„Developing FL literacy in CLIL contexts” (LIT4CLIL) is an international research project funded by Erasmus+ programme. It started on September 1st, 2018 and ends on July 31st, 2021.

Bilinguis is proud to be one of the partners within the project!

For more information about the project please go to: https://www.pedagog.uw.edu.pl/lit4clil/

Priority 1

To develop high-quality skills using a literacy approach for Primary ELT in CLIL contexts by designing and implementing professional development activities and materials (online and off-line) through transnational cooperation as well as university and school cooperation in the partner countries. The ultimate aim is to support young language learners who are developing skills in communicating in a foreign language, while simultaneously developing literacy in their first language.

Many projects indicated the challenges that teachers (Ts) experience with developing young learners’ literacy skills, specifically when dealing with bilingual literacy. We suggest an approach and materials for supporting the needs of young learners, while also design and prepare an ongoing training in literacy-based English language teaching for language Ts across Europe. We include purposefully organized stages that are realized through collaboration among national and transnational partners.

The approach will be inductive, considering teachers’ needs and creating a set of principles and procedures suitable for CLIL contexts, where the language is used as a vehicle for learning.

Priority 2

Focuses on the teaching professions at different stages in their career. In-service Ts obtain high quality skills through participating in professional development activities introducing the innovative ideas related to teaching literacy in EFL. They participate both as partners and participants. They design, implement and evaluate professional development activities, and create literacy units through cooperation with other Ts from partner countries. They also cooperate with the university partners and take on leadership roles by becoming literacy mentors after participating in the pilot course. They implement transnationally created teaching units in their contexts and participate in the process of evaluation of the pilot stage. In addition, the Ts broaden their teaching skills by learning about literacy in CLIL contexts at primary level. This strengthens their employability due to the increase of popularity of CLIL teaching in all European countries. They participate in a professional, transnational cooperation, which allows them to experience the environments in partner schools.

Pre-service Ts focus on the newly developed approach and utilize the materials created during the earlier stages, specifically the planning grid, the literacy units and the online repository. Students cooperate with literacy mentors who will support them by providing model lessons, providing feedback or sharing materials. They develop skills with the help of experienced professionals from the partner countries. They learn about the value of teacher and international cooperation. Finally, they participate at the international conference gaining an insight into literacy-related projects developed in other European countries.

Teacher-educators and researchers (university and school based) develop by learning about literacy teaching approaches in primary education in partner universities and schools. They will publish jointly on the topic broadening their knowledge and skills regarding literacy, as well as their employability. They jointly develop materials for pre-service and in-service teacher training about literacy.

Priority 3

To address the underachievement in literacy (Surveylang report, 2012) by educating Ts about effective and innovative approaches to teaching the FL through literacy development. Through creating materials for effective literacy teaching, Ts will develop critical thinking skills and transferring these skills to their students.
A holistic approach to language teaching will be adopted, taking into account literacy skills across the curriculum. The Surveylang report shows that ninth graders’ FL reading skills in all the participating countries are quite low (16% to 28% of students are at pre-A1 level).

Efforts need to be made in order to support in-service teacher development in this area, as well as prepare better teacher education activities and materials to train pre-service and in-service teachers to develop young learners’ FL literacy skills. FL literacy skills can be transferable to other areas (e.g. mother tongue, science).