Astrid Ebenberger

1

NEW TRACKS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

TEACHING (ELT) IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

IN AUSTRIA – CLIL BASED COMPETITIONS

AS A FORM OF ENRICHMENT PROGRAMME

ASTRID EBENBERGER

Abstract. English language teaching (ELT) in Austrian secondary

schools has well developed within the last two decades whereas

English teaching in primary schools has been suffering from a lack

of time reserved for ELT in the national core curriculum as well as

in the individual timetables of the schools and from a lack of well

trained teachers. A qualitative research at the University College of

Teacher Education in Krems (KPH Wien/Krems) has pointed out

the educators’ needs and wishes concerning teaching English as a

first foreign language. To support these ideas and to underline the

value of foreign language learning and teaching, the model of

supra-regional CLIL (content and language integrated learning)-

based competitions at New Secondary School – “English

Olympics” – was transformed into primary school competitions.

This pilot project took place in June 2015. It was a great success.

There is a plan to implement these competitions in the schedule of

primary schools. With measures like a new curriculum in teacher

education, system support concerning different school initiatives in

ELT and implementing of CLIL as an important methodological

approach a new quality in English language teaching (ELT) in

primary schools will be provided.

1. Introduction

In most European countries obligatory language learning in primary

schools started in the second half of the 20th

century. After some years of

experiments Austria started in 1983 (Römer 2014: 860). Today in New

Secondary Schools (NMS, 10-14ys) and primary schools (VS, 6-10ys)

New Tracks in ELT in Austria 2

English is the most frequently taught first foreign language. Pupils attend

around three to four lessons every week during their four years at lower

secondary schools (BGBl. 2012). In primary schools English is a

mandatory subject from the very beginning. During the compulsory school

time there are around 660 hours of teaching in the first foreign language.

That means that compared with 25 European countries Austria ranges in

the middle and reaches an A2 standard, whereas the maximum of hours is

taught in Luxemburg (1178 hours) with the minimum attainment of B2

(European Commission/EC 2014: 30). Language competences are crucial

in our modern, global world. Languages build bridges and provide

communication. They create tolerance and understanding. The European

Commission (EC) declared the knowledge of two foreign languages as a

goal for each European citizen (European Commission 1995: 19). The first

landmark to achieve this will be a school system that ensures appropriate

competences in the first foreign language.

2. English in primary schools – current situation

For primary schools the national core curriculum defines integrated ELT –

according to the children´s capacity and receptivity – in years one and two

and ELT as one single lesson per week in years three and four (BGBl.

303/2012: 246). It depends on the autonomous decision of schools whether

it is only taught in a separate lesson as a separate subject, or if there is also

bilingual teaching by integrating the use of English in other subjects, like

sports or science or music or arts. Schools also have the opportunity to

arrange optional language courses with either English native speakers or

motivated language teachers. These offers depend on the access to human

and financial resources as well as on the interests of the school

community. As a result the EC report points out that Austria has the

lowest level (2%) of language lessons in primary education compared to

other European countries (European Commission/EC 2014: 22).

Teaching English starts in nursery school and continues throughout

primary school, with a very strong focus on a child-appropriate playful

approach, the aim being to provide a good basis and firm competences by

the beginning of secondary school. However, experience has shown that

language skills differ so strongly that secondary English starts at a very

low level in order to reach all pupils. As a current development a set of

competences has been designed for primary schools, but the use is optional

(ÖZE 2013). In fact it depends on the teachers´ language competences

how they work in the language classes. These circumstances increase the

problem of transition between primary and secondary education. The

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secondary school teachers have their expectations on the English

competences of their new pupils, whereas the primary school teachers

complain about the lack of time reserved for ELT and consequently feel

stressed by the pressure to reach the goals of the curriculum.

2.1. Evidence

The outcomes of a qualitative empirical research of students at the

University College of Teacher Education in Krems (KPH Wien/Krems)

which was conducted between January and June 2015 in fifteen of their

primary schools for professional training, underline the current situation of

ELT. The interviews with primary school teachers focused on three main

questions:

1) Which experience do teachers at primary schools have in

early language teaching (ELT)?

2) How is English promoted at primary schools?

3) Are language competitions suitable to promote ELT?

Results:

1) Experience

All teachers underlined their motivation in ELT. They pointed out that

next to methodological competence the personal language competence is

crucial. That means that teacher training colleges and in-service training

have to offer not only a fundamental but an extensive programme to

improve language competence. The teachers complain about the low

number of lessons at primary schools. Many of them would prefer a

curriculum that provides more ELT lessons. They are satisfied with the

non-assessing practice in ELT although some of them suggest grading in

the last year of primary school. They point out that it makes transition to

secondary school easier if the children are adjusted to marks. Non-

assessing in years one-three goes better with the playful way of ELT.

The core aspects are listening and oral communication. Teachers use

different methods and different materials to introduce new words and

stories with word- and picture-cards. Most of them work with songs,

chants and rhymes and clarify the meaning with gestures and miming.

They prefer building smaller groups to make children talk.

Only some teachers are familiar with the term CLIL (content and

language integrated learning) whereas more of them use this

methodological approach when they combine other subjects like physical

education or music or biological (animals, plants …) and science topics

(weather, seasons…) with English.

New Tracks in ELT in Austria 4

Children also start reading to get adjusted to the differences in spelling

and pronunciation, which constitutes a major difficulty as the German

language does not have this feature.

That is the base for writing. Although this skill is not part of the

curriculum of primary schools most teachers let the children write words

and sometimes short texts. Reasons are the curiosity of the children – they

like to try out writing – and transition to secondary schools, where

children start writing from the very first day. So the teachers feel that the

pupils will be better prepared for the next school.

2) Promoting English at school

All teachers emphasize the necessity of early language learning. Their

schools run different programmes to promote English. Some of them offer

optional ELT-courses, which are very often taught by English native

speakers. For these courses some schools also cooperate with language

institutes. It was also mentioned that there are language programmes

during the school year not only in English but also in Turkish and German,

because there are many migrants in some schools. Other schools arrange

project weeks which emphasise foreign language speaking and

intercultural learning. All teachers wish to have more resources and

opportunities to put more weight on ELT.

3) The value of language competitions

The teachers recognize language competitions as an appropriate means

to stress and to value ELT at primary schools. To answer this question

another questionnaire was filled in by the teachers who accompanied the

pilot project of “Mini-Olympics” which will be described further on. They

all mentioned that the children that were chosen to take part were very

proud of it. Their parents were proud, too. They all agreed that

competitions are motivating and the participation underlines the focus that

a school puts on ELT.

2.2. Educational attempts

As ELT is considered crucial to deal with a global world, current school

development faces four tracks to brush up ELT (see figure 1):

1) Teacher education

2) National curriculum

3) New methodological approach for ELT in schools

4) System support, initiatives

Astrid Ebenberger

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Figure 1: Educational attempts towards more quality in ELT.

Teacher education

In 2013 the Austrian parliament decided to implement a new teacher

education (BMBF 2015). According to the Bologna Process of 1999

(European Higher Education Area 2014) it has been divided into two

parts:

Teacher education for primary schools, conducted by University

Colleges of Teacher Education, duration: eight semesters, 240 EC,

graduation as “Bachelor of Education” (BGBl 2013: 3). The curricula have

already been designed. The first courses are going to start in October 2015.

Teacher education for secondary schools, in cooperation between

University Colleges and Universities, duration: eight semesters, 240 EC,

graduation as “Bachelor of Education”. The designing of the curricula will

start after successful negotiations concerning the cooperation between the

University Colleges and the Universities. The first courses will start in

October 2016.

Master-programmes are created as in-service studies. There are at least

60 credits (depending on the different programmes of the different

universities) to be reached.

The studies for primary schools teachers cover basic competences as

well as specializing in subjects (like ELT, German, Mathematics etc.) or

educational paradigms (like inclusion, school development etc). That

New Tracks in ELT in Austria 6

means that a specialised English teacher for primary schools has to reach

an additional 30 EC in ELT.

National curriculum

The current national curriculum for primary schools (BGBl. 303/2012:

243) has focused on the development of listening and speaking skills. A

group of experts created a book of competences for the four years of

primary school (ÖSZ 2013) and added competences in reading and writing

which should lead to an A1 language competence after primary school. As

a consequence they have to be implemented in a new curriculum within

the next years. Standard testings were already carried out in German and

Mathematics in the last year (year four) in primary schools, therefore

standard testing for English has also been discussed.

Methodological approach:

Next to the emphasising of reading and writing the experts suggest cross-

curricular teaching. Legutke et.al. (2015: 106) pointed out the two

different approaches of cross-curricular teaching which are associated with

the term CLIL (content and language integrated learning):

A subject-based approach: The foreign language is exported into

another subject (e.g. in sports)

A theme-topic-based approach: The subject (e.g. Biology) is

imported into English.

There is a lot of supporting material available to teach CLIL. It covers:

Biological topics: my body, skeleton, my senses, health, nutrition,

animals, life cycles, habitats, plants and fruits, etc. (Fuchs, Grabner 2012).

Orientation and science: Reading a map, vehicles, weather, electricity,

the solar system, water cycle, etc.

Issues to enhance global and environmental awareness: How does

weather affect us? (Grieveson, Superfine 2012). The global footprint,

natural or non-natural materials, recycling, separating waste, etc.

Games like domino (see e.g. figure 2), memory, bingo etc. as well the

provision of a rich learning environment motivate the children. Cross-

curricular-teaching or content and language integrated learning (CLIL)

should lead to general competences like:

cognitive strategies by comparing, counting, classifying, ranking,

predicting, problem-solving, measuring, hypothesizing,

meta-cognitive strategies by reflecting on the learning process

social strategies by helping each other with language or content

problems, being patient and tolerant, giving feedback, offering

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advice (Legutke, Müller-Hartmann, Schocker v. Ditfurth 2015:

108).

Figure 2: Domino – animals in the woods (ÖSZ 2013: 71).

System support, initiatives

The federal republic of Austria consists of nine states, which have to serve

the same laws but may vary in their execution. So the system support

concerning school development and quality is different in the nine states.

They mostly focus on the same key aspects but the expenses for the

resources can be different. There are different school- based experiments

in ELT. The following lines mention projects in the biggest Austrian

states, Vienna and Lower Austria.

In Vienna schools can work with the European Language Portfolio. It

focuses on the learning of a first and second foreign language as well as on

the mother tongues of the many immigrants. It supports intercultural

learning and understanding (Felberbauer et al. 2010). The „LOLLIPOP“-

project teaches ELT from the very beginning in an enjoyable way, like

consuming a lollipop. There are also many Vienna Bilingual Schools

starting with primary classes. The project NESSIE (Native English

Speaker Support in Education) offers each child in the fourth year of

primary school a one-week intensive course with an English native

speaker (Höltzer 2014: 796). The project GEPS (Global Education

Primary Schools) emphasises English as a working language in other

subjects (Stadtschulrat für Wien 2015).

In the state school inspectorate of Lower Austria a special department

for school development has to approve, to monitor and to supervise school

development experiments. Schools can offer one to three hours of

additional intensive English courses starting in the first year. Courses are

run by English native speakers or primary school teachers who are

qualified in English. The programme was first evaluated in 2007. The

results showed the high potentials of children that can be supported by

offering intensive courses with highly trained teachers. Children were very

much motivated, they only used English in communication with the

English native teacher (Buchholz, Mewald, Schneidhofer 2007: 85).

New Tracks in ELT in Austria 8

3. CLIL-based competitions as a kind of enrichment

programme

School has to promote and encourage each individual child in its learning

and development of competences. There have been different concepts how

to treat children individually. The progressive education at the beginning

of the 20th

century focused on cooperative learning, on a well prepared and

motivating learning environment, on self-conducted work and a teacher in

the role of an organizer, a supporter and coach (Ebenberger 2015a: 19). In

heterogeneous classes differentiation is crucial. There are many forms in

use: organisational differentiation groups pupils with similar interests and

similar levels of giftedness in special courses. Differentiation within

classes provides appropriate material, open, self-conducted work

according to individual interests and speed. Competitions are

acknowledged as one form of supporting and enriching pupils in their

individual development (Schmid 2014: 167). Competitions that are based

on cooperative work, with a CLIL-approach, for pupils with special

English speaking competences and a wide range of different interests

correspond perfectly with enrichment programmes of schools. They are

based on enjoyment, engagement and enthusiasm (Ebenberger 2015b:

149).

3.1 English Olympics in secondary schools

“English Olympics” were established as such a kind of enrichment

programme for English language teaching in secondary schools of Lower

Austria. Today there are about 200 schools participating in about 20

districts of Lower Austria. They are fighting for the state championship in

one final competition (Matzka, Ebenberger 2013: 22). The CLIL-based

competitions develop different competences: cross curricular thinking,

cognitive skills, creativity, general knowledge, teamwork and language

skills. The very successful programme is based on the cooperation

between the two University Colleges of Teacher Education (KPH

Wien/Krems and PH NÖ, Baden) – students create the tasks for the

various “stations” and supervise them – the department of education in the

federal state of Lower Austria (Landesschulrat für Niederösterreich,

LSRfNÖ) and the specific organisations via different hosting schools (see

figure 3). Indicators for the success are the increasing number of

participating schools and the increasing interest of sponsors supporting the

competitions.

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Figure 3: Organisation/Station plan of English Olympics.

3.2. Mini-Olympics in primary schools – a pilot project

After the great success of “English Olympics” at secondary schools and

the wish of the school inspectorate of Lower Austria to value the efforts of

ELT in primary schools the idea to design a similar pilot project for

primary schools arose. The goal was to give primary schools – which have

a focus on ELT or emphasize ELT and teaching CLIL – the chance to

present their outcomes. So the notion of increasing quality in ELT will be

spread all over the country. The first events took place in June 2015 in the

districts of Krems and Baden in Lower Austria. In both districts a primary

school specialised in English teaching had to organize the morning for the

participating six or seven different school-teams. The team-members were

chosen on the basis of their language competence, their motivation to work

in groups and their giftedness. They attended the last (fourth) year at their

schools.

Students for primary school education created the tasks (see e.g. figure

4). The CLIL-based topics covered music, science, mathematics, logics,

orientation, biology and knowledge about daily routine, like shopping. The

tasks were organised in a station plan and conducted, supervised and

graded by the students. Each task had to be solved in the team, it lasted

fifteen minutes and pupils could achieve a maximum of 20 points. The

materials addressed different frames of mind according to the theory of

Howard Gardner (Oswald 2012: 220).

New Tracks in ELT in Austria 10

Figure 4: “Station” (task) at Mini-Olympics: logical.

The station plan was implemented in a morning full of English. It

started with an introduction to the process. It was interrupted by a break,

which was organised by the primary school. It finished with group songs

and games which were taught by the students before the award ceremony

took place (see figure 5).

Shortly afterwards the pilot-project was evaluated by a questionnaire

which was addressed to the teachers that accompanied the groups. The

results underlined the success of this pilot project. The teachers

appreciated the organisation, the structure of a station plan, the cooperative

work and especially the CLIL-approach. Most of them added that they

were also working in their classes following this method. Only one

complained about a lack of communicative appeals. For the teachers it was

appropriate to invite children of the fourth year of primary schools to the

competitions. And although there had been doubts how schools could

organize the participation, teachers did not point out any problem.

For a follow-up the project has to be developed. It has to be considered

which schools will be addressed. It will not be possible to invite all 660

primary schools in Lower Austria as the competition is carried out at the

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same time as the English Olympics at secondary schools. The project

could be expanded for all the schools which are running school

experiments in ELT. To follow the idea of promoting English in all

primary schools there has to be a different approach. A group of experts

will have to consider and decide in the end.

Figure 5: Successful team of participants at Mini-Olympics.

4. Conclusion

In the current school system in Austria there are negotiations going on to

develop the system. Although ELT in primary schools does not seem to be

the main focus there are different tracks to follow which promote ELT.

They focus on teacher education as well as the national curriculum, the

support of ELT at single schools and new methodological approaches. One

of them is CLIL, which is also implemented in competitions that are run

successfully for secondary schools in Lower Austria. A similar project

transferred into primary schools was started. Its positive results can be

used as an incentive to brush up ELT. If it is possible to convince

responsible institutions to offer enough resources concerning students,

teachers, organisation, settings, etc. CLIL-based Mini-Olympics at

primary schools will play an important part in increasing the quality of

ELT in primary schools.

New Tracks in ELT in Austria 12

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Biographical note:

Astrid EBENBERGER, Dr., Med. – teacher at the University College of

Teacher Education Wien/Krems, at campus Krems since 2011. 25 years of

experience in teaching English in secondary schools, headteacher at a

secondary school until 2011. Teaching focus at the University College

upon English for students for primary schools, research, educational

studies.