Embracing the Integration of TBLT and CLIL: Design, Justify, and Evaluate a Practical EAP Lesson Plan
Keywords:
Lesson plan, Task-based language teaching, Content and language integrated learningAbstract
While the Ministry of Education of China advocates a pedagogical shift from traditional grammar-translation method toward communicative language teaching for EAP courses in China, some public secondary schools are still reluctant to the change due to the huge influence of high-stakes tests, negatively affecting those students who call for courses cultivating all-inclusive English abilities to prepare for studying abroad. To address this issue, this paper designs a task-based language teaching (TBLT) and content and language integrated learning (CLIL) lesson plan following Willis’s and Meyer’s models. The study analyses the literature to provide a rationale and present a comprehensive evaluation discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the design. The discussion shows that such an integrated course benefits students’ overall English skills, communicative skills, and meaning-making capacity through classroom interaction, simulation, scaffolding, and the immersion of authentic materials. However, it may be challenging to implement in a real context due to the considerations of language focus, learners’ English competence, implicit learning, contextual conditions, political consistency, and teacher training.
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