{"id":83044,"date":"2017-08-27T01:45:39","date_gmt":"2017-08-26T23:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paleopatologia.it\/step-by-step-organisation-of-a-university-clil-course\/"},"modified":"2017-08-27T01:45:39","modified_gmt":"2017-08-26T23:45:39","slug":"step-by-step-organisation-of-a-university-clil-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paleopatologia.it\/step-by-step-organisation-of-a-university-clil-course\/","title":{"rendered":"Step-by-step organisation of a university clil course"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laura Cignoni*, Antonio Fornaciari**,
\nFrancesco Coschino***, Gino Fornaciari***
\n*Institute for Computational Linguistics – National Research Council of Pisa (CNR)
\nPisa\/Italy
\n**Section of Medieval Archaeology, Department of Archaeology and History of Arts
\nUniversity of Siena, Siena\/Italy
\n***Division of Palaeopathology – Department of Oncology, Transplants and Modern Technologies in Medicine. University of Pisa, Pisa\/Italy
\nlaura.cignoni@ilc.cnr.it<\/a>,<\/u><\/em> a.fornaciari@teletu.it<\/a><\/u><\/em>, francesco.coschino@gmail.com, gino.fornaciari@med.unipi.it<\/a><\/u><\/em><\/p>\n

Abstract \u00a0
\n This paper reports on the organization of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) University courses in funerary archaeology held at the Division of Palaeopathology of Pisa University. We outline the different steps involved in the practical implementation of the proposed approach, which include choice of topic, linguistic content, tasks and strategies, and we describe the ways in which CLIL can be used both in the classroom and in archaeological fieldwork excavations for teaching of the discipline and practical experience with leading scholars in the field. Each two-hour lesson slot is divided into four parts, devoted to both the receptive (reading, listening) and productive (writing, speaking) skills, which constantly expose the students to language, helping them understand the contents of the discipline. It is necessary to take into account the additional difficulties students attending the courses might have, which are due to their having to learn basic and academic language skills and new subject concepts at the same time. All the material relevant to the course is simplified and adapted to the needs and language of the students, who are supported by authentic materials in the form of text-books, articles, tutorials, illustrations, audio and video recordings, and by a number of\u00a0 activities ranging from gap-filling exercises, matching words with their definitions, jumbled sentences, sentence formation, preparation of posters, powerpoint demonstrations. The trainees are also involved in increasing an ongoing bilingual English-Italian glossary and contextualized English grammar. Working individually, then in pairs and in small groups, they are responsible for the different areas of the discipline. Funerary archaeology is the study of death, ancient burials and human skeletal remains, body disposal, etc., and includes skeleton anthropology, bone diagenesis, taphonomic anthropology, as well as other features comprising excavation phases, techniques and tools employed, field archaeology.
\n Keywords: CLIL, funerary archaeology, field archaeology, teaching strategies<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Introduction<\/h3>\n

Over the past decade, CLIL has been considered to be one of the most innovative approaches to foreign language teaching. CLIL methodology consists in teaching a curricular subject through the medium of a language other than that which is normally used, and is aimed at improving language competences by studying content through different perspectives. CLIL methodology enhances learners\u2019 confidence in both the language and the discipline that are being taught, and is expanding rapidly in both public and private schools and universities in many parts of Europe, also in Italy [5].
\n In this paper, we describe the organisation of CLIL-based funerary archaeology courses conducted by a palaeopathologist from the Division of Palaeopathology of the University of Pisa, two archaeologists acting as fieldwork instructors from the Section of Medieval Archaeology of the University of Siena and the Division of Palaeopathology of the University of Pisa, and a language teaching consultant working as researcher at the Institute for Computational Linguistics (CNR) in Pisa.
\n The courses, on an optional basis, are addressed to Italian University students attending the first cycle, three-year degree and <\/strong>involved in archaeology and physical anthropology. The students registering for 18-hour three-credit courses running at a rate of 2\/3 hours a week need to have a minimum knowledge of the language, which is the condition requested for attendance to the classes. A multiple choice English grammar entrance test followed by an interview with the language teacher help establish the students\u2019 language level [3].
\n At the beginning of the courses, the students need to familiarize with the specialist language of funerary archaeology, using contents which are explored in-depth with the content instructor, and at the same time to revise the different areas of the English grammar system with the language teacher. Both grammar and content delivery are handled in English. The content and language instructors check any previous knowledge the students might have on the subject, in order to allow them to build new information on what they already know and to consolidate the new data that have been acquired, according to the constructivist model of learning [2].
\n For the teaching to be effective, it is important to plan each lesson carefully, setting realistic goals, choosing the suitable materials, and developing and organising activities for the students. Using the foreign language within the context of a specific subject makes the work more authentic, meaningful and motivating. The decisions taken by the instructors range from the choice <\/strong>of <\/strong>the <\/strong>textbook and other readings including books, articles, encyclopaedia entries, internet publications, etc., to the selection of audio and video recordings in the form of lectures, documentaries, tutorials. At the beginning of each lesson, the students are informed about the subject that is going to be treated and discussed, and the exercises, specific tasks and more general activities that will be carried out. Relevant content material drawn from the texts is adapted to the needs of the students, who are repetitively exposed to the subject-specific language, and the most important and useful, or problematic words and expressions are stressed, repeated and consolidated through different exercises and activities.
\nThis paper is structured as follows: Section 1 describes the general features of the CLIL approach, and of the funerary archaeology courses. Section 2 outlines the organisation of the classes, the first decisions made by the instructors, and choice of the materials. Section 3 lists a number of exercises and activities that can be performed during the courses and section 4 comments on the organisation of the classrooms. Finally, section 5 focusses on the importance of CLIL methodology for fieldwork activities.<\/p>\n

2. Lesson planning<\/h3>\n

The textbook chosen for the courses is \u201cThe Archaeology of the Dead<\/em>. Lectures in Archaeothanatology<\/em> [11], which is made up of 10 lectures, each focussing on a particular aspect of archaeothanatology, and introducing to the basics of the discipline. Each lesson of the course is organized around a specific topic (types of burials, decomposition processes, anatomy of the body, disturbances, etc.). Content material can be downloaded from the site of the Institute https:\/\/www.paleopatologia.it\/<\/a>, or delivered through photocopies, or powerpoint presentations, and presented to the students by the content instructor and language teacher working in collaboration.\u00a0
\n The first introductory lesson consists in showing the different phases of putrefaction of the corpse, and these are explained through a sequence of images appearing in Duday\u2019s introduction. We try as much as possible to supply the explanations of particular types of burials, or places, or processes with clear illustrations, or photographs, and other similar materials in both printed or digital format acting as visual support for the understanding of content area phenomena [15], while the basic vocabulary required for the understanding of each topic is listed at the beginning of the lessons [9]. The same vocabulary is included in an ongoing English-Italian glossary of funerary archaeology terms constantly enriched with specialized terms and definitions drawn from authoritative texts. Some of these definitions are used to illustrate the explanations of specific language items of a contextualized English grammar [8]. The main grammar items of the English language (articles, adjectives, nouns, pronouns, verb tenses, conditional sentences, etc.) are extrapolated from the text, and are explained or revised.
\n Particular emphasis is given to the functional language that can be useful and necessary to talk about the subject area, e.g. to explain what can be seen in a picture, to describe causes and effects, to speculate. Different ways of hypothesizing (it could be<\/em>, it might be<\/em>, it must be<\/em>), suggesting (I think it is<\/em>, it looks like<\/em>, it is likely to be<\/em>, etc.) are associated with specific language items and structures, that need to be taught and practiced again and again. The language structures and expressions are often determined by the subject matter (e.g. passive is found<\/em>, were recovered<\/em>; or past tense to describe, for instance, excavations carried out on particular sites, or when describing a slide in the foreground<\/em>, in the background<\/em>, on the left<\/em>, on the right<\/em>, etc.). At the very beginning of the CLIL courses, the language teacher insists on the importance of using short sentences, privileging the use of coordinate and not subordinate clauses, emphasizing on the correct word order in English sentences (subject + verb + object + manner + place + time). The vocabulary and language structures that the participants in the courses acquire through CLIL are a lot more demanding than those they generally learn in traditional classes, as the content they are working with is of a very specific nature.
\nAt the beginning of the courses, major attention is concentrated on lower order thinking skills like describing\u00a0 (\u201chere we can see the epitaph<\/em>\u2026\u201d, \u201cthe crypt contains<\/em> \u2026\u201d, or defining (a barrow\/mound is<\/em> a<\/em>\u2026..\u201d), or classifying (burials can be primary<\/em>, secondary<\/em>\u2026), while at a later stage there is more emphasis on the higher order thinking skills like explaining (the upper part of the body is<\/em> \u2026, the lower part is<\/em>\u2026), narrating (\u201cin the 17th century<\/em>, the custom of burying<\/em>\u2026\u201d), or hypothesizing (\u201cthey must have used<\/em>, they may\/might have been<\/em>\u201d…).<\/p>\n