to Indian context
Understanding Language across Curriculum
A Language Across the Curriculum (LAC) approach is one that integrates language learning and content learning.
LAC is an approach to learning that focuses on improving language proficiency in all subjects in order to enhance students’ learning and outcomes.
LAC acknowledges that language education does not only take place in specific subjects such as English Lessons, but language learning also takes place in each and every subject; in every learning activity; and across the whole curriculum.
LAC emphasizes that language development is the responsibility of all teachers across the school and in all subject areas.
It involves a focus on the use of English in each subject, as each subject area has both similar language to other areas and its own specific language usage and style.
Each subject area also has its own specialized vocabulary and different writing genres, e.g. Science report writing is different to History report writing.
Teacher in the global context
Language is a tool for conceptualizing content and knowledge and expressing oneself accordingly in a rational, academic style, based on subject-specific conventions and registers.
In every institution of learning, the language of learning and teaching should be developed but by all teachers while disseminating knowledge.
The concept Language Across the Curriculum (LAC), which is old as education is, was researched and introduced as a means of bridging the barriers between content knowledge and language.
In applying LAC, one learns about a subject using the language they are trying to learn, as a tool for developing knowledge and so they develop their linguistic ability in the target language.
The approach here is that one needs to understand the language before one can decode the science in the knowledge presented.
The transformation of schooling inputs into learning outcomes happens in the classroom.
Every element of an education system’s expenditure, from curriculum design through school construction, book procurement, and teacher salaries, comes together at the moment when a teacher interacts with students in the classroom.
How intensively this instructional time is used is a core determinant of the productivity of education spending.
Four variables are very important to enhance the productivity of education spending:
Teachers’ use of instructional time
Teachers’ use of materials, including computers and other ICT
Teachers’ core pedagogical practices
Teachers’ ability to keep students engaged
Linguistic skills for professional communication in worldwide classrooms
Languages are taught/learned to communicate either orally or in writing.
Communication is a complex multi-channel-process, with non-verbal information and verbalized messages inter-woven together.
To develop effective communication, one not only needs to acquire the knowledge of language rules but also to learn to integrate it with the knowledge of the world.
One also learns to use it in proper context, (that is, who one is talking to, when and what one needs to say,) and consequently develops meta-linguistic knowledge, which helps them to understand what language is, what it can do for them, and its potential as a skill.
Bilingual children deal with the two different sets of codes in order to communicate in two languages, and with inter-language interferences as also with code mixing and code switching.
The metalinguistic knowledge of bilinguals helps them to separate sound and meaning or name and object. They also develop better insight in objective and arbitrary property of language.
Through communicative approach teachers try to develop basic language skills, where all the four skills are taken care of.
Students learn to handle complex communicative situations through pair and group work. They also learn basic reading and writing skills.
These basic skills help the children in their day-to-day affairs.
Linguistic skills measure the capacity of individuals to understand and express themselves, both in written and oral form.
Socio-linguists talked of language not as an abstract system but as a tool for communication in society, in meaningful situations.
Socio-linguists also redefined language competence as communicative competence, which meant:
accuracy/grammatical competence, and
fluency, i.e. familiarity with the rules of usage, which included social appropriateness.
There can be many types of communicative syllabus based on the situation.
Possible themes include:
Functions and notions, e.g. thanking, apologizing, seeking help, giving help
Situations, e.g. at the railway station.
Topics, e.g. weather, shopping
Authentic tasks and activities,
Role play and simulation,
Analyses of discourse structure - conversational analysis and discourse analyses–to help learners learn the strategies of how the target language is used to make meaning.
The goal of all these syllabuses is to help learners focus on communication rather than the form or structure of the language.
Students also need to develop higher- level language skills useful for academic purpose.
Critical reading, discussing the material read, and judging its merit should be a part of the language syllabus.
Reading thought provoking academic matters should also be encouraged in language classrooms for higher- level reading skill.
Writing is another skill, which needs special grooming for academic purposes.
Putting down thoughts on paper helps to focus on the topic, it also helps to check its validity, effectiveness and relevance.
Besides, it provides a scope to correct and improve the written material, leading to more organised writing.
Linguistic plurality and multi-cultural education with special reference to Indian context
India is said to be a socio-linguistic giant and the nerve system of this giant is multilingualism.
Indian multilingualism is huge in size, having 1620 mother tongues reduced to 200 languages.
India is not only multilingual but multicultural too, having multiple religions, castes, sects, professions and lifestyles.
Language is the expression of thought processes, belief systems and behavioural patterns evolved through communication among members of the community and the culture it represents.
Language is community specific and is intricately interwoven with the culture it represents.
Language helps members of the community to establish, assert and maintain their identity as individuals and as a group, bringing among them a sense of solidarity.
Every child is born with a language acquisition device having innate properties that plays a role in acquiring knowledge of language.
There are different grammatical systems based on the choice of different parameters, when the child is exposed to them, its innate capacity gets activated and it acquires knowledge of the rules of the language while using it for communication.
When the child is exposed to more than one such linguistic system, it acquires more than one language and is known as multilingual.
Indian education is pyramidal in structure. But the large language base at the bottom falls for short of the mother tongues required to be taught.
Mother tongues are pushed out in devices ways and minority English education is promoted.
Unless Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan becomes Sarva Bhasha Abhiyan, education for all remains a dream.
Multilingual education is such a curriculum and such a method, which builds bridges among languages.
Multilingual education is not a one way bridge having one language behind and moving into another, thus promoting virtual monolingualism.
This is to create competence in the local, regional, national and international languages through building two way bridges, thus ensuring and promoting sustainable multilingualism.
Multilingual education creates its own layered identity, that recognises diversity and respects difference.
Multilingual education recognises that languages are not rich-poor, high-low, powerful-powerless and resourceful-resource less.
If multilingual education is based on the language which the child knows, speak and understands, while moving into reading and writing he/she comes to know the rule governed character of the language.
He/she comes to understand the difference between the spoken and written styles of a language and also between one language and another. His/her imagination is stirred, creatively challenged and knowledge is enhanced.
Prepared by
Sabarish P
(MSc Physics, MEd, NET)Contact: pklsabarish@gmail.com
