36.1985, Calls: English CLIL Programs: Teaching Geography in English or English in Geography? (France)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-1985. Fri Jun 27 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.1985, Calls: English CLIL Programs: Teaching Geography in English or English in Geography? (France)

Moderator: Steven Moran (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Justin Fuller
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Steven Franks, Joel Jenkins, Daniel Swanson, Erin Steitz
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Editor for this issue: Valeriia Vyshnevetska <valeriia at linguistlist.org>

================================================================


Date: 27-Jun-2025
From: Agnès Leroux [agleroux at parisnanterre.fr]
Subject: English CLIL Programs: Teaching Geography in English or English in Geography?


Full Title: English CLIL Programs: Teaching Geography in English or
English in Geography?
Short Title: CLIL geography and English

Date: 20-Nov-2025 - 21-Nov-2025
Location: Paris Nanterre, France
Contact Person: LEROUX Agnès
Meeting Email: agleroux at parisnanterre.fr

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; Discourse Analysis; Language
Acquisition; Psycholinguistics

Call Deadline: 30-Jul-2025

The aim of this conference is to bring together specialists in
didactics, linguistics, geography, and second language acquisition, as
well as teacher trainers and secondary school teachers to discuss the
teaching and learning of English as a Second Language (ESL) using a
CLIL approach, in geography classes more specifically.
Over the last 20 years, CLIL (Content and Language Integrated
Learning) programmes have been widely developed in France and in the
rest of Europe to strengthen both language and content knowledge
(Goris, 2019; Pérez Cañado, 2018). By combining the learning of
disciplines such as history, geography, economics, management, health,
sales, etc., with a foreign language, CLIL aims to enrich learners'
educational experience. CLIL learning thus covers both subject content
and linguistic skills, particularly English for specific purposes
(ESP).
This conference will focus on the challenges associated with teaching
geography in English, which involves the use of ESP, as well as on the
semiotic language specific to the discipline. The complex nature of
ESP discourse as used in the CLIL classroom was identified by Cummins
(1999) who highlighted the significant differences between everyday
language (BICS) and academic language (CALP). The latter is
characterised by specific features linked to the subject area - lexis,
syntactic structures and grammatical elements, discourse genres -
which are essential to the construction of meaning. Even though CLIL
teachers’ general foreign language skills are tested (CEFR level B2),
they are not experts in ESP. What is more, history and geography are
taught by the same teachers in France, yet 91% of French teachers of
geography studied history as their main subject, and are therefore not
geography specialists. In addition, Dalton-Puffer (2011) notes that
discourse in the foreign language (L2) tends to be pragmatically less
varied and nuanced than in the language of schooling (L1). When it
comes to pronunciation, teachers often struggle, particularly in
English (Martín del Pozo, 2016).
Conversely, Gajo & Grobet (2008) point out that many discursive
episodes, which appear to be mainly geared towards linguistic problems
(explanation of vocabulary, organisation of discourse), also serve to
clarify and reinforce some concepts of the discipline taught in a
foreign language. Therefore, the mediation and remediation phases
linked to the foreign language are likely to facilitate the
integration process (integrated construction of knowledge) specific to
CLIL.
The CEFR (2001, 2018) promotes an action-oriented perspective for the
teaching of foreign languages and considers learners as social actors.
This approach aims to engage students in tasks that include
collaborative and interactive work. However, task-based teaching is
not familiar to all geography teachers, particularly regarding
language practice and the key role it plays in the construction of
knowledge. Because of a lack of specific training in CLIL, a large
proportion of students use their mother tongue during
talk-in-interaction, which prevents them from building solid skills in
the foreign language.
CLIL geography classes do not have a dedicated program that defines
curricular expectations. As a result, teachers have to design their
programs according to the objectives they set for their classes,
whether in terms of knowledge or know-how. However, geography in
France differs from its counterpart in English speaking countries, not
only in its history, but also in the way it constructs its fields of
interest and its concepts (Hancock, 2002; Claval, 2008; Gintrac,
2012). Concepts widely used in French school geography do not
necessarily have an equivalent in English, or do not occupy the same
place within the English-speaking discipline, for example (Gonin,
2024). These considerations raise questions about the content taught
in CLIL geography.
Students should be trained to understand and comment on the graphic
representations used to study geography (maps, diagrams, photos and
satellite images), and to perform geographical reasoning: how to
analyse spatial organisation, spatial differentiation, change of scale
or the role of actors. Relevant linguistic resources are required both
in the geography course and in the English one. We therefore need to
look at who teaches these resources and at the form of language
practice that mediates this content.
This conference is taking place as research carried out in Europe, and
looking into primary, secondary and higher education, generally shows
positive results from CLIL teaching in terms of learner motivation and
academic results. However, several studies have pointed out that the
apparent “CLIL effects” are perhaps exaggerated, and partly
attributable to the selection of pupils and students that are already
high achievers and highly motivated (Sylvén, 2010), as is the case in
France. Large-scale studies in Spain have reported an increase in
language skills for all CLIL groups (Pérez Cañado, 2018), but research
on that topic is still scarce in France.
We are expecting presentations which could, for example, provide some
answers to the following questions:
- What are the characteristics of the specialised language of
geography, in French and in English? Who should teach it and how?
- What classroom language practices are specific to these CLIL
programmes in geography?
- How do the concepts taught in geography help students understand the
differences between English and French perspectives on global issues?
- Which approach to geography should be favoured when teaching it in
English? The French approach or the approaches of the English-speaking
world? How do these approaches differ?
- How do teachers interact and adapt their classroom discourse to
support linguistic and conceptual learning in English?
- How do the students’ language skills develop as a result of CLIL
teaching?
- What are the synergies and differences between EFL lessons and CLIL
lessons? How can the integrated construction of knowledge be
scaffolded?
- Is there such a thing as CLIL didactics?
These questions and themes are not, of course, exclusive. While the
French context is the starting point for our questions, proposals
relating to other education systems around the world are welcome.
Keynote speakers:
Dufaye Lionel (Université Gustave Eiffel, LISAA)
Stephenson Richard (Université de Franche Comté, ThéMA)
Deadline for abstracts (400 words) : July 30, 2025
Notification of acceptance: September 16, 2025
Languages: English, French
Propositions should be sent to the conference website address :
https://adnl-2025.sciencesconf.org/?lang=fr
Contact: Agnès Leroux - agleroux at parisnanterre.fr, Pascale Manoïlov:
pmanoilov at parisnanterre.fr



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

********************** LINGUIST List Support ***********************
Please consider donating to the Linguist List to support the student editors:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=87C2AXTVC4PP8

LINGUIST List is supported by the following publishers:

Bloomsbury Publishing http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics

Cascadilla Press http://www.cascadilla.com/

De Gruyter Mouton https://cloud.newsletter.degruyter.com/mouton

Edinburgh University Press http://www.edinburghuniversitypress.com

Elsevier Ltd http://www.elsevier.com/linguistics

John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/

Language Science Press http://langsci-press.org

Lincom GmbH https://lincom-shop.eu/

MIT Press http://mitpress.mit.edu/

Multilingual Matters http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke (LOT) http://www.lotpublications.nl/

Oxford University Press http://www.oup.com/us

Wiley http://www.wiley.com


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-36-1985
----------------------------------------------------------