International Strategies in Theory and Practice

Teaching team: John O’Donoghue and Prof. Sandra Haas

University and degree programme: TH Wildau, European Business Management

Course: International Strategies in Theory and Practice 5 ECTS

Timing: 15×90 minutes

CLIL pilot type: Light

Language: English

In this CLIL case example I describe how the CLIL elements of the International Strategies in Theory and Practice 1 course were planned, implemented and assessed. In this course, the students studied various international strategies which they discussed both in theory and also in practical application. The teaching team consisted of one content teacher for International Marketing, and one English language and communication teacher. 

The International Strategies in Theory and Practice 1 course took place on campus from March to July 2024. The planning process was started in February with a discussion between the two teachers on including a CLIL element into a team-teaching course. 

After agreeing on the plan for the CLIL activities and lectures for the course, the team proceeded to outline the requisite tasks, design lesson structures, and establish assessment criteria for the assigned tasks. One issue was the weighting in the oral exam according to language fluency and content mastery.  

CLIL assignments: To use differentiated language to describe graphs related to European and global business. To understand an interview on globalization and develop critical listening including analyzing and evaluating skills. To present a Ted Talk based on Raworth and teacher’s presentation – focus on storytelling and visualisation.

Language: English

Introduction of the CLIL implementation with 10 CLIL parameters

• Sequence:

The course is mostly a lecture comprising content teacher talking and organizing group work where the students are given time to discuss and prepare materials before reporting back to the group and the lecturer. As a preparation for lecture slides, the language teacher devised simple matching exercises that also encouraged students to become analytical and creative by providing them with set phrases to nudge them beyond descriptive, classifying statements in their reporting of slide information to reach a higher level of analysis and evaluation (see 5.7 below for example tasks). So, the langauge exercises were always sequenced before or after the corresponding content item in the lecture and designed for the students to expand on their knowledge and provide opportunities to discuss answers to open questions.  

• Concept and Task > Language:

Subject concept: Interpreting statistical information from theory to apply practical strategies for international expansion of companies.

Linguistic challenge: Expressing differentiated observations on dense content that are not merely descriptive but reveal some analysis and evaluation that is appropriate at third-level education institutions (bachelor level). Moving from a high level of everyday language fluency to a high level of academic fluency appropriate at university level.

• Guided multimedia input:

Presentation powerpoint slides and language exercises. Students also watched a Ted Talk and Youtube video using worksheets to focus their critical attention on communicative strategies and rhetorical devices.

• Key language:

The students came from diverse backgrounds, Asia, Africa and Europe. Some had gone through their education purely in English and used language on a native-speaker like level. Others had experienced less English in their education and were less proficient. The different accents and communication styles led to some difficulty in mutual comprehension. The Key Language was that describing concepts of international and global business but equally important focussing students’ attention on language that expresses reasoning related to globalization and assigning motives to different internationalization strategies.

Additionally, structures were highlighted for modulating levels of certainty/uncertainty relating to students’ opinions concerning globalization (trends, causal relationships, motivation, future developments). These linguistic tasks were designed to lead the students away from broad, banal generalizations to more analytical observations on the course material.

• Instructions:

Clear instructions and sequencing regarding the scaffolding of language and phrases in the language section of the course prior to the students attending the content lecture section. Language and content sections were sometimes combined into one class and sometimes taught separately.  

At the end of each session the students were required to summarise the key elements of the lecture in an Exit Ticket. This was then evaluated by the German professor, often criticizing the lack deep analysis and critical evaluation. If the students completed a sufficient number of Exit Ticket with a appropriate level of quality they were awarded extra points.

• Interactions:

 Group work in international teams. Peer feedback and discussions. Feedback from content lecturer and language teacher.

• Thinking:

Critical analysis of background and development of globalization. Applying knowledge to real world projects coordinated with the IHK (German Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and supporting companies in Berlin-Brandenburg.

• Supported output:

Drafting a report for companies in the Berlin-Brandenburg area to assist them in a specific globalization/expansion project and the relevant strategies that require implementation.

• Feedback

In the oral exam many students still tended to make simplistic and superficial statements based on the course material. This may be due to the large and concentrated amount of course content and the study/revision skills the students employed i.e., intense learning over a short period prior to oral exam.

• Team teaching:

The cooperation between the content and language teachers was positively assessed. It was noticeable that the teachers were not simply teaching different subjects but were employing different strategies and expecting different outcomes from the students. In other words, this content teacher/lecturer expected a high level of critical output within a short period of time along with a quick analytic evaluation. The language teacher was more generous in the time allotted to tasks and less critical in the assessment of students’ work, for example asking open questions with a wide range of possible answers in contrast to closed questions with a limited range of correct answers. This difference may be regarded as complementary or contradictory according to the different perspectives and pedagogical values of the participants. Additionally, the cooperation led to the language teacher appreciating the need for high academic standards and the content teacher becoming more aware of linguistic challenges the students faced. Both teachers spent many hours discussing the course and future changes to adapt the content to the performance of the students and how the language and content balance could be optimized to achieve this goal. In this case it was clear that the CLIL balance is a matter of continuous negotiation and adjustment between two colleagues based on their experiences and the students’ performance. Language is regarded as a means of encouraging students to achieve a higher level of academic performance by providing them with tools which correspond to this level.  

Download the file here: International Strategies in Theory and Practice