A case study on the ststus of Trilingual education in NIS of Taraz
The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine NIS teachers’ insight of Trilingual education through teaching non-linguistic subjects in second and foreign languages, identify educators’ challenges facing in teaching content in languages and present the ways of preparing teachers in content-language classrooms well. The aim of this case study is to review relevant literature on Trilingual education and content-language teaching topics and on the ground of empirical knowledge put a scientific basis of this brand new study in Kazakhstan. The findings of this research will facilitate content-language teachers to cope with their works successfully and the special toolkit for teachers will be prepared relying on the results of the study.
The various models of teaching content in second and foreign languages as a part of Trilingual education are widely used in Nazarbayev Intellectual schools. It is clearly stated in annual reports of autonomous education organizations that Trilingualism policy is the most significant activity in NIS system. Since Trilingual education was implemented in 2013 necessary documents were developed, linguistic and non-linguistic teachers have attended preparatory courses about teaching content through language and the clear methodology of immersion programs. Teachers from Intellectual schools of Astana, Karaganda, Uralsk, Taraz and Shymkent had seminars with well-known international instructors of CLIL and teachers of the subjects “History of Kazakhstan”, “World History” and “Geography” and 12 employees of CEP on immersion programs.
Applying Immersion programs and CLIL approach is very effective in terms of widening cultural context and preparing for internationalization. Steve Darn elicited heterogeneous benefits of the content teaching language approaches like improving overall or specific language competency, developing multilingual interests and increasing learners’ motivation. However the teachers who work with this new learning approach worldwide face conceptual and methodological challenges in teaching content. Kazakhstani Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools are not exception on this issue.
NIS teachers of Taraz have challenges and concerns due to the lack of unclear strategies and expectations of the CLIL program, many of those teachers cannot fluently understand the model and do not know what content-obligatory language to use, what language to ask questions and instruct students in and weather to assess students’ language level or subject knowledge in content teaching classrooms. Moreover, due to the deficit of professional content teachers who can teach in Russian or English, language teachers are involved to deal with teaching content in second and third languages. Ill-instructed and unprepared teachers mostly pay more attention and keen to assess language knowledge.
Therefore it is very important and cruical to study the topic of content language integrated classrooms for the sake of future development. Firstly,international teachers who are assisting local teachers in team teaching are going to live next year. Local teachers with poor level of foreign language need to develop the methods of teaching content through second language themselves.
Secondly, from the next academic year all the mainstream schools are going to adopt this model to teach science subjects in the second language of the learners. Teachers of those schools would face double challenges .They will need lots of trainings,PD courses before to implement this reform. My research will help to put the basis of research on Trilingual education,basics of CLIL approach and enable NIS teachers and other teachers as well to get familiar with the main techniques of it.