Email this article The discourse of historiography in CLIL history textbooks
Abstract
CLIL is the acronym coined by professors David Marsh and Anne Maljers and it stands for Content and Language Integrated Learning. It describes a well-known and widespread methodology in Europe and in the Italian school system which was officially recognised in 1994. The current Italian school legislation has adopted it both to increase SL practice and to promote learner-centred approaches and teaching innovation. The Italian publishing industry has started to dedicate much attention to the development of ready-made supports for high school teachers and fix ‘canonical’ topics. Following the recent analyses of authorial voice in the academic discourse of historiography (Bondi 2007; 2009; 2012; 2014; 2017) and the applications of corpus linguistics/stylistics and appraisal theory to different textual typologies (White 2002; Martin and White 2005), this article aims at exploring the seemingly marginal textuality produced for CLIL history teaching. It constitutes an attempt at tracing stances of authorial voice in a corpus of 23 titles representing the totality of CLIL history textbooks adopted in the fifth year of Italian Licei and Istituti Tecnici throughout Italy. This corpus will be analysed with the aid of databases belonging to the most important and ‘CLIL-involved’ Italian publishers of schoolbooks and CLIL booklets (among others, Mondadori Scuola, Einaudi Scuola, Laterza Scolastica and more). The discourse analysis conducted on the texts will attempt at highlighting how the authors’ different approaches to and viewpoints on contemporary history are conveyed linguistically in English, which in most cases is not their native language.
References
Barratt E. and Mautone L. 2016, Moving forwards. Percorsi CLIL di storia. CLIL in inglese per la scuola secondaria di secondo grado, Loescher, Torino.
Baker P. et alii. 2008, A useful methodological synergy? Combining critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to examine discourses of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK Press, in “Discourse and Society” 19 [3], pp. 273-306.
Bondi M. 2007, Authority and expert voices in the discourse of history, in Flottum K. (ed.), Language and discipline perspective on academic discourse, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, pp. 66-88.
Bondi M. and Mazzi D. 2009, Writing history: argument, narrative and point of view, in Shiro M., Bentivoglio P. and Erlich F.D. (eds.), Haciendo discurso. Homenaje a Adriana Bolívar, Universidad central de Venezuela, Caracas, pp. 611-626.
Bondi M. 2012, Authorial voice in textbooks: between exposition and argument, in Hyland K. and Sancho Guinda C. (eds.), Stance and Voice in Written Academic Genres, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke/New York, pp.101-115.
Bondi M. 2014, Historical academic writing between local and transnational communities, in Bondi M. and Sezzi A. (eds.), Bewegte Sprache Leben mit und für Mehrspracigkeit, Peter Lang, Berlin, pp. 27-42.
Bondi M. 2017, What came to be called: evaluative what and authorial voice in the discourse of history, “Text&Talk” 37 [1], pp. 25-46.
Cinganotto L. 2016, CLIL in Italy: a general overview, in “Latin American Journal of Content and Language Integrated Learning” 9 [2], pp. 374-400.
Codovini G. 2016, Le conseguenze della storia. Comprendere il passato per comprendere e affrontare le sfide del presente. CLIL in inglese per il quinto anno, D’Anna, Messina/Firenze.
Franchi B. and Martelli I. 2016, Contemporary hisotry in CLIL modules, Mondadori Education, Milano.
Gentile G., Ronga L. and Rossi A. 2015, CLIL History. Teaching through English, Editrice La Scuola, Milano.
Hutchinson C., Pinnell A. and Wright S. 2012, CLIL History. The Twentieth Century. Corso di storia in inglese per il quinto anno, La Nuova Italia, Firenze.
Lebow R.N. 1999, The rise and fall of the Cold War in comparative perspective, in “Review of International Studies” 25, pp. 21-39.
Martin J.R. and White P.R.R. 2005, The language of evaluation. Appraisal in English, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke/New York.
McCabe A. 2004, Mood and modality in Spanish and English history textbooks: The construction of authority, in “Text” 24 [1], pp. 1-29.
Murphy A.C. 2005, Markers of attribution in English and Italian opinion articles: A comparative corpus-based study, in “ICAME Journal” 29, pp. 131-150.
White P.R.R. 2002, Appraisal – the language of evaluation and stance, in Verschueren J., Östman J.O., Blommaert J. and Bulcaen C. (eds.), The Handbook of Pragmatics, John Benjamins, Philadelphia, pp. 1-23.
Full Text: pdf
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
