Enriching Vocabulary to the Students of English as Second Language Learners (ESL) Employing Content Integrated Language Learning (CILL)

International Journal of The Frontiers of English Literature and The Patterns of ELT ISSN : 2320 - 2505
January 2013 www.englishjournal.mgit.ac.in Volume I, Issue 1
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Enriching Vocabulary to the Students of English as Second Language
Learners (ESL) Employing Content Integrated Language Learning (CILL)
A.Naresh
Research Scholar
Osmania University, Hyderabad
e-mail: naresh_arruri@yahoo.co.in
Introduction
This paper focuses on enriching vocabulary to the students of the English as Second
Language learner (ESL) through the approach Content–Integrated–Language–Learning
(CILL). Previously many approaches have been developed, such as language across
curriculum, task based instruction, activity based communicating (ABC model) instruction,
content based instruction and immersion programmes etc. In this paper I shall present a
model for learning Vocabulary of English as Second Language Learner through his/her
preferred content.
Undoubtedly learning English as Second Language (ESL) has become very difficult task for
Indian students and as well as teachers too. We could assume a few reasons for this are viz.,
multilingual classrooms, lack of interest, ineffective teaching methodologies, lack of efficient
teachers and poor environment etc. Indian government declared English as its official
language and they made it mandatory by implementing Three-Language Formula (L1, L2 and
L3) in Secondary Education, Two- Language Formula for Higher Secondary Education (L1,
L2) and only one language i.e., English for the Higher Education in view of developing all
round development of a student in addition to English language skills.
Second language learning is a cyclical process: strong motivation, positive attitudes, effective
learning effort, learning progress and then in turn stronger motivation and further effective
learning effort (Gardner, 1985; Skehan, 1989). Learning and using vocabulary of the target
language is a bit difficult for the second language learners.
1. Definition of CILL and Benefits:
The idea of teaching subject matters through more than one language is not new; indeed the
very foundations of formal education in Europe were multilingual (Lewis 1976; Adams 2003;
Braunmüller and Ferraresi 2003).There are a few methods and approaches may help the
students to learn English as the second language: among them one of the approaches is

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Content Integrated Language Learning (CILL). It was advocated by Brinton, Donna. M,
Snow, Marguerite Ann and Wesche, Marjorie in 1989. CLIL is similar to Content Based
Instruction (CBI) and Task Based Instruction (TBI) and very useful for learning vocabulary
of language (both foreign and second). It enables the teachers of English to teach vocabulary
through the content of anything based upon the interest of the student community so that they
could remember it easily based on the knowledge, the application and using process of the
vocabulary item by attaching it with their favorite content.
2.1 Collaboration of content and language:
Content and language integrated learning (CILL) approach makes a student to undergo not
only the three basic ways of English language learning as Language of Learning/ Language
through Learning/ Language for Learning but a new notion like Language Learning and
Language Using. It also nurtures a feel good concept of learning to a student in learning a
language through his/her favorite subject/topic/matter. It also serves as a platform for
students’ ultimate interest in other languages and cultures through favorite
subject/topic/matter. With this approach a student can be able to learn both the subject
content and English language at a time. Integrating content and language strengthens the
position of second language learning in schools/colleges b promoting academic content is
authentic and useful for the students in future.
The approach is developed and pondered on the well-known assumption that foreign
languages are best learnt by focusing in the classroom not so much on language – its form
and structure – but on the content through which language is transmitted. Compared to other
content-based approaches the specific novelty of this approach is that classroom content is
not so much taken from everyday life or general content of the target language culture but
that it is rather drawn from content subjects or academic or scientific disciplines. When it
comes to the Indian classrooms as we stated earlier very large in number in terms of very
poor teacher-student ratio (1:40 or 1:60), so it is evidently a difficult task for a teacher to
concentrate on each and every student of the class whether they are learning/acquiring the
elements of the target language. And in most of the classrooms teachers do teach English and
its contents without much interaction with the students. It is obvious that English teaching has
become very risky than ever before now-a-days to any language teacher as everyone is
focusing on it to get employed soon after their course completion.

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2.2 What is Content?
Content in generic terms is drawn from the subjects students are studying in school/college
curriculum. It allows for meaningful information connections that help students integrate
information, skills, and concepts into a broader context of knowledge. Content is cognitively
demanding- it has to be more than a “no-brainer”--and it demands a level of learner
engagement with the materials. It is suggested that here the “content” in content based
instructions represents material that is cognitively engaging and demanding for the learner
and it is material that extends beyond the target language or target culture as shown in figure
1. (source: Cummins, James 1981)
Figure: 1
Usually a good language learner (GLL) of second/foreign language has to maintain a few
strategies given below:
a. Find a way that suits the learner
b. Involving in the language learning process
c. Develop an awareness of language both as system and as communication
d. Pay constant attention to expanding your language
e. Develop L2 as a separate system
f. Take into account that demands L2 learning imposes (Naiman, Frohlich & Stern,
1978)
Cognitively Understanding
Content Embedded Context Reduced
Cognitively Demanding

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2.3 Benefits of CILL:
 The main advantage of CILL is to instill positive attitude in learners towards learning
a language.
 It also encourages students’ motivation in both the target language and a professional
subject.
 It improves language skills and enlarges linguistic competence as it allows a student
more contact with the target language.
 CILL helps multicultural, intercultural communication skills and multilingual
attitudes which is crucial in the context of the global job market.
Developing Vocabulary of English through CILL: Role of a Teacher:
This paper looks at shift from a pedagogical and a learning psychological perspective. There
is a doubt raised whether an incorporated approach like CILL to language and content in the
language classroom will help to promote both language and content learning. Does this
approach can be regarded as more efficient than an isolated approach to language?
This question does not seem to be very original at first sight: people like Harold Palmer in the
beginning of last century already argued that languages cannot be taught and learned without
being embedded in content. But what if the content is defined more complex than usual way
of classroom teaching. So here the content which we take plays very pivotal role in teaching
the specific aspects of the culture of the target language. Content for the language classroom
is traditionally taken either from everyday life (like in school textbooks) or from specific
aspects of the culture of the target language (usually in university language courses). Content
can, however, also be of a more academic and scientific nature.
For example, in school content can be represented by a so-called content subject like
Geography or Sociology which could be taught entirely or partly in the target language; at
university the academic subjects studied by the students can also at least partly be taught in a
foreign language. Such a proposal is not entirely new: in a number of schools in Europe and
US content and language integrated learning has been introduced as a way of promoting
multilingualism, and in a few universities at least some modules of certain academic subjects
– like economics or information technology – are taught in a foreign language.
There is no doubt that integrating language with the content saves time and learners get
exposed to content and language at the same time as they learn language while they learn
content and vice versa. Here a question also arises, of course, in what way a specific

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academic or scientific kind of content (matter) influences the learning process of a language.
There the language teacher role becomes very crucial and important to overcome the problem
of learning a language through the content of academic or scientific subject. The teacher has
to have a discussion with the concerned subject teacher(s) of academic or scientific to plan a
lesson which would enable the student to learn both the content and language. In CILL
approach language teacher has to choose alternative ways to a student for effective learning.
There are four guiding principles a Language teacher must know to adopt CILL approach in
his/her classroom. They are Content, Communication, Cognition and Culture. We often call
them 4Cs in CILL approach.
Content: It is the heart of the learning process as it plays significant role. Teacher must
choose the content as the project theme to make a student to acquire knowledge, skills and
understanding.
Communication: As we discussed earlier a new notion like Language Learning and
Language Using is applicable here. Communication goes beyond grammar system and
involves learners in language using in a way which does not follow a regular kind of
language learning process.
Cognition: In CILL it is required for a learner to think and engage in higher order thinking
skills. It is not a matter for a learner to think like an expert but to comprehend the concept to
acquire language concepts according to their age and ability.
Culture: In our Indian context learning a language through an academic or scientific content
in target language is a bit difficult. We find multicultural learners from multicultural
background and to make them to acquire new cultural values of a targeted language by
studying can be a risky thing. A language teacher should transmit the target language culture
by applying CILL approach with ease. Then a learner would be able to achieve the target
language culture without any difficulty.
3.1 Role of a Teacher in CILL approach
As teachers of English one should know the proper methods, approaches and techniques to
teach English to the students. In India there is a scarcity of practical knowledge pool of
English teachers and we find very few institutes they stress on English language teaching to
train them. I have come across many English teachers who really speak English with lots of
Indianism and I wonder how they would train their own students to speak proper/correct
English. In India we do not expect English teachers ought to speak proper/good/correct

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English because basically our native language dominates the learning/acquiring strategy of
English as Second Language Learner (ESL). This theory has been continuing over years and
mostly affecting our English language learning/acquiring process.
In general a language teacher role is limited to cover the subject knowledge and skills and
their application. But undoubtedly it is also not happening in our Indian education system.
With this CILL approach the role and responsibility of a language teacher has extended to an
enormous level.
A few roles of a language teacher in CILL approach are as given below:
 S/He is to be creative in teaching their subject in target language.
 Has to adopt effective teaching strategies including topic based and task based
teaching.
 Verbal inputs should be accompanied with the use of visual, aural and video aids.
 Should able to use internet based resources which play a major role in CILL approach
to learning a language.
 Must have a discussion with the concerned subject teachers/experts to use and
integrate the content to adhere the language concept by teaching it.
 Should create the environment for learning the language items.
3.2 Methodology of teaching Vocabulary using CILL
Through the CILL approach learners are more successful and more motivated than those
traditional teaching (Wolff, 2004). In CILL a learner not only learns content along with
language but also learns the intercultural concepts of the target language. In this approach
learner may divide into groups when they participate in task based learning and content based
learning. So they could adopt the team responsibility skills, clarity, fluency, ability to attract
the gathering (audience), negotiation skills etc.
If a language teacher tries to teach vocabulary of the target language through the content of
weather from “Geography” s/he has to teach the student the basic definition of weather, types
of weather, and components of weather. With this content weather, a language teacher can
give words the students related to weather like

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Words List
Blistering soggy
Blowy humid
Blustery airy
Breezy icy
Chilly nippy
Clammy oppressive
clumsy stifling
damp stormy
freezing sultry
frosty sweltering
haze warm

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Figure: 2
For this vocabulary building in the topic so called weather a teacher has to plan a lesson on it
along with the teacher(s) of Geography and has to choose the paragraphs to teach in the
classroom. For effective teaching of vocabulary teacher could use visual aids, pictorials,
pictures, drawings, images etc in the classroom. A language teacher should make his/her
students to undergo a few activities on the topics they learn so that they remember the words
they learn at classroom without fail. For example teacher may ask his/her students to divide
into groups and make them to note down all the words and find out the meanings, usage and
pronunciation by using dictionary and let them give some demonstrations on the weather
conditions of the previous, present or future in their own words by giving one demo if his.her
own with the words included in the figure 2.
Summary and Conclusion
Content-based second-language instruction is based on the assumption that language can be
effectively taught through the medium of subject matter content. The central aim of this paper
here is to develop academic language skills, as well as to familiarize students with scholarly
discourse transferable to other academic courses. It is my belief that students find content-
based courses more motivating, once they have achieved a suitable language level, than
skills-based courses alone, which can appear rather artificial and be de-motivating. Students
feel a sense of accomplishment, knowing that they are studying authentic content material in
the target language. From an academic point of view, students can learn critical skills
essential to general academic work through the subject of geography: for example, how to
develop and structure their arguments and to weigh them against the evidence; how to
introduce and explain abstract concepts; how to use statistical evidence authoritatively; how
to explicate issues in a well-reasoned way. If this approach is proved to be effective, as
students become more linguistically competent, specialist content-based teaching should be
added to the curriculum in place of general language instruction as a bridge between language
and subject. It allows students to learn the content with challenging and motivating attribute
hot muggy
sticky moist

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and make them to use of technology to collaborate the content to learn language by working
in pairs. It develops the team work of the students and stimulates their interpersonal
communication skills to learn both the content and vocabulary of the target language. The
concept of CILL- Content Integrated Language Learning- therefore a new research field in
Indian education system which allows not only the teachers and students but also the
researchers to be interested in working on it to reap fruitful results. With this concept students
can develop subject specific and the target language beyond the English speaking countries
for education and employment.
References
1. Adamson, H.D. (1993) Academic Competence: Theory and Classroom Practice.
Preparing ESL Students for Content Courses. White Plains, NY: Longman.
2. Bejarano, Y. (1987) A cooperative small-group methodology in the language
classroom, Tesol Quarterly, 21 (3), 483-503.
3. Bejarano, Y. (1994) An integrated groupwork model for the second-language
Classroom, in: S. Sharan (Ed) Handbook of cooperative learning methods. (Westport,
Connecticut, Greenwood Press), 177-192.
4. Brinton, D. M., M. A. Snow, and M. B. Wesche. 1989. Content-Based Second
Language Instruction. New York: Newbury House.
5. De Vries, D. and K. Edwards (1973) Learning games and student teams: their effect
on classroom process, American Educational Research Journal, 10, 307-318.
6. Euridyce Report (2006) Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) at school
in Europe. European Commission.
7. Marsh, David. (1994). Bilingual Education & Content and Language Integrated
Learning. Paris: International Association for Cross-cultural Communication,
Language Teaching in the Member States of the European Union (Lingua), University
of Sorbonne.
8. Nunan, David (1991): Language Teaching Methodology. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice
Hall.
9. Snow, M. A., M. Met and F Genesee (1989) A conceptual framework for the
integration of language and content in second/ foreign language instruction, Tesol
Quarterly, 23 (2), 201-217.

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10. Stevens, R.J., N.A. Madden, R.E. Slavin and A.M. Farnish (1987) Cooperative
integrated reading and composition: two field experiments, Reading Research
Quarterly, 22 (4), 433-454.
11. Wolff, D. (2007) What is CLIL? Available online at
http://www.goethe.de/ges/spa/dos/ifs/en2747558.htm (accessed 20 April 2008).

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