How to Include Language in all Subjects

Danish as a second language and didactics in the Folkeskole.

Summary

Even though oral language is not the only medium for learning in the education system, it is often a crucial tool in teaching.

There is little doubt that language plays a very important role in acquiring the curriculum subjects taught and that the language used to communicate the content of the curriculum can be a barrier for many pupils. Pupils are required to learn various new technical terms that are subject specific and to develop a language to understand and express the contents of the curriculum subjects in context; in other words to be able to understand and use subject-specific language both orally and in writing.

This issue is of particular relevance to children and young people whose mother tongue is not Danish, and who are therefore in the process of acquiring Danish as a second language while they are also required to use it as a medium for their subject-specific learning process.

On this basis, a research and development project was conducted in 2006-07 with the objective of developing and analysing teaching practices aimed at bridging the pupils’ linguistic capabilities and the linguistic expectations or demands that each individual subject makes on pupils.

This publication includes a number of examples of how Danish as a second language has been integrated into the curriculum subjects of Danish, mathematics and natural science/technology, in years 4-6 of the Folkeskole, i.e. for pupils aged 10-12. The publication illustrates, among other things,

• how the language specific used in the teaching of natural science/technology is made the subject of the teaching, and how the linguistic and subject-specific goals can be integrated;
• how pupils in natural science/technology lessons are introduced to the genres that are generally used in the subject via writing;
• how to support pupils in natural science/technology lessons to utilise the visual representations in the teaching material;
• how to create interaction in teaching, which supports the acquisition of language and the curriculum based on the existing knowledge that conversation is central when it comes to learning a language and learning through language;
• how to support pupils in their use of the language of mathematics through planning lessons that place pupils in situations where they are required to express themselves about mathematical issues;
• how to focus on the relationship between “everyday language” and “mathematical language” in the teaching of mathematics;
• how to support pupils acquisition of Danish as a second language by drawing on their total linguistic and cognitive resources; 
• how pupils with Danish as a second language are encouraged to employ interlanguage strategies, so they do not develop strategies to manage with the language they already have
• how bi-lingual pupils’ knowledge of several languages can be included in the teaching with a view to developing linguistic awareness.

The articles focus on different aspects of the role of language in the teaching of the curriculum subjects and emphasise the importance of including language in all subjects so that the relation between language and curriculum subject is made explicit to pupils, while they also get the opportunity to become familiar with subject-specific discourse and express themselves independently about the contents of the curriculum for each individual subject.