New Faculty Collaborative Publication: Operationalising historical literacy with CEFR-aligned descriptors: An exploratory study – Dr. Mark Antony de Boer

Dr. Mark Antony de Boer, Assistant Professor in AIU’s English for Academic Purposes Program, along with Dr. Natalia Evnitskaya, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Spain; Dr. Elena del Pozo, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain; Dr. Lina Miloshevska, University of Information, Science and Technology “St. Paul the Apostle”, North Macedonia; Dr. Silvia Rieder-Marschallinger, KPH Wien-Niederösterreich, Vienna, Austria , have published an article in Applied Linguistics Review.

Abstract and Link

Operationalising historical literacy with CEFR-aligned descriptors: An exploratory study

This paper aims to operationalise History literacy descriptors at CEFR B1 and B2 levels, using student-written texts from an EMI Ancient History course in Spain. The objective is threefold: (1) to identify the range and frequency of CDFs in students’ writing, (2) to explore whether and how disciplinary expertise shapes interpretation of CDF descriptors and language-for-CDF descriptors in the coding process, and (3) to identify areas in the CDF and language-for-CDF descriptors that require refinement. Texts were independently coded at the macro/micro levels by the team of researchers, using the descriptors for content and academic language, followed by analytical discussions to identify the most used CDFs and to establish coder-coder intersubjectivity. Findings reveal that CDFs differed depending on the students’ English proficiency levels and historical understanding, with CDF_Evaluate and CDF_Explore appearing more frequently at B2 level. The experts’ discussions highlighted the complexity of finding common ground when coding and helped co-construct intersubjectivity through the negotiation of the shared understanding. Although the study supports the viability of CDF-aligned descriptors, the analysis revealed incongruencies in coding of the historical content and the linguistic realisations, identifying the need to better align the CDF and language-for-CDF descriptors and suggesting refinements.

Keywords : cognitive discourse functions (CDFs); history literacy; CLIL; CDF descriptors; CEFR B1 and B2; language-for-CDF descriptors

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This article is based upon work from COST Action CLILNetLE (CA 21114) and their 2024 Report, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). The authors of this paper were part of Working Group 2, under the supervision of Professor Francisco Lorenzo, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain. For more information about COST Action CLILNetLE: https://www.clilnetle.eu/about

Description of COST Action CLILNetLE (CA 21114):

This Action responds to the move into mainstream education of Content-and-Language-Integrated-Learning (CLIL), i.e., the teaching of non-language subjects through a foreign language. Ongoing challenges in CLIL practice and research negatively affect the realisation of CLIL’s full potential, which lies primarily in helping school-leavers achieve the competence to use at least one foreign language confidently for professional and academic purposes. Young Europeans clearly require such bi/multilingual disciplinary literacies, complementing that in their first language, to succeed in employment and higher education.

Through connecting researchers across Europe, this Action will develop an impactful, shared research agenda and dissemination strategy, targeting CLIL’s educational potential to support the development of bi/multilingual disciplinary literacies. This Action, for the first time, integrates research clusters from language education, focusing on CLIL and subject education experts working on education through the main language of education. To allow for a holistic understanding of the use and development of bi/multilingual disciplinary literacies, further expertise on digital media and multilingual schools is included.

Aims of this Action are to:

1. develop a shared conceptualisation and research agenda for the investigation of bi/multilingual disciplinary literacies in CLIL
2. provide an accessible collection of standardised research instruments and research training
3. identify patterns of use, development and existing good practices in terms of supporting bi/multilingual disciplinary literacies at school, focusing on grades 5-13
4. disseminate information on supporting the development of bi/multilingual disciplinary literacies in CLIL classes primarily to educational stakeholders and within academia, but also to post-secondary and industry stakeholders and the general public