Title: The Effect of CLIL method in enhancing the Reading comprehension

skills of eighth grader students at Beatriz Miranda de Cabal High School.

Introduction

It is extremely important for graduating students of the English school that belong

to the Educational department to pay attention to all the changes that are

appearing in the field of teaching this language. Different methodologies have been

appearing in the last two decades thanks to experts in second and foreign

languages teaching matters. These experts have been making different

investigations and research in order to prove the effectiveness of the different

methodologies in different context.

Taking into consideration the before mentioned, this research was focus in proving

the effectiveness that the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) have

over the reading comprehension skill of students that course the seventh level in

one of the most important high schools of the Chiriquí Province because it has

been proven that this skill is fundamental when learning any language around the

world and therefore the Panamanian students need to work on it in order to

become successful English language learning.

1.1. Antecedents

The English language has taken an important place in business and education

fields and that is why its teaching has been spread all over the world. Therefore,

many studies has taken place in order to find the best methods, strategies and

tools to teach this important language as the second or foreign language that

students need to learn.

The concept of a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) program was

born around 20 years ago across Europe to meet the expectations of our

globalized world, in which people need to communicate effectively. The program

anticipates to produce an international and multiple-skills approach, bringing in

learners to study non-linguistic subjects through a foreign language. With the pass

of the years, CLIL has increasingly attracted the attention from educational

institutions at the primary, secondary and higher level. Consequently, the

researchers’ community has started analyzing the improvement of qualitative and

quantitative language learning, as well as the positive effects on learning subject

content in the CLIL context.

This thesis details the use of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

method in order to facilitate the teaching and learning of English as a foreign

language since in Panama the context and the environment in which the students

learn the language provide no means of interaction with the language unless that

the learner decide to have it consciously by his or her own means.

The Term CLIL was introduced at first in 1994 by David Marsh who is an

internationally renowned expert on educational innovation, strategy and practice

who has developed education in Finland over 25 years. In simple words CLIL is

applied to teach content using a second or foreign language and what makes this

method interesting is that students will not fell that they are wasting their time by

filling in the blanks grammatical tests and practices but in fact they will be learning

content that they are going to relate with the real life having an important impact in

the students interest and motivation of being learning a foreign language.

Naves (2010), established that CLIL offers the required conditions for language

acquisition to occur, it allows the students to use another language in a more

natural way, in a way that they soon forget about the language and only focus on

learning the topic.

Brevik and Moe (2012), studied the effects of CLIL teaching on foreign language

outcomes. Their participants were four CLIL schools in Bergen and Oslo, as well

as a control group consisting of 10 classes from nine schools from different parts
of Norway. They were tested on listening and reading proficiency. In reading, the

test included finding specific information and understanding details, understanding

main points, understanding text coherence and inference. Brevik and Moe also

found that CLIL instruction has a positive influence on reading proficiency.

Sasajima (2013) stated that CLIL can help to change teachers’ cognition to some

extent: through creating a good classroom atmosphere; not only insisting on using

English in the classroom but helping to create language use contexts; and helping

students to think independently.

Jiménez N.E. (2013), proved in her study that CLIL instruction in a subject like

mathematic increases the general lexical knowledge of the students and benefits

reading comprehension, students that since the beginning showed good reading

comprehension also showed metalinguistic awareness.

Hamidavi, Amiz, and Gorjian (2016), found that CLIL method could enhance the

learners' reading comprehension among both high and low language level

students which is very good due to te fact that not a single classroom in the world

is heterogeneous but homogenous when talking about the students aptitudes and

capacities.
Consequently, the previous studies showed that it is worthy to apply an study that

can prove the effectiveness of the CLIL method in facilitating the English reading

comprehension skills and the language learning skills in general of Panamanian

students.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

In the province of Chiriquí can be noticed that there is a huge difference between

the English language proficiency of students that assist to private schools with

those that assist to public schools, being the ones of private schools the ones that

have a great advantage. And sometime that must be highlighted is that most of the

private schools of the regions apply a bilingual teaching program in which they

have a lot of hours for teaching the reading, writing, listening, grammar, and

speaking English skills as well as teaching subjects such as science of nature,

history, Mathematics, and so on. In this way, it can be said that students of private

schools were learning in a similar way than the Content and Language Integrated

Learning method that integrates the learning of the language by learning content

of different disciplines.

Another relevant aspect to highlight is that students of public schools get bored of

the English lessons quickly mainly because most of the instructions that appear in
the English books, and even the English teaching websites that most of teachers

use to get the didactic material are based on grammatical instructions which

basically are designed to fill in the blanks with parts of speech, to unscramble

sentences to organize them in the appropriate grammatical order or the ones of

choosing the correct answer that mostly are pretty similar to the ones of filling in

the blanks with parts of speech.

The CLIL methodology works as a challenge that encourage the students to

improve their vocabulary acquisition in order to understand the material they are

having taught in the foreign language. Therefore, this aspect functions to create a

motivating environment in which the students are going to participate more actively

in the learning process. Also, talking about the reading CLIL can foster the

improvement of the comprehension skills which will enable the students to acquire

more vocabulary from the content and they will learn how to apply it in context.

That is why is important to develop an study that proves the efficacy of the CLIL

method in the improvement of the students reading comprehension skills.

1.3. Justification

If a person has knowledge of a foreign language vocabulary (it means the person

knows what the words mean and how to use them) but he does not know too much
about the grammatical structure he will be able to communicate his ideas in that

language probably not in a proficient way but at least in a rudimentary one which

breaks the barrier of communication. That is why it is very important for English

Foreign Language students need to acquire vocabulary in that Language which in

this case is English.

There are two ways in which students acquire input in a foreign language and those

are by listening to the words or by reading them. In consequence, it is very

important to find out new ways to improve the English input of the students.

Therefore, this study is justified because its principal goal is to explore if the CLIL

method benefits the English reading comprehension skills of students that also will

benefit the language proficiency of students in general since the students will learn

how to use the English words in grammatical, syntactic, and semantic way.

Furthermore, since there is no a study of the implementation of this mentioned

method to teach English as a foreign language in Panama, it will work as a base

for future research that will benefit professionals of the field of English education,

future graduating university students from the English schools and the students of

public schools in general.

1.4. Objectives

1.4.1. General Objective

To examine the effects that the implementation of the Content and Language

Integrated Learning Method has over the Reading comprehension skills of

students at middle school.

1.4.2. Specific Objectives

 To apply a pre-test in order to observe the English reading comprehension

proficiency that the students have without being taught with the CLIL

method.

 To employ a posttest in order to recognize if there is improvement in the

reading comprehension skills of students after being taught with the CLIL

method.

 To identify what is the attitude that students have toward their English

lessons regarding the aspect of reading comprehension improvement.

 To measure with the help of statistic and numerical charts and graphics the

differences of the results obtained from the pretest and posttest.

  To recognize with the help of a survey what are the methodologies applied

for teachers to deliver the English lessons and how much they know about

the Content and Language Integrated Method.

 To expose the considerations and Suggestions that the results will allow me

to find.

1.5. Scopes and Delimitations

CLIL is a methodology that can be used to improve the different English language

skills of foreign language students. However, this research will be delimited to

prove the efficacy that this mentioned method have in order to improve the English

reading comprehension skills of the seventh grader students. Also, this research

will be applied only at Beatriz Miranda de Cabal high school which is Located in

the District of Dolega. Besides, the proven scopes of this research were to

demonstrate that Content and Language Integrated Learning benefits in great

manner the reading comprehension skills of the students in vocabulary manage

and understanding. Also, the results highlighted that students can feel encouraged

when being taught with the CLIL method instead of using the regular grammatical

methods or any other kind of method that teachers apply to teach them on a regular

basis due to the acquisition of content rather than linguistic knowledge.

2. Theoretical Framework

2.1. Reading

When speaking about reading it must be understood as a complex process, which

integrates several components. When someone starts learning to read, the core

lies on the decoding of letters into words. Therefore, as Braten (2007) denoted a

reading problem must be not being able to fluently decode words and this is the

most common reason for poor reading proficiency. However, when moving forward

to the next level of reading more components come into action and affect reading

proficiency.

In the same track, it can be said that reading is a very active formulation of meaning

in an interactive process which occurs between the knowledge that the reader has

and the information that is given in the text. Consequently, it is noticed that this

previous definition moves beyond the decoding of words, and creates and

emphasis on the interaction that takes place between the reader and the text, and

even more important: what the reader brings to the texts.

Furthermore, William Grabe and Fredricka L. Stroller (2002), defined reading as “a

way to draw information from a text and to form an interpretation of that

information” (Grabe & Stroller, 2002, p. 4), which in other words can be interpreted
as a basic skill to obtain information and that is why is very important for students

to cultivated good reading abilities that will allow them to interpret any kind of

information as they advance in the reading process.

To summarize this point, it is derived from the researchers’ definitions that reading

is an interactive process between the text and the reader. Nevertheless, even

when decoding of words is an important component of this process a proficient

reader must also be capable of drawing on the previous knowledge he has

obtained to interpret the text, and move further in the written word.

2.1.1. The Reading Process

Reading is an intricate process that works to help forming oral language facility,

and encompasses both specific skill development (phonemic and decoding

strategies) and the use of comprehension strategies. The precise ways in which

these processes combine need to be understood by teachers and professionals

because it helps to identify the students’ needs in order to teach them most

effectively. Something that is true and very relevant to take into consideration in

the reading process is that vocabulary is a key component of reading for meaning.

If the learners know the meaning of the words, they are far more likely to be able

to read them and make sense of them within a sentence.

Reading as a concept is very complicated because it involves several parts and

elements, there are some existing models that describes the reading process. For

instances, in some previous researches there is an emphasis in two main models

of the reading processes; the Bottom-Up and Top-down models (Alderson, 2000;

Barnett, 1989; Grabe, 1999; Grabe & Stroller, 2002; Hudson, 1998). However

there are some other researches which talk about a more common approach to

reading which the Interactive model is. This model draws upon features from both

of the Bottom-Up and Top-down models to describe the reading process. To

understand in detail these processes is very relevant when someone works with

reading, and as a consequence of this they will be presented more thoroughly

below.

2.1.2. The Bottom up and Top down Models of the Reading Process

2.1.2.1. The Bottom Up

The bottom-up reading process is that one which involves the decoding of words,

and in fact is the most fundamental process involved in the reading comprehension

process. According to Alderson (2000) the Bottom up approach to teach reading

considers reading as a serial process, suggesting that reading follows a

mechanical pattern. In the own words of Alderson (2000) “the reader begins with

the printed word, recognizes graphic stimuli, decodes them to sound, recognizes

words and decodes meaning” (Alderson, 2000, p. 16).

Each of the previous mentioned components involves sub-processes, which take

place independently of each other. It seems that the sub-processes depend on

prior sub-processes; however, it appears that higher sub-processes cannot feed

back into components lower down (Alderson, 2000). For instance, this means that

identification of meaning does not lead to letter recognition. The sub-processes

thus follows a linear fashion.

In the same way, Grabe and Stroller (2002) have described the bottom-up process

as a process in where “the reader creates a piece-by-piece mental translation of

the information in the text, with little interference from the reader’s own background

knowledge” (2002, p. 32). This means that the bottom-up process connect to

explicit reading, encompassing the explicit information in the text only. The reader

then takes the role of a passive decoder, who has to process each word letter-by-

letter, each sentence word-by-word and each text sentence-by-sentence

(Alderson, 2000; Grabe, 2009; Grabe & Stroller, 2002)

2.1.2.2. The Top Down

Talking about the top-down model it can be observed that what readers can offer

to the texts have an active role in the reading process (Alderson, 2000; Grabe &

Stroller, 2002). In this case the reader has expectations about the text information,
and examines enough information from the texts to either confirm or reject these

expectations (Grabe & Stroller, 2002). In other words, the reader is first to guess

what he thinks the text is going to be about and when he later read the text he can

confirm or notice what the text actually was about.

Goodman (1967) has called the reading process a psycholingual guessing game,

in which the reader has to guess or predict the meaning of the text based on

minimal textual information and maximum use of existing background knowledge.

Furthermore, Smith (1971), claimed that:

In the top-down reading process, non-visual information transcends the

text, and includes reader’s experience with the reading process,

knowledge of the context of the text, familiarity with the structures and

patterns of language and of specific text types, as well as generalized

knowledge of the world and specific subject matter knowledge (Smith,

1971 as cited in Alderson, 2000, p. 17).

To summarize then, it can be said that in the top-down process the reader gets

involved with the text and adds his or her own experiences and knowledge to it.

Hence, the reader contributes as much to the text, as he gains from it.
In short, while the two models presented above, still are reckoned as important

models, they belong to the older research on reading processes and “do not clarify

more recent research advances” (Grabe & Stroller, 2002, p. 31). As a result, new

studies and researches have been done in order to point out new approaches and

models giving to the field of education new tools to benefit the students specially

those who has to learn reading in a foreign language.

2.1.3. The interactive Models of the Reading process

Interactive models mix up characteristics from both models the bottom-up and the

top-down, introducing them as lower and higher levels of processing. In the

following description of the interactive models, these two terms will be used.as a

matter of fact, the current modified interactive models is that one which considers

reading as an interactive process, where the lower-level process standoffs

simultaneously with the higher-levels.

2.1.3.1. Lower-level processing

Taking in consideration what Koda (2004) established, the lower-level processing

starts with decoding, the process of obtaining lexical information from graphic
displays of words. It involves the following sub-components: orthographic

processing, phonological processing, semantic and syntactic processing, lexical

access, morphological processing, automaticity and word recognition, and context

effects.

Then having a look to these components it can be mentioned that orthographic

processing refers to the visual recognition of word forms form the text. This process

then includes letters, letter groups, visual word shapes, and shapes that are letter

parts. Moreover, According to Grabe (2009), orthographic processing is also very

important for recognizing larger letter groups, as well as one or more morphological

affixes. This process then, is quite relevant in the formation of the words repertoire

that a person need to have in order to be able to adequately perform the reading

comprehension process.

In the same way Grabe (2009), mentioned that phonological processing is maybe

the most important element in listening but that in reading it involves matching

phonological clues with orthographic symbols and words, and using phonological

information, to recognize words which is pretty important to learn how to read in

languages that are based in phonological systems such as English. This is a

process that appears not to take place in the Panamanian classrooms in the

English lessons.
Furthermore, the Semantic and syntactic processing turns up available after the

process of word recognition and is used for word-integration and comprehension

processes. In other words, the words that are recognized can spread some

activation to their semantic neighbors, meaning that when a related word is being

accessed, it can by a process of association be activated thanks to a previously

activated word (Grabe, 2009).

It is often said that the lexical process is the same process as word recognition due

to the amount of information that is gathered in both processes happens visually

(Grabe, 2009). However, the lexical process happens when visually processed

word forms are matched with the words in the glossary of terms that reside in the

mind of the reader. The information a word bears orthographically and

phonologically, activates almost automatically all the words in the lexicon that have

many of the same visual and sound characteristics as it happens when a reader

has already learned the word “ate” and then he learns the word “late” (Grabe,

2009). Therefore, the students have to form a phonological vocabulary that helps

them to take advantage of previous learning by transferring that knowledge to the

new learnt words.

The next process in the reading learning is the morphological processing which

involves the recognition of morphological markers (affixes) that helps to prompt

syntactic information associated with the word and isolates the base form (Grabe,
2009). In consequence, when a reader has acquired the stage of morphological

processing he will increase the glossary of words because he will be able to

understand the meaning of words that have been changed by adding affixes to

them.

Something very important to highlight is that the automatized element in the word

recognition is essential in all the above-mentioned sub-components; word-

recognition skills must be automatically performed for fluent reading to happen.

Grabe (2009), explained that automatized here means when the person cannot

stop himself from recognizing the word, or explain how he has accessed the word

meanings. That leads to context effects which can be described as achieving

information form the context in order to recognize a word. This not a sub-

component used by fluent readers, but one that comes into play in order to find

solutions to lack of words meaning and it takes place when a reader slows down

because of processing difficulties.

Moreover, context can work to provide an additional level of information which will

help the reader to recognize the word he does not know yet (Grabe, 2009).

Syntactic analysis occurs at the same time that with word recognition. This process

includes taking in and storing grammatical information about recognized words

(Hellekjær, 2005). This previous mentioned information from words and sentence

structure is essential to reading (Grabe, 2009). At the same time as word

recognition and syntactic analysis takes place, semantic schemes are being

formed and they function as a network of small packets of information linked

together in a meaning unit which works as building blocks of text comprehension.

In the words of Grabe (2009) “The packets of meaning and the network linkages

are built, or activated, as the input from the words and structures being read are

combined”.

In the case of a fluent reader, the lower-level processes of word recognition,

syntactic prompt and semantic scheme occur relatively automatically. When

uninterrupted, the process continues effortlessly and expeditiously in the working

memory (Grabe, 2009; Hellekjær, 2005). However, if the process is disrupted by

an unfamiliar word, the reader might need to interrupt the reading process, and in

this way the reading fluency. This may happens because the information in the

working memory is kept there for just a short period of time, according Hellekjær,

(2005), this time is from about 25 to 30 seconds. On that account, the role of

working memory is very important in lower-level processing, taking into

consideration that it works to support all the processes of word recognition (Grabe,

2009). Nevertheless, the limitations of the working memory, principally the 25 to

30 second period of time, might make slower the reading process, and according

to Hellekjær (2005), this can result in what have just been categorized as read

dropping out of the working memory and being forgotten altogether.

2.1.3.2. Higher-level processing

In general, it can be said that specialists have been established two models

immersed in the reading higher-level processing which have been names as the

text model and the situational model of reading comprehension (Grabe, 2009).

2.1.3.2.1. The text model of reader comprehension:

The text model refers to the reader’s information gathering from the text. When

someone reads a text, new elements of words meaning are persistently added to

a network of ideas from the material read. Many elements reappear repeatedly,

while others are not even considered important and fades away from the reader’s

actual attention. However, those elements that stay are integrated into a text model

of comprehension. According to Grabe (2009), this model consequently represents

the linguistic comprehension that the reader has of the text. Nonetheless, when

engaging with a text, the reader also brings a total different level of interpretation

to the information that is processed, and as a result, this process builds a situation

model of reader interpretation.

2.1.3.2.2. The situation model of reader interpretation:

Talking about the situational model, it can be said that is considered the most

important process for reading comprehension. It standoffs on the process that

takes place when the reader interprets what he or she has read by drawing upon

their own background knowledge to obtain meaning. According to Hellekjær (2005)

there are several aspects that influenced the reader is this model such as goals for

reading, motivation, attitudes towards, and evaluation of the information given.

The most important aspects that will influence the construction of the situational

model are reading for different purposes and reading different types of texts

(Grabe, 2009). In other words, the reader will adjust his or her background

information according to the purpose that they have established for the reading,

for instance, whether it is reading critically for detail or skimming a text to get a

general overview. Considering that the text model develops into the situational

model, in order for someone to become a proficient reader that person has to

master the reading process at both model levels.

2.1.4. Reading Strategies

Reading strategies can be defined as processes that are deliberate and effortful

attempts that the readers execute in order to decode text, understand words and

construct meanings of text; in other words the reading strategy takes places in a

conscious and systematic way. According to some researchers a strategic reader

actively and consciously uses a strategy to gain knowledge from a text, and

organizing his or her reading. (Bråten, 2007; Koda, 2004).

Among the main reading strategies that students need to practice to be able to

comprehend reading effortlessly can be mentioned the inferring, memorizing,

organizing, elaborating and monitoring meaning acquisition form text.

In the case of the inferring strategy the students are going to imply the meaning of

the new words based in the context that appears in the text they are reading. In

other words they are going to use their background knowledge in order to be able

to understand what the new words mean.

In the memorizing strategy what students do is to select the central idea of a

passage and summarize it as a keyword. Next, they recode the keyword as a

mental picture and use additional mental imagery to relate other important facts to

the keyword. They can then recall the keyword when needed, retrieving the related

information. This strategy will help them to store the meaning of the words and

even to comprehend in an easier way the message intended in the text they have

read.

Another important strategy for building up reading comprehension that students

can perform is organizing the reading. For this task the students can use graphic

organizers which illustrate concepts and relationships between concepts in a text.

Graphic organizers are known by different names, such as maps, webs, graphs,

charts, frames, or clusters. The main work that graphic organizers develop is to

help readers focus on concepts and how they are related to other concepts.

Graphic organizers help the learners to read and understand texts in a faster and

easier way.

Taking into consideration the contributions of Gunning (1996), it can be establish

that the elaboration strategy is an additional processing of the text, by the reader,

which may increase comprehension due to it involves forming connections

between the text and the reader’s background knowledge of the subject. Making

inferences, picturing images and asking questions are all types of elaboration

strategies. In other words this strategy involves other strategies that have been

already mentioned. In this strategy the students ask themselves what they know
already, what they have learnt from the text and also what they would like to learn

in a not far future. This process will help them to relate background information

with the new obtained information storing it in their minds more effectively, and at

the same time will allow the students to look for further text in order to increase

their knowledge.

In the same way, there is the monitoring strategy which deals with the students

self-monitoring their comprehension. This strategy takes place when students are

aware of knowing when they understand what they read and when they do not.

They create small strategies to solve problems in their understanding as the

problems arise. In fact, students that have the ability to apply this monitoring

strategy are the ones that succeed the most in the reading comprehension process

because they will apply any other strategy in order to fix their meaning

comprehension problems.

Researches have shown that appropriate instruction, even in the early grades, can

help students become better at their reading comprehension strategies. That is

why that is very important to apply teaching methods and strategies which allow

the students to construct good reading comprehension skills in their native

language as well as in the foreign language they must learn.

2.2. What makes a Proficient Reader

As it has been highlighted in this study, reading is a complex mental process.

Therefore, it is important for specialist and teachers to know and understand how

these mental processes work, and how they influence reading and its outcomes. It

is fairly important to be aware of other components that are required for being a

proficient reader. For instance, Grabe and Stroller (2002), mentioned that

additionally of being a fast, efficient and interactive process, proficient reading is

also a strategic process. Consequently, good readers are those who are always

actively participating in their reading, and use strategies as the mentioned in the

point above to enhance their comprehension of a text (Bråten, 2007). Moreover,

good readers also vary in their ways of reading a text, the range of vocabulary they

have and if he/she is motivated to read.

2.2.1. Becoming an strategic reader

According to Grabe (2009) strategic readers “also engage actively in reading, read

far more extensively, and have the motivation to read for longer periods of time”

(Grabe, 2009, p. 227). Moreover, Grabe (2009), additionally mentioned that

readers who are strategic do engage in difficult and challenging texts, using

strategies that will help them manage the text while the others will avoid this kind
of text due to the difficulties to understand the conveyed meaning. If a student

wants to assure the development of his/her reading strategy, he/she has to

decidedly learn about strategy use, as well as creating the opportunity to

implement the strategies in his/her reading (Anmarkrud & Refsahl, 2010).

In the same way, Anmarkrud and Refsahl (2010) have claimed that having the

students to develop for becoming strategic readers requires the teaching of

reading strategy which has to happen at four levels. In the first level, the student

has to observe and then he copies, then he has to use the strategies together with

someone ( for example a teacher or a classmate), then the student is going to use

the strategies independently but with the teacher’s guidance before being able to

use several reading strategies independently at the final level. To sum up, the

students need to be taught how to develop their reading strategy use; therefore,

teachers have to focus particularly on teaching strategies.

2.2.2. Ways of reading

It is a matter of fact that a proficient reader can vary the way of reading a text.

Some of the most common ways in which a reader can develop his reading are

the skimming, scanning and careful reading ways. Studying the field of reading

proficiency and reading strategies helps to recognize that there are several ways
of describing this subject. Some will claim that these three types of reading can be

also classified like reading strategies. However, the reading strategies show to be

processes in which the reader will find meaning problems solutions and that is why

these ways of reading will be explicitly be pointed out as simple ways that a

proficient reader varies between when reading.

One of this ways is the skimming which is a quickly reading through a text in order

to get an overview over its content, with the purpose to find out if it contains the

information one is looking for. Stangeland & Forsth, (2001) stated that some ways

of skimming can be to look at headers, picture and diagrams, or read the first and

the last passage. For them, the skimming way of reading can be useful when

students are given tasks showing whether they understand the main content in a

text or finding out what the text is about.

In the same way, paraphrasing Stangeland & Forsth (2001), it can be said that

scanning is to search some specific information in a text. The point is to avoid

reading every word, rather the reader is going to jump from word to word in order

to find the information he is looking for.

Then, the last way of reading is the careful reading which the reader uses when

he needs all the information from the given text, the content, the details and the
rest of information that can be read between the lines (Stangeland & Forsth, 2001).

Consequently, the type of reading that the reader applies will depend on the task

he needs to develop.

2.3. Reading in English as a foreign Language

The formation presented before was in general an insight of reading in a first

language or mother tongue. However, it is important to recognize the differences

of learning reading in a foreign language since our Panamanian classrooms we

study English as an important foreign language for the professional future of the

students. As Simensen (2007) mentioned, second or foreign language

comprehension encloses, among other skills, “reading”. Therefore, it is important

to recognize what reading in a foreign language is, as well as how this process in

a foreign language differs from the one in the first language.

Nevertheless, Hellejær (2005) determined that:

“We do not, and indeed find it difficult to, draw a clear distinction between

first and foreign language reading- in fact, it is not clear to what extent

reading in a foreign language is different from reading in a first language”

Regarding this matter highlighted by Hellekjær, it can be mentioned that in fact

both processes can be equal with the only difference that they are developed in

different languages and that is the acquisition and learning processes of the

languages with differ from one another. Whereas, in the following points there are

going to be identified some features that influence the reading process of a foreign

language.

2.3.1. Transference

As it has been mentioned before reading is a complex process in which for a

person to become proficient he requires various skills and strategies. Nonetheless,

it could be possible assumed that is a person is a proficient reader in his first

language he could be proficient as well in a foreign one. This matter is known as

positive transfer between the first language and the foreign language and it has

been one of the older areas of former reading research. In fact, the transfer aspect

is an element which can enable or inhibit the students’ foreign language reading

comprehension because it will depend on the student’s ability to transfer his or her

first language acquired skills to the foreign language.

In the same way, paraphrasing Koda (2007), who has implied three important

criteria for effective foreign language transfer to rely on first language knowledge:
The first one is that for first language to actively effect in the foreign language

reading, the first language resources need to have been well-learned and by

extensive practice be also automatic; contrarily, these effects will not be immersed

without intentional effort on foreign language reading.

The second one, is that the transfer does not finish at any specific point of foreign

language improved reading process; rather than that, the first language resources

are always activated to some extent when these resources are closely associated

with the foreign language reading processes.

The third criteria is that the first language transferred abilities continuously develop

in relation to the Foreign language reading development; useful first language

support resources will integrate with the reading foreign language abilities. As a

result the reader is going to become even more proficient in the reading

comprehension process.

However, Alderson (2005), mentioned that the influence of transfer is often seen

in relation to two conflicting hypothesis (positive and negative transfer), regarding

the matter of whether foreign language reading problems are just reading problems

or language problems. Regarding this matter, for instance Bernhardt & Kamil,
(1995) established that “in order to read in a second language, a level of second

language linguistic ability must first be achieved” emphasizing that it is necessary

for the students to acquire some foreign language knowledge proficiency and

knowledge before being able to succeed in foreign language reading activities.

2.3.2. Foreign Vocabulary Knowledge

A very important subject for students to become proficient and strategic readers is

to have a wide vocabulary (knowing its meaning and its grammatical function)

because it is essential in order to read effectively (Bernhardt, 2011; Grabe, 2009).

For language learners there is a huge gap when it comes to first language and

foreign language vocabulary knowledge undoubtedly. This is because the person

does not acquire the knowledge of the foreign vocabulary from his/her environment

but needs to study this vocabulary in order to learn it. Hence, the Lack of

vocabulary knowledge, and dealing with unfamiliar words, is thus a very influencing

factor which could inhibits the learner’s foreign language reading comprehension

(Grabe, 2009).

As it has been mentioned in the previous points, the recognition of words process

in the lower-level processing helps to activate fluent reading. On the contrary, when

the reader has to stop at unfamiliar words, and he is unable to recognize them, this
can lead to the complete interruption of the reading process, and in this way

burdens the fluent reading. In consequence, something that foreign language

learners need to recognize if that they need to Learn strategies to deal with

unfamiliar vocabulary because their successful development in their foreign

language reading will depend on that.

Former researches on foreign or second language reading, have emphasized that

the reader’s background knowledge is an important factor which has a strong

influence in the reader’s foreign language reading proficiency. As Bernhardt

(2011), pointed out the first-language cultural and linguistic background knowledge

is a major base factor which contributes the reconstruction of a second-language

text. In this manner, what the readers can know about a topic can decide how much

they are going to be able to extract from a text. Although as Koda (2004) has

pointed out, it is necessary to keep in mind that it is not an easy task to determine

whether those students that have more vocabulary read better, or whether those

who read better know more vocabulary. On the other hand, it is observable when

working with foreign language reading that students can take advantage of

knowing strategies that allow them to apply their vocabulary background

knowledge when reading by comparing their grammatical functions and the places

they take according to the different grammatical structures.

Something very important for language learners and for language educators is that

all language learners need to become strategic readers when dealing with texts in

a foreign language. As a matter of fact, in the way the students are taught to work

with the texts in the foreign language they are learning is essential for further

development in their foreign language proficiency. For example, if the students are

not taught to apply appropriate reading strategies to handle difficult texts with

unfamiliar vocabulary for them, this may hinder the students’ reading progress in

the foreign language (Grabe, 2009).

2.4. What CLIL is

The methodology known as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), is

a generic umbrella term for content-based education that is given in bilingual

education field such as it is in our public Panamanian educational institutions

where the teaching of English as a foreign language is mandatory. Also, the CLIL

term could refer to any type of educational approach in which a foreign language

or second language is used as a means to teach curricular content that is not

related to the teaching of the linguistic aspect of the language (here in Panama

this is commonly seen in the privates schools where they study for example

Science of Nature in English). Talking about the history of this method, the records

expose that it has been spreading throughout Europe since the mid-nineties partly

because a commitment of the European Union to promote continent whose

citizens are multilingual. Moreover, this methodology has been also adapted by

the Canadian and U.S.A. educational systems thanks to the increase of several no

English speakers’ population and it has been proven to be very successful in

matters of learning a second or foreign language.

Furthermore, globalization has changed the world that nowadays is interconnected

in such ways that were not taught some decades ago and the fast development of

new technologies is making easier the exchange of information and knowledge all

over the globe (mainly obtained in the lingua franca English), this evidently has

affected the manner in which people learn and the form educators teach

languages; in an integrated world, integrated learning need to be considered as

one of the most modern ways of language educational approach.

CLIL is a type of methodology that encompasses several different educational

models which have been introduced with various degrees of success in many

different countries around the globe. While is developed, CLIL has been seen as

a “flexible system which responds to a very wide range of situational and contextual

demands” (Coyle, 2005).

Something that can be quickly understood by professionals that apply the CLIL

method is that it integrates content and language in a way that the learning of
content from any subject can happen through the use of a foreign language or that

the learning of the foreign language can occur by studying a content-based subject

(Marsh, 2000).

It has been pointed out that the application of CLIL to instruct can increase

motivation and the level of students’ interest by expanding the methods and forms

of teaching and learning applied in the classroom. (Grabe and Stoller, 1997)

Taking CLIL as a teaching method, many of the proposed approaches around the

world have followed the path established by two relevant characters in the field,

Cummings and Coyle:

Cummings (1981), proposed that if a language that is not the mother tongue is

used in the teaching process, there are two different notions that should be taken

into consideration, the everyday language that students use to interact with each

other and the academic language that would take more time to acquire. In other

words, it is going to be easier and faster for students to acquire the language with

communicative purpose than the one of academic purposes taking into

consideration that these students live in a country in which English is the second

language of the students but the mother tongue of the population (as for example

U.S.A. or Canada).
In the same way, Coyle (2005) has stated that in the classrooms in which CLIL is

used four parameters should be considered in order to develop the lessons

successfully:

This Framework that emphasizes the 4Cs of CLIL begins with content (that deals

with the material to learn) and centers its attention on the interrelationship between

content (subject matter), communication (language), cognition (thinking and the

strategy to learn) and culture (the students’ awareness of themselves and others)

to rely on the coaction of integrating learning (content and cognition) and language

learning (communication and cultures). In other words, this model unites learning

theories, language learning theories and intercultural understanding.

After proposing the 4Cs Coyle (2005), determined that the language used in a CLIL

lesson needs to incorporate the 3As lesson planning tool which suggests analyzing

the learning of language adding necessary functional language for learning the

content and using all this language to manage the cognitive demands of the lesson.

In the same way, Cummings (1981), proposed another tool to evaluate the

cognitive and language demands when designing materials and tasks for the CLIL

classrooms. The learners initially are required to develop low demanding exercises

and their difficulty level has to increase following the scaffolding theory. The

Cumming Matrix:
 Cummings, 1981

Based in the information stated by Coyle and Cummings it can be established that

the CLIL main goals are:

 To make the students to develop skills which allow them to have intercultural

communication.

 To prepare the students for a globalized world.

 To provide different opportunities in which the student is able to learn

content by way of different perspectives.

 To introduce specific terminology of a subject matter in the target language.

 To improve in general all the target language skills of the students.

 To develop oral as well as written communication skills.

  To diversify the teachers practices in the classroom to teach content and

language.

 To encourage the students to learn by creating a motivating environment.

To sum up this point, a relevant aspect is that the CLIL methodology look for

immersing the students in the globalized world which is very demanding and

provides them with the opportunity to be future competent and proficient

professionals in several areas besides just the language itself.

2.4.1. Pedagogical Framework of CLIL

According to Darn (2006), a lesson that is based in the CLIL methodology has to

look at content and language in equal proportions, and in order to be effective it

often needs to follow a four-stage framework.

The first stage established by Darn (2006), is to process the text. According to him

“The best texts are those accompanied by illustrations so that learners can

visualize what they are reading”. Therefore, considering that the students are

working in a foreign language, it is necessary that the teachers facilitate to the

learners structural markers in texts which will allow them find their way through the
content. According to Darn (2006) “these markers may be linguistic (headings,

sub-headings) and/or diagrammatic”. This process is necessary to help the

students to identify the core knowledge of the text, and thanks to this organization

the analysis of the text can be performed in an easier way.

The second stage is the Identification and organization of knowledge. This process

has better results when is process diagrammatical structures. According to Darn

(2006), “these structures are known as 'ideational frameworks' or 'diagrams of

thinking', and are used to help learners categorize the ideas and information in a

text”. There are several types of these diagrams; as for example there are some

that are used for classification of groups, hierarchies, etc. others are the flow

diagrams and timelines which help to organize sequenced thinking such as

instructions and historical information. Moreover, the tabular diagrams are the

ones used to describe people and places, and the combination of both. This

diagrammatical structures of text has to be created to facilitate the learning and

the creation of activities that are not only focused on language development but

on the core content knowledge as well.

The third stage is known as language identification. According to Darn (2006) in

this stage “learners are expected to be able to reproduce the core of the text in

their own words”. Something important to remark for the teachers is that due to

students will require to apply both simple and complex language, it is important not
to grade the use of language involved, even though the teachers have to highlight

for the students to apply useful language in the text and to categorize it according

to function. In other words, the students need the apply language in ways that they

are able to do processes such as comparison and contrast, location or description

of a process, but may also require some discourse markers such as adverb

phrases or prepositional phrases. In the same way, common vocabulary as

collocation, semi-fixed expressions and set phrases have to be paid attention as

well as the subject and academic vocabulary that they will be learning with the

development of the instructions.

The last stage is going to be recognized as the Tasks the teacher will have the

students doing. In this stage a variety of tasks must be provided, taking into

consideration the specific learning purpose of the lesson as well as the students’

needs. According to Darn (2006):

“Receptive skill activities are of the 'read/listen and do genre. A menu of

listening activities might be”:

 “Listen and label a diagram/picture/map/graph/chart

 Listen and fill in a table

 Listen and make notes on specific information (dates, figures, times)

 Listen and reorder information

 Listen and identify location/speakers/places

 Listen and label the stages of a process/instructions/sequences of a text

  Listen and fill in the gaps in a text”

The tasks that are designed for production demand to be orientated according to

the subject that is being studied, in that way both content and language are going

to be reused and in that way the students will be able to store in their minds the

use and meaning of words. Something very important that teachers need to

recognize is that because this teaching is more focused in the core-text than the

teaching of language more support is required than in those regular English

lessons.

According to Darn (2006):

“Typical speaking activities that can be develop in the CLIL task include:

 Question loops - questions and answers, terms and definitions, halves

of sentences

 Information gap activities with a question sheet to support

 Trivia search - 'things you know' and 'things you want to know'

 Word guessing games

 Class surveys using questionnaires

 20 Questions - provide language support frame for questions

 Students present information from a visual using a language support

handout”.
2.4.2. Description of lesson planning in CLIL

Many important factors has to be taken into consideration when planning a lesson

based in the Content and Language Integrated learning. The first step that teacher

has to do is to think about content-area skills and concepts that can interrelate in

the most adequately way with the goals of the language teaching. Also, the teacher

needs to think about the language competences that the students need in order to

study the content, the necessary cognitive skills the student must master to

perform the tasks related to both the content and the foreign language, and lastly

about the possibility of integration among the content with language goals and

cultural concepts because it is necessary to reach a balance among language

culture and content (Curtain & Dahlberg, 2010).

Subsequently, the next step in planning is related to selecting the content area. In

this case the concepts have to come from any of the academic subjects in the

curriculum such as: science, mathematics, social studies, health, music, art, FDC,

or civic education. The Foreign language educator has to determine which

concepts lend themselves in the best way for being teaching in English. This

decision could be taken accordingly with the subject that the teacher feel more

comfortable with; however, he or she can also ask the cooperation of the subject

teacher or the class teacher who has the specialty to teach the academic subjects

to the class in order to avoid any kind of mistake regarding to the content. Then, it
is also necessary to choose a specific theme or topic which must be motivating,

interesting and relevant to the learners as well as for the teacher. In other words,

this topic have to be connected to real-life situations and supply a context for

meaningful, authentic discourse and interaction and in this way promote the

development of appropriate, useful and real-life language functions and

communication modes, as well as to connect to the target culture as much as

possible (Shin, 2007). Furthermore, the selected topic needs to take into

consideration the progress in the learning process, encouraging the use of solving

problem skills and memory and comprehension skills due to these elements are

the ones that regulate the learning outcomes of the content under study (Coyle,

Hood & Marsh, 2010).

The next step the teacher has to do is to consider communication goals and specify

language learning and using. Coyle, Hood & Marsh (2010), suggested to define

content-obligatory language in form of words or phrases, as well as linguistic

functions which are needed for the discussions and performing language tasks.

Teachers have to be aware that these elements will determine the learning results

in the language area. Consequently, it is important to prepare a list of the activities

that will facilitate accomplishment of goals and outcomes in the two areas content

and language. The tasks must captivate the learners who have different learning

styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc.) at the same time that they provide the

context for real-life communication. Hence, the greatest challenge the teacher
faces is to provide activities really communicative which are focused on legitimate

exchange of information. Some activities that are appropriate for young learners

are information gap because they give them a reason to think, talk, exchange

information of facts, and apply the foreign language for practical reasons. Besides,

some activities which can be easily immerse the students in the content and

language as well are: games, stories, songs, rhymes, graphing activities, role

plays, dramatizations, dialogues, and presentations in pair and group work.

There must be present a balance in the provided activities of all four skills (reading,

listening, writing and speaking), the class have to start with pre-listening or pre-

reading activities because they help to prepare the students for listening and

reading input, and after that the teacher proceeds with listening or reading input

activities, building listening or reading skills, and finally the speaking and writing

activities need to be involved. Shin (2007) argues that:

“Activities should be organized and ordered by:

 Varying the task and language skills

 Choosing the activities that are the most useful to particular group of

learners

 Ordering the tasks to mirror the real life application of the tasks

 Connecting one activity to the next (from receptive to productive skills)

 Sequencing the content in order to recycle language and scaffold

students’ learning”.
The stage in which the activities are planned must also involve numerating the

resources and materials needed to develop them. The teacher has to confirm that

the appropriate materials are available and also check if any adaptation or

simplification needs to be made. It is required from the teacher to supply sufficient

materials available in the target language, must of the time this has to be carry out

by the teacher by searching in the Internet for them, sometimes it is need to

translate them from native language, and in other times the teachers has to design

them alone or with the help of the students. The use of appropriate material is a

critical matter in order to make the new concepts and new language features

comprehensible for the students. This process usually takes place with the use of

contextual clues, and realia, which are going to be supported with concrete, hands-

on and activity-oriented teaching. In order to reach that, teachers have to use a

wide variety of resources such as posters, flashcards, dictionaries, visual or

graphic organizers which can be obtained thanks to the help of ICTs and the

Internet, contributing in a great way to make the subject content taught in the target

language comprehensible.

The final step in the lesson planning of a CLIL class is the assessment that must

be an integral part of the CLIL lesson. Considering the fact that CLIL has dual

objective for both language and content, the assessment has to consolidate the

assessment of language competences and the assessment of content knowledge

to such a degree to “account for the goals and objectives of two different subjects,
including knowledge, competences, skills, attitudes, and behavior, for both

language and content” (Massler 2010). For this reason, the assessment tasks

needs to be arranged to help the students to demonstrate both the content and

language domain, with the help of the teacher when it is necessary. Massler (2010)

suggested that in order to help the students to succeed in the CLIL lessons the

adaptation and the variation of the assessment tasks need to have into

consideration the amount of time for completing the task, and the amount of

scaffolding as well as using flipside techniques to perform the assessment in ways

of based tasks performance, portfolios, journals, and projects.

2.4.3. The role of the Teacher in CLIL classes

Something that Panamanian English teachers have to keep in mind is that

teachers involved in CLIL have recognized the necessity to adjust the established

practices that are used in the first language when teaching the same content in the

foreign language. The professional and proficient language teachers immediately

recognize that the CLIL context connotes not just the teacher’s linguistic

competence but that also the learners’ competence is important. Consequently,

this directs to methodological change from the usual way to teach English to a new

level of teaching context in the English language giving as a result that the main

characteristic of the methodological change resides in the movement from teacher-

centered to learner-centered methods and strategies.

It is indeed remarkably important then, for the teachers that are aware their

linguistic skills are poor that they need to adapt their content and methods

accordingly to their limitations and the needs of the teachers. Marsh (2001, p. 78)

claimed that “this is where code-switching and preparation become crucial”. In

other words, even if the linguistic competence of the teacher is limited by the

correct preparation and planning that teacher can reach a successful class based

in the CLIL approach. Differently, Hall (2001: 120) stated that “it is very important

to remember that being able to use a L2 does not mean being able to teach in that

L2 in a given situation”. This means, that while more context the teacher will need

to teach in the English language it will be essential for him/her to have plenty

mastery of this language. Then, every single English teacher and specially for

those that study English teaching in the different Panamanian universities needs

to keep on growing the English domain and knowledge through self-instructions

and constant immersion with the English language or by further academic

instruction.

Marsh (2001: 78–80) outlined the ‘idealized competencies’ that a CLIL teacher

needs to have:

The first one is language and communication in which the teacher needs:

 Sufficient target language knowledge and pragmatic skills for CLIL.

 Sufficient knowledge of the language used.

The second competency is theory in which the teacher must have:

 Comprehension of the differences and similarities between the concepts of

language learning and language acquisition.

The third competency is the methodology in which the teacher demonstrate:

 Ability to identify linguistic difficulties,

 Ability to use communication/interaction methods that facilitate the

understanding of meaning.

 Ability to use strategies (e.g. repetition, echoing etc. …) for correction and

for modelling good language usage.

 Ability to use dual-focused activities which simultaneously cater for

language and subject aspects.

The fourth competency that the teacher must own is the creation of learning

environment in which the teacher demonstrates:

 Ability to work with learners of diverse linguistic/cultural backgrounds.

The fifth competency that the CLIL teacher must prove is the materials

development in which he demonstrates:

 Ability to adapt and exploit materials,

  Ability to select complementary materials on a given topic.

And the last competency outline is the assessment in which the teacher

demonstrates:

 Ability to develop and implement evaluation and assessment tools.

However, something that cannot be forgotten is the main and most important ability

that a CLIL teacher must demonstrate is second language competence and

proficiency. Regarding this aspect, Andrews (1999, p. 163) argues that “the

teacher of a language, like any educated user of that language, undoubtedly needs

levels of implicit and explicit knowledge of grammar which will facilitate effective

communication”. However at the same time Andrews (1999, p. 163) established

that:

“Effective L2 teaching requires of the teacher more than just the

possession of such knowledge and the ability to draw upon it for

communicative purposes. The L2 teacher also needs to reflect upon that

knowledge and ability, and upon his/her knowledge of the underlying

systems of the language, in order to ensure that the learners receive

maximally useful input for learning” (Andrews 1999).

What it can be understood from the statements of this author is that teaching in

CLIL requires a lot more than only the ability to speak or listen in a particular

language which in this case is English. Even though good linguistic skills in the

foreign language are necessary the CLIL teacher have to be a professional in

facilitating knowledge of any subject matter.

Moreover, the CLIL teachers need to be linguistically aware (knowing their strength

and weaknesses in the target language), possessing insight about the target

language functions, for additionally being able to use this language as a

pedagogical tool in the classroom in order to successfully teach the required

context and help the students not only to progress in the linguistic aspects of the

taught and learnt target language but in the context learnt as well.

Summarizing, it can be highlighted that CLIL teachers need to be both language

and content teachers at the same time. Nevertheless, the prominence of the

teacher style will lie more towards one of these than the other, relying upon the

teacher competences. Despite the contrary Marsh, Marsland (1999, p.38), affirmed

that “dual-interest and dual-ability, if not dual-qualification, appear to be highly

desirable”. What this means is that the aspired role of CLIL teachers is that one in

which he or she is highly qualified in the English teaching as well as in any other

subject but through the target language.

2.4.4. CLIL and Reading Comprehension

Previous studies have shown that under CLIL conditions, some competencies of

language can develop more than others and the receptive skills such as the ones

to acquire and learn vocabulary to improve reading comprehension are favorably

affected (Dalton-Puffer, 2008). Some of the most important outcomes that are

interesting the field of teaching English as a foreign language as is the case of

Panama is that students that have been under the CLIL instruction have shown a

better recognition of text coherence, a better understanding and a higher degree

of sociolinguistic awareness in using the language. Consequently, it is relevant to

prove this approach in order to help the students to improve one of the most

important receptive skills they need to learn English.

Coming to agreement with Hellekjær (1996), the CLIL teaching demands from

students to work in their reading skills. This happens due to the students are going

to be stuck when trying to read texts that they study in their CLIL lessons if they

read it the same way they read their textbooks in their native language. This opens

up a great opportunity for teachers to train the students in English reading-and

word management strategies. Moreover, CLIL provides the students with other

text types that they are not used to in their regular English classes (grammar and

grammar practices), hence the subject matters taught through CLIL forces the

students to read in such a way that they improve this skill.

Thanks to the wide variety of materials that the students have to process in the

CLIL lessons, it is very obvious that reading is one of the skills that result most

favored by this approach, as Wolff (2005) pointed out:

“Reading and reading skills are regarded as highly important in the CLIL

classroom. Most of the acquisitional processes are related to reading

comprehension: learners work with documents and other sources in

order to acquire knowledge in the content subject. Although reading

strategies play an important role in all learning contexts, in CLIL they

decide on the students’ success or failure. A specific CLIL methodology

has to take this into account, thus the promotion of reading strategies

plays an important role in all methodological discussions. And it must not

be forgotten that content subject work also includes specific reading

skills: working with graphs, maps, charts, etc. Learners do not read texts

in order to learn language but in order to acquire knowledge in the

content subject.” (Wolff, 2005, as cited in Marsh D. p.16)

Therefore, it is comprehensible that when applying the CLIL methodology the skills

that the students work the most in order to learn the context of the studied subject

is the reading comprehension and as the proverb says the practice makes the

master. Consequently, the students trained with the CLIL approach will become

proficient in both comprehending the context that is taught and in applying effective

reading strategies and skills.

2.4.5. Motivation and CLIL

A very important aspect that determine the success of the language learning

process is motivation, and that is why it exist the idea that motivation needs to be

the principal pillar when teaching, and consequently it needs be constantly

fostered.

According to Soficu (2016), “CLIL in the English lesson broadly encapsulates

aspects of the target-language culture, cross-curricular material as well as topics

which are selected according to students’ interests and experiences; this actually

increases their motivation and hungers toward learning the language”. Then, it is

notable that thanks to the fact that through this method the students are learning

relevant and updated information they become more interested in the learning

process creating and encouraging environment to foster the foreign language

learning.

In the same way, to engage the students in the CLIL lessons is intensely connected

with motivation. Therefore, a task that teacher have to perform is to find the ways

to attract the students into learning the foreign language. This seems a pretty hard

task to solve in the Panamanian educational system due to the cultural aspects of

students who seem not to have any interest in learning English but in dancing and
listening to reggaeton. Nonetheless, creative English teachers always find the

ways to catch the learners’ attention, even when these learners have very short

attention spans. Moreover, CLIL is a method that provides the teachers with a wide

variety of games, funny videos, songs, total physical response activities that can

be easily introduced in the English lessons and this manner the learning motivation

could be enhanced, and at the same time the method allows the teachers to

facilitate to the students the language assimilation in a natural way.

Something important to work on to foster a motivational learning environment when

working with CLIL is to provide scaffolding, this is performed in order to ensure that

students successfully deal with authentic materials that lets them to acquire as

much input as possible. According to Mehisto and Marsh (2008), scaffolding assist

the students to access previously acquired knowledge and, by creating new

relational links, they start to learn the new content. It is interesting to notice that

the language students’ motivation often increases when they are able to

understand how and in which order to proceed, and which phrases to use when

describing pictures, analyzing charts, or interpreting cartoons. Then, it is necessary

for the teachers to provide scaffolding tools, materials and activities that facilitate

them the learning of the new material taught through the CLIL method.
Concerning this matter, CLIL offers the students the feeling of being immersed in

something practical, related to their own experience and interests. Mehisto, Marsh,

Frigols (2008) established that:

“To scaffold students’ participation, we should welcome every

interaction, and add corrective feedback only when it is relevant for

them, showing that making mistakes is not something to be ashamed

about, but a means of progressing. In this way CLIL classroom will

become non-threatening supportive contexts, where most of the

students feel comfortable to participate” (Mehisto, Marsh, Frigols, 2008,

p. 42).

Consequently, the CLIL methodology can create a teaching and learning

environment in which the students become intrinsic motivated thanks to their self-

awareness of being working in the right track and because they acquire the

required knowledge to allow them to communicate effectively in the foreign

language.

As a matter of fact, to help the students to build up their own learning, they need

to learn how to develop learning activities efficiently. Then, and as it has been

mentioned before in the frameworks of the CLIL lessons, a relevant aspect that is

an integral part of every CLIL lesson are the practiced learning skills and strategies,

and especially subject- specific study skills like working with maps, diagrams or
pictures. They are very important because they are the pillars of CLIL learning and

a potential form to promote language learning as well as higher order and critical

thinking that are problem solving skills. To sum up, it can be said that the

application of CLIL in the English lessons in the correct way can produce an

encouraging learning environment in which the students feel that they are actually

learning important facts rather than just being learning a foreign language.

2.5. The benefits of CLIL

Taking into account the persistent results demonstrated in research developed on

foreign and bilingual education, CLIL has proven to have numerous linguistic,

academic, and social beneficial outcomes for the students. It needs to be

remembered that the main goal of CLIL is that the students learn as much subject-

matter content as language content that as a result is giving the students an extra

bonus.

It is not a surprise that in several former researches the CLIL students have been

found to be typically more engaged than students in regular second language

programs, and this is thanks to the authenticity of the content that conducts the

students’ language learning experience (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010; Mehisto,

Marsh, & Frigols, 2008).

Similarly, the results of CLIL students prove that they can perform better on tests

of second language competence in comparison with those students in regular

second language programs (Wesche, 2002). This can be because the CLIL

students do manage more information in the foreign language than students that

are just learning the linguistic aspect of a specific foreign language.

Moreover, students in CLIL programs also have demonstrated that they can

perform as well or even better on tests that are carried out in their first language

skills, comparing their results to those of students who are learning the subjects in

their first language in a monolingual program (Baker, 2006). According to

Cummings (1979), these results are consistent with research on the supportive

interrelationship between first and second language development. It appears that

when someone starts to learn a second or foreign language effectively, that

process activates some mechanisms in the brain that allow the people to manage

the content they need to learn (no matter if it is in their first language or the

second/foreign language they are learning) faster and easier than people that just

manage one language.

Finally, the students that learn a foreign or second language through the

application of CLIL have also demonstrated higher levels of intercultural

competence and sensitivity, including more positive attitudes towards other

cultures (Rodríguez & Puyal, 2012; Sudhoff, 2010). This fact is very important
because in this new globalized world intercultural competence contributes greatly

to the students’ overall educational experiences, including some nonacademic

skills such as to better understand themselves and others, and to get better in the

basic competencies and abilities that the ministry of education expects from the

Panamanian students such as appreciate and apply different forms of knowing,

being, and doing’. As a matter of fact, these mentioned competencies and abilities

benefits the students in such a matter that they become aware citizens of the world

who can live and work successfully as linguistically and culturally.

Muñoz (2002, p. 36) has offered some key reasons as an explanation for why CLIL

tends to produce so many positive outcomes for learning. These key reasons are

the following:

 Learners take advantage from higher quality teaching and from input that is

meaningful and understandable.

 CLIL reinforces the learners’ ability to process input, which provide them

with the metal assets for higher-level thinking skills, and enhances cognitive

development.

 When having classes in CLIL the students have developed first their literacy

in the first language, which is cognitively beneficial for the child.

Subsequently, literacy skills will transfer to the additional language they

learn.
  The learners’ affective filter may be lower than in other situations when

having classes in CLIL because when the lessons are based in this method

learning takes place in a relatively anxiety-free environment (this must be

ensured by the teacher).

 Learners’ motivation for learning content through a foreign language

stimulates and nurture the motivation towards learning the foreign language

itself.

To conclude, it is noticeable that CLIL have several aspects that benefits the

students not only to learn the foreign language but also to become more strategic

learners who can easily perform different tasks that will allow them to outstand in

this globalized world.

2.6. The Future of CLIL in Panama

There is an increasing necessity for English speakers in Panama; though the ones

needed are not just those that can speak English for simple communication and

socialization but those that can speak about specific subject matters such as

technology, science of nature, social issues, politics, history and even

mathematics. Therefore the Panamanians students need to be taught in a way that

can they understand and use English across the different subjects given in an
educational curriculum in a school environment which will allow them to be

prepared professionals in a context of globalization. Here in Panama is very clear

that the content that is managed within the public schools is very far from those

given in the field of bilingual education and that is why it frequently presents

problems for the students, because of the way in which the English content subject

matter is being taught. In relation with that, it is necessary to highlight that

language learning needs to be more encouraging for the students in order for them

to fully be immersed in the learning of different subjects through the English

language. On the other hand, it is frustrating for Panamanian teachers to fully

perform the job due to the lack of tools which are necessary when delivering a

class using the CLIL approach. Those days in which it was important to have

students who “just become conversant in ‘General English’, but they should study

their subject in English” (Graddol, 2005). Nevertheless, it is important to remark

that CLIL varies according to the implementation that the teacher wants to give it;

therefore, this is a valuable approach which with the effort of teachers can be easily

adapted to current educational and English teaching programs performed in

Panama. To sum up, and taking in consideration that in the last years the

Panamanian Ministry of Education has been searching for proven better methods

to teach English as the implementation of SIOP that started with the Panama’s

bilingual program, it can be said that in a not far future the use of CLIL will be

observed in the public Panamanian English lessons given through all the territory

of the nation.
3. Methodological Framework

3.1. Research Methodology

Since this research will need to collect information to confirm the accuracy that the

CLIL methodology has over the reading comprehension skills of the students but

at the same time it will gather information to analyze the students’ and teachers’

attitudes toward the current methodologies applied and the CLIL methodology this

research will be a mixed between a qualitative and a quantitative research. Taking

into consideration that a Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It

is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations.

Also that it provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or

hypotheses for potential quantitative research. And that Quantitative Research is

used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can

be transformed into usable statistics. Also, it is used to quantify attitudes, opinions,

behaviors, and other defined variables and generalize results from a larger sample

population. As a consequence of analyzing this definitions this thesis totally fits in

both methodologies which give as a result a mixed research methodology.

3.2. Research Design

The research designs that this research follows are: the quasi experimental design

which is an experimental design of research which does not have random selection

of the subjects but that pass through a pretest, method to fix the problem, and a

posttest. The second design that this research follows is the descriptive design in

which the participant are going to give data concerning the subject under study but

without the intervention of the researcher and that is mainly developed through a

survey which interviews the individual about the topic. Then, according to the

instruments to collect data of the reading comprehension skills of the students and

the surveys that are going to be applied to the students and teachers this research

follows both types of design in order to reach the established objectives.

3.3. Sources of Information

Every single research needs to have a point of supply the information that is going

to be used as the backbone to formulate the antecedents, the theoretical

framework and the methodology of the investigation. Therefore, for this research

there are two types of information sources that has been used.
The first source of information has been the material sources. This type of source

of information refers to the written documents or text that has been created by

experts or professionals in the investigated field. In this thesis the materials

sources of information used are:

 Books in PDF format.

 Previous Research available online.

 Online education magazines

 Online educational Journals

On the other hand, there are the human sources of information. This refers to any

human being that contributes with valuable information to carry on the thesis

successfully. Among the human sources of information used in this investigation

can be mentioned:

 A thesis private counselor.

 The professor in charge of the Thesis development assigned by UDELAS.

 The professors that work at BMC high school.

 The students that participated in the study.

3.4. Population And Subjects Sample

The researches that are immersed in the educational field always have the

participation of human beings. Consequently, it is necessary to choose a specific

place in which to develop the study that in this case is the Beatriz Miranda de Cabal

High School and due to the great number of students it is necessary to select a

specific level and a reduced number of students.

3.4.1. Population

The population that has been considered to develop this research are all the

English teachers the willing teachers who work at the school who live in the near

areas that surround the high school and that has study English teaching degrees

in the country.

Moreover, in this thesis the main participants are the students of seventh grade

who lived in the district of Dolega, they come from different elementary schools

that surround the area and have been learning English since they were in the pre-

primary education level. This group is heterogeneous composed by girls and boys
from 12 to 14 years old. They belong to poor socioeconomic level and have been

studying in public schools until now.

3.4.2. Sample

In order to select the sample of this study I decided to work with all the English

teachers that were willing to participate obtaining an amount of ten teachers. In the

same way, and as it has been mentioned before in this chapter this thesis follows

the quasi experimental design because it does not have the random selection of

the participants and also because of that it is not necessary to apply any statistical

formula to calculate the number of participants. Instead, the group of students that

participate in this thesis were facilitated by the teacher in charge of them, as a

result a group of thirty students who courses the seventh grade, developed the

tests and surveys for obtaining the results for this study.

3.5. Hypothesis

Every research that involves experimentation to prove the effects of a method or

product over a problem needs to conceive a hypothesis that the researcher is going
to use coordinate the methodology to solve the investigation and to report it in the

research paper. For this specific thesis the hypothesis is:

“If the students of seventh grade at Beatriz Miranda de Cabal High School

are taught English with the application of the Content and Language

Integrated Learning (CLIL) Methodology, they can improve their Reading

comprehension skills which is going to enhance their English learning

process”.

3.6. Variables System

A variable is any entity that can take on different values. Even though in research

it is necessary to establish the role of each variable in the study as well as give

them their conceptual an operation definition. Thanks to the nature and design of

this research, it allows to have an independent and a dependent variable but also

there is an intervening variable.

An independent variable is that one which the researcher has control over. This

"control" may involve manipulating existing variables such as modifying existing

methods or introducing new variables such as a new teaching method in the

research setting. Whatever the case may be, the researcher expects that the

independent variable will have some effect on the dependent variables.

A dependent variable is that one that shows the effect of manipulating or

introducing the independent variables. For example, if the independent variable is

the use or non-use of a new language teaching procedure, then the dependent

variable might be students' scores on a test of the content taught using that

procedure. In other words, the variation in the dependent variable depends on the

variation in the independent variable.

And finally, the Intervening variable is that one that refers to abstract processes

that are not directly observable but that link the independent and dependent

variables. In language learning and teaching, they are usually inside the subjects'

heads, including various language learning processes which the researcher cannot

observe. For example, if the use of a particular teaching technique is the

independent variable and mastery of the objectives is the dependent variable, then

the language learning processes used by the subjects is the intervening variable.
3.6.1. CLIL

3.6.1.1. Conceptual Definition

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) refers to teaching subjects such

as science, history and geography to students through a foreign language in which

they obtained more than just linguistic instruction but also information of the

different contents in the foreign language.

3.6.1.2. Operational Definition

CLIL will operate as the independent variable which means it is the one that affects

in certain ways the problem that is wanted to be improved which in this case is the

English reading comprehension of the students. In order to collect data from this

research it is necessary to apply a reading comprehension proficiency test (s

pretest and Posttest) which will assist to notice if there is a positive change in the

English learning process of students.

3.6.2. English Reading Comprehension Skills

3.6.2.1. Conceptual Definition

English Reading Comprehension Skills stand for the ability to read text, process it,

and understand its meaning from the interaction between the words that are

written, and how they trigger knowledge outside the text’s message in the English
language (in this case a foreign language taught in the Panamanian educational

system).

3.6.2.2. Operational Definition

The reading comprehension skills of the students work as the dependent variable

which indicates that this variable is mainly affected by the influence of the

independent variable. That is why the reading comprehension proficiency test will

establish how good the reading comprehension of the Students was before the

application of CLIL and how good after applying this methodology is.

3.6.3. Teachers’ and Students ‘attitude toward CLIL

3.6.3.1. Conceptual Definition

According to Dictionary.com attitude is the manner, disposition, feeling, position,

etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, especially of the

mind. As consequence, it can be said that this variable is the way of thinking that

teachers and students have about the CLIL methodology in contrast with other

types of teaching English methodologies to improve the reading comprehension

skills of students.
3.6.3.2. Operational Definition

The teachers’ and students’ attitude toward CLIL works and the intervening

variable of the research. That is why is necessary to apply a survey that will service

to acquire the attitude of the students toward the application of the CLIL

methodology as a way to improve their reading comprehension skills. Additionally,

a survey for teachers is applied to gather information of the absence or presence

of this methodology to teach English in the selected educational institution.

3.7. Data Collection Instruments

The data collection instruments that are applied in this research are: first of all, a

reading proficiency test based in a healthy diet in which the students have to read,

analyze, comprehend and answer some questions related to the given readings;

this reading proficiency test will work as pretest and posttest and the answers will

be graded in an objective way in order to analyze the level of reading

comprehension of each student before and after being taught with the CLIL

method. Moreover, there are going to be two closed surveys one for the student

and one for the teacher, this surveys will serve as a way to measure the students

and teachers attitudes toward the English teaching and learning processes, the

reading comprehension aspect and the application of the CLIL methodology with

the help of a Licker Scale.

3.8. Research Procedure

In order to proceed to carry on this research in a successful way the following steps

have been established.

 Inquiring in the online data base of updated topics regarding to the teaching

of English language as a foreign language to choose a good topic.

 Looking for the antecedents of the topic in order to establish the beginning

of the research.

 Writing down the statement of the problem, justification, objectives, scopes

and delimitations of the study.

 Establishing a chronogram of activities and a budget of operations.

 Looking for relevant information that helps in order to formulate the

theoretical framework of the research.

 Based on the theories found and the indicators of the research, preparing

the data collection instruments of the research.

 Establishing the points of the methodological framework of this research.

 After applying the data collection instruments, with the help of statistical

charts analyze the obtained results in order to present them in graphics.

 Reporting the conclusions and recommendations based on the found

results.

 Defending the research in front of a qualified jury.

4. Analysis of Results

In the following chapter the analysis of the collected data of this study are going to

be presented in statistical charts and graphic in order to make easier the

comprehension of it by anyone who reads it.

4.1.1. Reading Proficiency Pretest Results Statistical Chart

The statistical chart here presented shows the results of the evaluation the

students obtained when they developed a reading proficiency test which was

based in the Content and Language Integrated Learning. In here the scores were

grouped in values of three points each one in order to indicate the relative

frequency of students that got the enounced points.

Scores Frequency Fr. Fa. Percentages

0 2 4 6 18

1-3 x 0.60 18 60%

4-6 x 0.20 24 20%

7-9 x 0.13 28 13%

10-12 x 0.07 30 7%

13-27 x 0 30 0%

Totals 30 100%
4.1.2. Reading Proficiency Pretest Results Graphic

It was very important for this research to establish the level of English

comprehension that the students of seventh grade at Beatriz Miranda de Cabal

High School had before applying the CLIL methodology in order to identify how

effective is the current teaching they receive by showing the students obtained

scores in this test. In here it is clearly observable that the reading comprehension

of these students was poor since sixty percent of them obtained from 1 to 3 points,

twenty percent obtained from 4 to 6 points, a thirteen percent got from seven to

nine points, a seven percent got from 10 to 12 points, and cero student could obtain

more than 12 points.

Results of the Reading Profiency Test as

Pretest

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
1 to 3 4 to 6 7 to 9 10 to 12 13 to 27
Series1 60% 20% 13% 7% 0%
4.2.1. Reading Proficiency Posttest Results Statistical Chart

This statistical chart demonstrate the results that the students obtain in the reading

proficiency test when it was applied as posttest in order to know if the CLIL

methodology really had any benefit over this important skill to learn English as a

second language. In this chart it is appreciate the quantity of students that obtained

a certain amount of points in the posttest in order to transform that into

percentages. Here the points again were settled in groups of three and the

frequency was settled according to the amount of students that obtained the same

points.

Scores Frequency Fr. Fa. Percentages

0 2 3 5 8 12

1-12 x 0 0 0%

13-15 x 0.07 2 7%

16-18 x 0.10 5 10%

19-21 x 0.17 10 17%

22-24 x 0.40 22 40%

25-27 x 0.26 30 26%

Totals 30 100%
4.2.2. Reading Proficiency Posttest Results Graphic

In the figure here presented it is appreciated that no student obtained from one to

twelve points, a seven percent scored from thirteen to fifteen points, a ten percent

got from sixteen to eighteen points, a seventeen percent got from nineteen to

twenty one points, a forty percent scored from twenty two to twenty four points,

and a twenty six percent scored from twenty five to twenty seven points. In other

words, it is noticeable that the students could improve at least in a forty five

percentage their reading comprehension skills through the implementation of the

CLIL methodology.

Results of the Reading Proficiency Test as Posttest

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%
1 to 12 13 to 15 16 to 18 19 to 21 22 to 24 25 to 27
Series1 0% 7% 10% 17% 40% 26%
4.3.1.1. Students’ Survey Question 1 Statistical Chart:

In order to recognize important aspects of the methodology in which the students

have been taught English it was important to mention some specific points that

differentiate the typical methodologies versus the new methodologies such as

CLIL. In this statistical chart the information of the students’ consideration toward

the way in which they have been learning English is presented.

The English Classes that You Receive Are Based in the Learning of This
Language’s Grammar
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 15 15 50%

Agree 7 22 23%

Without Opinion 5 27 17%

In Disagreement 2 29 7%

Totally Disagree 1 30 3%

Total 100%
4.3.1.2. Students’ Survey Question 1 Graphic

When the students were presented with the question about how they receive the

English lessons the majority answered that they learning through lessons based in

the language grammar. A fifty percent answered that they totally agreed, a twenty

three percent agreed, a seventeen percent did not have opinion, a seven percent

disagreed and only a three percent totally disagreed.

The English Classes that You Receive Are Based in the

Learning of This Language’s Grammar

3%
Totally Disagree

Disagree 7%

Without Opinion 17%

Agree
23%

Totally Agree

50%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.3.2.1. Students’ Survey Question 2 Statistical Chart.

CLIL is based not in learning grammar in a direct way but in learning the aspects

of the language through learning content of different subject matters presented in

the second or foreign language. Then, it was important to recognize if the students

consider they are having this aspect in their English lessons. Below the students’

consideration have been statistically presented to facilitate the preparation of a

graphic.

You Learn Content from Other Subjects such as Science of Nature,

Social Sciences, Math, and History in the English Lessons You Are
Taught.
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 2 2 7%

Agree 3 5 10%

Without Opinion 6 11 20%

In Disagreement 9 20 30%

Totally Disagree 10 30 33%

Total 100%
4.3.2.2. Students’ Survey Question 2 Graphic.

In the figure below it is appreciable that most of the students that participated in

this research do not consider that they are learning contents of other subjects in

English since the thirty three percent totally disagreed, a thirty percent disagreed,

a twenty percent did not have opinion, a ten percent agreed and a seven percent

totally agreed.

You Learn Content from Other Subjects such as Science of

Nature, Social Sciences, Math, and History in the English
Lessons You Are Taught.

Totally Disagree
33%

Disagree
30%

Without Opinion
20%

Agree 10%

Totally Agree 7%

0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.3.3.1. Students’ Survey Question 3 Statistical Chart.

Communicating socially in a foreign language is good in the social life of students

since the main aspect of learning another language is being able to communicate

with other your thoughts and feelings. Therefore, it was important to inquire if the

English lessons they have allows them to communicate in the social level and that

information is presented in the chart below.

You Learn Vocabulary that Allows You to Communicate Socially in Your

English Lessons
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 13 13 43%

Agree 10 23 33%

Without Opinion 3 26 10%

In Disagreement 2 28 7%

Totally Disagree 2 30 7%

Total 100%
4.3.3.2. Students’ Survey Question 3 Graphic.

The observable information in the figure in here presented says that most of the

students do considered their English lessons taught them vocabulary that allows

them to communicate in the social level. In here, a forty three percent totally

agreed, a thirty three percent agreed, a ten percent did not have opinion, a seven

percent disagreed, and another seven percent totally disagreed.

You Learn Vocabulary that Allows You to Communicate

Socially in Your English Lessons

Totally Disagree 7%

Disagree 7%

Without Opinion 10%

Agree
33%

Totally Agree
43%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.3.4.1. Students’ Survey Question 4 Statistical Chart.

Since the focus of this study was mainly to find a way to improve one of the

receptive skill which is reading comprehension, it was relevant to ask the students

if they consider that their English learning process can be better if they learn how

to comprehend what they read in this language. This statistical chart therefore was

prepared in order to present the students perception about this important matter.

The English Learning Process Can Be Enhanced if You Learn Reading

Comprehension in This Language.
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 14 14 47%

Agree 6 20 20%

Without Opinion 3 23 10%

In Disagreement 4 27 13%

Totally Disagree 3 30 10%

Total 100%
4.3.4.2. Students’ Survey Question 4 Graphic.

In this figure it can be appreciated that most of the students do consider that if they

learn English reading comprehension they can enhanced the learning process of

this language. In here, a forty seven percent totally agreed, a twenty percent

agreed, a ten percent did not have opinion, a thirteen percent disagreed, and a ten

percent totally disagreed.

The English Learning Process Can Be Enhanced if

You Learn Reading Comprehension in This
Language.

Totally Disagree 10%

Disagree 13%

Without Opinion 10%

Agree 20%

Totally Agree

47%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.3.5.1. Students’ Survey Question 5 Statistical Chart.

In this statistical chart the information presented deals with the students’ attitude

toward the vocabulary they are taught in the English lessons. Communicating

socially is important for the social life of students but for their future careers and

professional lives they need to learn vocabulary in which they are able to express

information of the different subject matters in English; so it was important to

recognize what the students think about this matter.

The Vocabulary You Are Taught in the English Lessons Will Help You to
Understand Topics of Math, Science of Nature, Social Sciences, History,
and so on That You Can Find in the Social Media, Internet and Television.
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 4 4 13%

Agree 2 6 7%

Without Opinion 5 11 17%

In Disagreement 5 16 17%

Totally Disagree 14 30 46%

Total 100%
4.3.5.2. Students’ Survey Question 5 Graphic.

The information presented in this figure expresses that a great percentage of

students have a negative attitude when talking about learning vocabulary that will

help them to understand topics of different subject matters. In here, a forty six

percent totally disagreed, a seventeen percent disagreed, another seventeen

percent did not have opinion, a seven percent agreed, and a thirteen percent of

them totally agreed.

The Vocabulary You Are Taught in the English Lessons Will

Help You to Understand Topics of Math, Science of Nature,
Social Sciences, History, and so on That You Can Find in
the Social Media, Internet and Television

Totally Disagree
46%

Disagree 17%

Without Opinion 17%

Agree 7%

Totally Agree 13%

0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.3.6.1. Students’ Survey Question 6 Statistical Chart

It was imperative to know if the students consider that the process of learning

English can become easier if they learn to read the language correctly. This aspect

is important especially for teachers since they can focus some parts of their

lessons in the reading skills of the students. In this statistical chart the students’

consideration about this important matter of learning the language is presented.

If Reading in English is Learnt Correctly, the Learning of This Language

Can Be Improved in Order to Master It Easier.
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 15 15 50%

Agree 5 20 17%

Without Opinion 3 23 10%

In Disagreement 4 27 13%

Totally Disagree 3 30 10%

Total 100%
4.3.6.2. Students’ Survey Question 6 Graphic

When students were asked about making the English learning process easier by

learning the reading of this language in a correct way the majority of them showed

a positive attitude forasmuch as a fifty percent of them totally agreed, a seventeen

percent agreed, a ten percent did not have opinion , a thirteen percent disagreed,

and only a ten percent totally disagreed.

If Reading in English is Learnt Correctly, the

Learning of This Language Can Be Improved in
Order to Master It Easier.

Totally Disagree 10%

Disagree 13%

Without Opinion 10%

Agree 17%

Totally Agree

50%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.3.7.1. Students’ Survey Question 7 Statistical Chart

In order to recognize if the students accept or reject the CLIL methodology they

were ask if they would like to learn content of different subjects in the English

language. This statistical chart shows the students attitude toward the possible

application of CLIL in their regular English lessons.

Would You Like to Learn Content of Different Subjects in the English

Classes?
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 10 10 33%

Agree 9 19 30%

Without Opinion 5 24 17%

In Disagreement 4 28 13%

Totally Disagree 2 30 7%

Total 100%
4.3.7.2. Students’ Survey Question 7 Graphic

The information here presented says that more than a half of the students group

have a positive attitude to learn content of different subjects in the English

language. It is observable that a thirty three percent totally agreed, a thirty percent

agreed, while a thirteen percent disagreed and a seven percent totally disagreed,

and a seventeen percent did not have opinion.

Would You Like to Learn Content of Different

Subjects in the English Classes?

Totally Disagree 7%

Disagree 13%

Without Opinion
17%

Agree
30%

Totally Agree
33%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.3.8.1. Students’ Survey Question 8 Statistical Chart

It was important to recognize if students consider that they are developing English

lessons which could help them to improve their reading comprehension skills since

this is one of the two receptive skills to learn a foreign language. The students were

asked about having exercises and instructions to work in their reading

comprehension skills and this statistical chart shows their attitude toward issue.

The Lessons You receive in English Are Based in Practical Exercises and
Instructions That Help You to Improve Your English Reading
Comprehension
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 3 3 10%

Agree 5 8 17%

Without Opinion 3 11 10%

In Disagreement 10 21 33%

Totally Disagree 9 30 30%

Total 100%
4.3.8.2. Students’ Survey Question 8 Graphic

The figure below shows the information related to the students attitude of having

English lessons with practical exercises and instructions that could help them to

improve their language reading comprehension. About this issued the majority of

students presented a negative attitude because a thirty percent totally disagreed

and a thirty three percent disagreed, a ten percent did not have opinion, a

seventeen percent agreed, and a ten percent totally agreed.

The Lessons You receive in English Are Based in

Practical Exercises and Instructions That Help You
to Improve Your English Reading Comprehension

Totally Disagree
30%

Disagree
33%

Without Opinion 10%

Agree
17%

Totally Agree 10%

0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.3.9.1. Students’ Survey Question 9 Statistical Chart

Another important consideration for this research was to know the students attitude

toward improving their English language skills by learning content of different

subjects in English as it occurs in private bilingual schools of the Province. This

chart was prepared to facilitate the graphic representation of this aspect.

By Learning Content of Different Subjects in the English Language You

Can Improve your English Language Skills
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 11 11 37%

Agree 8 19 27%

Without Opinion 4 23 13%

In Disagreement 4 27 13%

Totally Disagree 3 30 10%

Total 100%
4.3.9.2. Students’ Survey Question 9 Graphic

The information that can be appreciated in this figure says that a good percentage

of the students have a positive consideration toward improving their English

language skills by learning content of different subjects in this language. In here a

thirty seven percent totally agreed, a twenty seven agreed, a thirteen percent did

not have opinion, another thirteen percent disagreed, and a ten percent totally

disagreed.

By Learning Content of Different Subjects in the

English Language You Can Improve your English
Language Skills

Totally Disagree 10%

Disagree 13%

Without Opinion 13%

Agree
27%

Totally Agree
37%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.3.10.1. Students’ Survey Question 10 Statistical Chart

It was also important to recognize what was the students’ position about having

English classes in a bilingual format as it happens in the private bilingual schools

of the province. Therefore the students were inquired about their opinion of having

different subjects taught in English but in public schools. This chart present the

information of the students’ attitude toward this concern.

Do You Think That in Public Schools The Teaching of Different Subjects

Must Be Done in English as It Happens in Private Bilingual Schools?
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 20 20 67%

Agree 4 24 13%

Without Opinion 3 27 10%

In Disagreement 2 29 7%

Totally Disagree 1 30 3%

Total 100%
4.3.10.2. Students’ Survey Question 10 Graphic

In the figure in here presented it is noticeable that most of the students have a

positive consideration about having the teaching of different subjects in the English

as it happens in private bilingual schools of the province. In here, a sixty seven

percent of them totally agreed to have this kind of teaching, a thirteen percent

agreed, a ten percent did not have opinion, a seven percent disagreed, and only a

three percent totally disagreed.

Do You Think That in Public Schools The Teaching

of Different Subjects Must Be Done in English as It
Happens in Private Bilingual Schools?

Totally Disagree 3%

Disagree 7%

Without Opinion 10%

Agree 13%

Totally Agree

67%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.4.1.1. Teachers’ Survey Question 1 Statistical Chart

In order to recognize what kind of methodology the English teachers use to teach

the language on daily basis it was important to directly ask them if they focus in

the teaching of the grammatical aspects and this statistical chart shows the

information provided by the participant teachers.

The English Lessons You Teach Are Based in Teaching Linguistic

Aspects Such the Use of Verbs in Different Tenses, Adjectives, Adverbs,
Nouns, Pronouns, etc.
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 6 6 60%

Agree 4 10 40%

Without Opinion 0 10 0%

In Disagreement 0 10 0%

Totally Disagree 0 10 0%

Total 100%
4.4.1.2. Teachers’ Survey Question 1 Graphic

According to the information presented in the figure below all the teachers that

participated by answering the surveys base their English lessons in the

grammatical aspects of the language because a sixty percent totally agreed and a

forty percent agreed with this inquiry.

The English Lessons You Teach Are Based in

Teaching Linguistic Aspects Such the Use of Verbs
in Different Tenses, Adjectives, Adverbs, Nouns,
Pronouns, etc.

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

Series1 60% 40% 0% 0% 0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.4.2.1. Teachers’ Survey Question 2 Statistical Chart

To recognize if the teachers apply any kind of strategies that are related to the

CLIL methodology they were ask if they prepare their English lessons including

content of other important subjects that the students need to know in English. Also

this question was made to observe if the teachers recognize the difference

between planning English lessons based on its grammar or lessons in English

based in content as this one contradicts the first question.

You Plan and Implement Lessons in Which the Students Learn Content of
Different Subjects as Science, Math, History, etc.
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 6 6 60%

Agree 2 8 20%

Without Opinion 0 8 0%

In Disagreement 0 8 0%

Totally Disagree 2 10 20%

Total 100%
4.4.2.2. Teachers’ Survey Question 2 Graphic

In this graphic is observable that only two teachers represented by the twenty

percent of the group really understand that planning English lessons based on

grammar does not have a relationship with lesson planning based on content

because they totally disagree with the inquired question. However, a sixty percent

of teachers totally agreed, and another twenty percent agreed which demonstrates

that they are confused about their planning taking in consideration the provided

information from the first question.

You Plan and Implement Lessons in Which the

Students Learn Content of Different Subjects as
Science, Math, History, etc.

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%
10%
0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

Series1 60% 20% 0% 0% 20%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.4.3.1. Teachers’ Survey Question 3 Statistical Chart

This statistical chart present the information given by the teachers regarding the

aspect of the kind of vocabulary they teach in their classes because some English

lessons are based in social communication while there are specific lessons that

are based in the teaching of vocabulary to express information about different

topics. In here the information provided is about the teaching of vocabulary to

socialize.

The Vocabulary That Is Taught In The English Classes Is Mainly to Allow

The Students to Communicate Socially.
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 4 4 40%

Agree 6 10 60%

Without Opinion 0 10 0%

In Disagreement 0 10 0%

Totally Disagree 0 10 0%

Total 100%
4.4.3.2. Teachers’ Survey Question 3 Graphic

The information here presented reports that all the teachers consider that they

teach vocabulary that the students can use mainly for social communication as a

forty percent totally agreed and a sixty percent of them agreed.

The Vocabulary That Is Taught In The English

Classes Is Mainly to Allow The Students to
Communicate Socially.

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

Series1 40% 60% 0% 0% 0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.4.4.1. Teachers’ Survey Question 4 Statistical Chart

Since the skill chosen to work in this research was the receptive skill of reading

comprehension it was important to recognize the teachers’ attitude toward the

aspect of making better the English process of students by having them to learn

reading comprehension in an effective way and this information have been

analyzed through this statistical chart.

If Students Learn Effective Reading Comprehension Techniques They

Could Be Able to Progress in a Better Way in Their English Learning
Process
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 8 8 80%

Agree 2 10 20%

Without Opinion 0 10 0%

In Disagreement 0 10 0%

Totally Disagree 0 10 0%

Total 100%
4.4.4.2. Teachers’ Survey Question 4 Graphic

In here is observable that the teachers also have a positive attitude concerning the

aspect of making better the English learning progress of students if they learn

effective reading comprehension in this language since the eighty percent of them

totally agreed, and a twenty percent agreed.

If Students Learn Effective Reading Comprehension

Techniques They Could Be Able to Progress in a
Better Way in Their English Learning Process

80%

70%

60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

Series1 80% 20% 0% 0% 0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.4.5.1. Teachers’ Survey Question 5 Statistical Chart

The information presented in this statistical chart is about a question which

contradicts with the one of teaching vocabulary to social communication since in

this one the vocabulary was focused in topics the students can find in the English

language about science, technology, history, math, etc. which they can watch and

find in social media, internet, and television. The teachers need to be clear about

the focus and goal of the vocabulary they teach to the students and what they are

going to be able to do with it when learnt correctly.

The Vocabulary That the Students Learn in the English Lessons Will
Allow Them to Understand Content of Different Subject Matters They Can
Find in the Internet, Social Media, And Television Such as Science, Math,
Technology and History.
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 6 6 60%

Agree 3 9 30%

Without Opinion 0 9 0%

In Disagreement 1 10 10%

Totally Disagree 0 10 0%

Total 100%
4.4.5.2. Teachers’ Survey Question 5 Graphic

In this figure the information shows that most of the teachers are not clear about

the goals and objectives of the vocabulary they teach in their lessons. In the third

question they were ask if they teach vocabulary mainly for social communication

in which they all were in agreement. In this case just one teacher is clear about

this matter since his answer was that he disagreed while a sixty percent totally

agreed and a thirty percent agreed with the statement that they teach vocabulary

that serves to the students to understand specific topics of science, history,

technology, math, and so on.

The Vocabulary That the Students Learn in the English

Lessons Will Allow Them to Understand Content of
Different Subject Matters They Can Find in the Internet,
Social Media, And Television Such as Science, Math,
Technology and History.

60%

40%

20%

0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

Series1 60% 30% 0% 10% 0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.4.6.1. Teachers’ Survey Question 6 Statistical Chart

This statistical chart deals with the information about mastering the English

language by learning to read it effectively. It was important to recognize if the

teachers are aware of the importance that reading have in order to make the

learning process as successful as possible.

If Students Learn to Read English Effectively They Can One Day Master
the Language
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 4 4 40%

Agree 6 10 60%

Without Opinion 0 10 0%

In Disagreement 0 10 0%

Totally Disagree 0 10 0%

Total 100%
4.4.6.2. Teachers’ Survey Question 6 Graphic

This graphic shows that all of the participant teachers are aware of the importance

that learning to read effectively in English have over the learning process of this

language. In here a forty percent of the teachers totally agreed, and a sixty percent

agreed.

If Students Learn to Read English Effectively They

Can One Day Master the Language

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

Series1 40% 60% 0% 0% 0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.4.7.1. Teachers’ Survey Question 7 Statistical Chart

It was important to register if the teachers recognize that the students could like to

learn content of different subjects in the English language since the interest of the

students is one of the important keys in succeeding in the language teaching-

learning process and this is the information which this statistical chart presents.

The Students Like to Learn Content of Different Subject Matters in the

English Language
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 3 3 30%

Agree 6 9 60%

Without Opinion 1 10 10%

In Disagreement 0 10 0%

Totally Disagree 0 10 0%

Total 100%
4.4.7.2. Teachers’ Survey Question 7 Graphic

The information that is appreciated in this graphic says that most of the teachers

consider that their students do like to learn content of different subjects in English

because a thirty percent totally agreed, a sixty percent agreed, and just a ten

percent did not have opinion about this matter.

The Students Like to Learn Content of Different

Subject Matters in the English Language

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

Series1 30% 60% 10% 0% 0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.4.8.1. Teachers’ Survey Question 8 Statistical Chart

Since reading is one of the only two ways in which the students obtain input in

order to able to produce output it was important to ask the teachers if they

implement lessons which can give the students the opportunity to work in that

important language skill as it is presented in the chart below.

The English Lessons Given for You Involve Practical Exercises and
Practices that Allow the Students to Work in Their Reading
Comprehension Skills
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 2 2 20%

Agree 8 10 80%

Without Opinion 0 10 0%

In Disagreement 0 10 0%

Totally Disagree 0 10 0%

Total 100%
4.4.8.2. Teachers’ Survey Question 8 Graphic

According to the information in here presented all the teachers prepare lessons

which involve practices and exercises that allow the students to work in their

reading comprehension skills since a twenty percent totally agreed and an eighty

percent agreed. However this exercises and practices are provided in the regular

methodology that the teachers apply.

The English Lessons Given for You Involve Practical

Exercises and Practices that Allow the Students to
Work in Their Reading Comprehension Skills

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%
20%
10%
0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

Series1 20% 80% 0% 0% 0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.4.9.1. Teachers’ Survey Question 9 Statistical Chart

This statistical chart presents the teacher consideration toward the possibility for

students to improve their English skills to understand it efficiently if they learn

content of different subject matters taught in this language.

If Students Learn Content of Different Subject Matters Taught in the

Target Language They Will Be Able to Improve Their English Skills to Be
Able to Understand the Language

Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 6 6 60%

Agree 4 10 40%

Without Opinion 0 10 0%

In Disagreement 0 10 0%

Totally Disagree 0 10 0%

Total 100%
4.4.9.2. Teachers’ Survey Question 9 Graphic

As it can be notice in the figure below the teachers do consider that the students

can improve their English skills by learning content of different subject matters in

order to be able to understand the language in a better way. In here a sixty percent

totally agreed and a forty percent agreed.

If Students Learn Content of Different Subject

Matters Taught in the Target Language They Will
Be Able to Improve Their English Skills to Be Able
to Understand the Language

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

Series1 60% 40% 0% 0% 0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.4.10.1. Teachers’ Survey Question 10 Statistical Chart

This statistical chart shows what the teachers consideration toward having

subjects such as Math, History, Science, Technology and so on taught in English

but in the public school just as it happens in the private bilingual schools. As it has

been mentioned in this study, the CLIL methodology is something that the private

bilingual schools have been applying and that has been proven to be effective for

students to master the language.

In the Public Schools Teachers Must Teach Different Subjects such as

Math, History, Science, Technology, etc. in English Just as It Happens in
the Bilingual Private Schools
Answers F. Fa. Percentages

Totally Agree 3 3 30%

Agree 3 6 30%

Without Opinion 1 7 10%

In Disagreement 2 9 20%

Totally Disagree 1 10 10%

Total 100%
4.4.10.2. Teachers’ Survey Question 10 Graphic

This graphic shows a teachers’ divided attitude toward having bilingual education

of different subjects in public schools considering that a thirty percent totally

agreed, another thirty percent agreed, a ten percent did not have opinion, a twenty

percent disagreed, and another ten percent totally disagreed.

In the Public Schools Teachers Must Teach

Different Subjects such as Math, History, Science,
Technology, etc. in English Just as It Happens in the
Bilingual Private Schools

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

Series1 30% 30% 10% 20% 10%

Totally Agree Agree Without Opinion Disagree Totally Disagree

4.5. Conclusions and Recommendations

4.5.1. Conclusions

After analyzing the results through statistical charts in order to represent them

graphically it is very remarkable that the CLIL methodology is of great benefit in

the teaching of English specifically to improve the reading comprehension skills of

students in this case. The results of the pretest of students in the reading

comprehension test demonstrated that the students were below the average even

when this test was applied almost at the end of the scholar year period. However,

even when this students were trained only during three weeks of classes applying

the CLIL methodology they could demonstrate an improving rate of forty five

percentage, this was demonstrated after applying the posttest and evaluating

those results.

On the other hand, we have the results of that demonstrate the students and

teachers attitude toward the development of the current methodologies applied in

the school and the CLIL methodology. In this case, the students have expressed

that they in fact are not receiving lessons that involve the application of the CLIL

method or lessons that involve processes in which they can improve their reading

comprehension skills in the English language. In fact, the information obtained

from the students points out that they receive the most common way of English

teaching in which they have to work on the grammatical aspects of the language
and learn vocabulary that only allows them to communicate and understand the

language just in a social level but does not focuses in the important issue of

teaching them content that will allows them to understand and communicate topics

of different subject matters that will be imperative for acquiring good job

opportunities in their future careers. In the same way, the students that the

students presented when answering the surveys was quite positive toward having

English lessons that would help them to improve their reading comprehension

skills as well as learning content of different subject matters in this foreign language

as it already happens in the private bilingual schools. One can conclude that

Panama will not be bilingual until the teaching of the public schools change to

incorporate a CLIL methodology in most of the subjects that are taught in the

Panamanian education system.

Additionally, the information obtained from the teachers surveys is a bit

contradictory considering that they did recognize that their English lessons are

based in the teaching of grammatical aspects of the language and vocabulary that

allows the students to communicate socially; but they also consider that they are

teaching content of different subject matters and vocabulary that can help students

to understand content of different subject matters and previous studies have

demonstrated that teaching English social is the opposite extreme of teaching

English with an specific purpose as it happens in the case of CLIL that the main

focus is having the students to learn the content of an specific subject in the English
language. What it is easily recognizable is that the way in which the teachers

develop their lessons does not have any relation with the CLIL methodology since

in this method the focus is not to teach the grammatical aspects of the language

but the students acquire that knowledge implicitly by learning the content of

different subject matters taught in the English language.

However, the teachers does recognize that if the students improve their reading

comprehension skills they can have a better progress in their English learning

since this skill is one of the two receptive skills to learn the language and it is the

primary way to obtain new vocabulary in any language around the world. In the

same way, the majority of teachers consider that the students like to learn different

topics and contents in English and that if they are taught these contents and

vocabulary in the foreign language they could master it in a more effective way.

4.5.2. Recommendations

After having gotten the conclusions and analyzed the different data obtained for

this research paper it can be recommended the following details:

 The CLIL methodology needs further research especially because this one

was just focused in the reading comprehension of the students which give
 the opportunity for future graduating students that need to perform a

research to study this method in the other four skills.

 The ones responsible for the English syllabus that is taught in the English

school at UDELAS should include CLIL as one of the subjects in order to

provide the students that will allow them to become better future English

teachers when they graduate.

 In the same way, the ones responsible of hiring the staff that impart the

different subjects of the English teaching degree should hire competent

teachers that can teach the subjects such as curriculum, research

methodology, psychology and so on in English considering that nowadays

there are a great number of subjects that are taught in Spanish that could

be taught in English since there are a lot of graduated students of this

prestigious University that already have the titles and degrees to perform

this task. To conclude the best opportunity that UDELAS English students

have to progress efficiently in the language and in the degree is by applying

the CLIL methodology in those Subjects that are currently taught in Spanish.

 The responsible in the Ministry of Education should also take into

consideration the CLIL methodology in order to restructure the current

syllabus that the teachers have to use to prepare their lessons planning

through all the country because the current one is based mainly in teaching

the grammatical aspects of the language. If the CLIL methodology is applied

in the public Panamanian schools the country would really be in the road of

bilingualism.
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