Topicalizing language in CLIL teaching at technical colleges: a micro-level analysis of language-related episodes (LREs)

Complementing the rich literature on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classroom discourse, this study is one of the first to focus on teachers and students topicalizing language in technical education at upper secondary level. By using an extended conceptualization of the “language-related episode” (LRE) to incorporate all interactional sequences dealing with linguistic topics (e.g., lexis or pronunciation) as well as suggestions or comments on language use or choice, this multi-case study analyzed 17.5 h of IT and economic lessons observed in five cases set in four different upper-secondary technical colleges in Austria. The quantitative and qualitative findings reveal an overall high frequency of LREs of both types, although individual cases display a surprising diversity in using LREs, ranging from one per lesson to one per minute. Furthermore, certain LRE topics, such as lexis and language choice, are highly dominant, and individual cases show their own ways of developing LREs and thus integrating language (learning) in CLIL. When combined with insights gained from the reflection interviews undertaken with all teachers, these findings reveal both language-related teaching aims and how the participating teachers put them into practice in the form of LREs.