Content and Language Instruction in Bilingual Education Programmes

About This Event

This webinar is a part of the RIPE (Research Informed Practice in Education) Webinar series that explores the interconnectedness of educational theory, research, and practice.

In bilingual education programmes, students are learning non-language content subjects through their additional language (L2). However, it has been shown that students encounter great difficulty in mastering content knowledge and L2 simultaneously. Hence, teachers are encouraged to incorporate more language instruction in content lessons so as to provide more scaffolding for students. This can be regarded as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). The question that follows is how to integrate content and language teaching in real practice.

In this talk, the speaker will review different models of integrating content and language teaching, drawing on different theoretical perspectives and empirical research evidence. These models cover curriculum planning, material, and lesson design, as well as classroom instruction. Underlying these models is teachers’ language awareness, which in turn has significant implications for teacher education in bilingual education programmes.

About the Speakers

Dr Ahmed Hussain

Chief Education Officer, AISL

Dr Ahmed Hussain is the Chief Education Officer with AISL. This position involves leading on educational strategy and operations across the Harrow group of schools in Asia. He is also an Associate Professor at the school of education at Durham University, a member of the editorial board of Research Journal: International Education Theory and Practice, a member of the expert panel for Pudong Education Bureau, Shanghai, and a Fellow of the Charter College for Teaching, UK.

Yuen Yi Lo

Associate Professor, The University of Hong Kong

Dr Yuen Yi Lo is an Associate Professor at the Teacher Education and Learning Leadership (TELL) Unit of the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. She is also the Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) of the Faculty. She received her doctorate at the University of Oxford and worked at the Hong Kong Education University prior to joining the University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include bilingual education, Medium of Instruction policy, professional development of teachers in content and language-integrated learning (CLIL), and issues related to CLIL assessment. Her research has been published in Review of Educational Research, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Language Teaching Research , and Language and Education, and she has recently published her book “Professional Development of CLIL Teachers.” Dr. Lo is well experienced in running professional development workshops for teachers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, and Japan, assisting them in applying CLIL in classrooms.