Innovation in Language Learning
An Analysis of Recount Genre in CLIL Primary Education Social Science Textbooks
Carlos Porcar Saravia, University of Extremadura (Spain)
Abstract
CLIL is an educational approach where subject content is developed through an L2 and likewise an L2 is developed through subject content. So, both content and language in CLIL are inseparable elements that must function together. However, the importance of the language to which bilingual students are exposed lies not only in language itself but also in the way in which the language in bilingual Primary Education textbooks is used to convey these contents. Typically, the materials frequently used in the classes of this educational stage are textbooks full of academic language of high grammatical complexity and technicality, accuracy and a tight hierarchical organization that reproduce some of the different types of texts or genres identified by the Australian curriculum in the 80's. One of the main genres frequently used in Primary Education involves recounts or the types of texts that retell significant past events. In this paper, recounts and the different subtypes found in Social Science textbooks in bilingual Primary Education are analyzed. It also analyzes their main structural and language features, highlights their pedagogical implications in a Primary classroom as well as gives recommendations for a better implementation of this type of genre in this educational stage.
Keywords: CLIL, texbooks, history, primary.
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