Adopting a whole-school approach to promoting Language across the Curriculum/Reading across the Curriculum
Background
Equipping students with "Reading to learn" skills and self-directed learning capabilities, which enhances one's overall learning and capacity leading to lifelong learning and whole-person development, is one of the key development goals of Pui Tak Canossian College. To broaden students' interests and horizons and develop their language competency, the school utilised the opportunity created from the optimisation of the four senior secondary core subjects to adopt a whole-school approach to promoting Language across the Curriculum (LaC)/Reading across the Curriculum (RaC) through implementing a variety of cross-curricular reading and language-related activities inside and outside class time to increase students' language exposure and enrich their learning experiences. It is expected that students' knowledge and concepts in different subjects will be enhanced and higher-order thinking capabilities such as critical thinking and problem solving skills nurtured.
Levels
S1-4
The table below shows the levels involved in the progressive development of LaC/RaC in various subjects from the 2019/20 to 2021/22 school years.
Subjects |
Year 1 (2019/20) |
Year 2 (2020/21) |
Year 3 (2021/22) |
English Language |
S1 |
S1+S2 |
S1+S2+S3+S4 |
Music |
S1 |
S1 |
S1 |
Integrated Science |
S1 |
S1 |
|
Life and Society |
S2 |
S2 |
|
Geography |
S2 |
S2 |
|
History |
S1 |
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Computer Studies |
S1 |
||
Visual Arts |
S1 |
||
Home Economics |
S1 |
||
Ethics and Religious Studies |
S1+S3 |
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Biology |
S4 |
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Mathematics |
S2 |
Strategies used
Building a shared vision with the teacher team
Creating an English-rich and motivating language learning environment to maximise students' language exposure and experience is the top concern and priority of the school. To raise teachers' awareness and mobilise them to work towards the same vision, the school first set a clear direction in the school language policy to put strong emphasis on incorporating cross-curricular elements into a variety of English co-curricular and cross-curricular activities in different Key Learning Areas (KLAs) to strengthen students' language ability and enhance their confidence in using English across subjects in a more all-rounded manner. The management then empowered the panel heads of different subjects to work together to formulate plans and lead panel members to explore feasible entry points and effective strategies to promote LaC/RaC in their subject disciplines through regular meetings. This not only helped raise teachers' awareness of building an English-rich environment, but also fostered closer collaboration and communication among them to work towards the same goal. In this school context, LaC serves as a gateway to a broad range of students' knowledge across various curricula, incorporating dynamic strategies such as RaC periods, cross-curricular projects, and diversified learning activities to integrate language development with academic content, with the aim of empowering students with the necessary skills in learning and using English in a multitude of subjects.Breaking subject boundaries through LaC Committee
To foster collaboration among different KLAs and set clear goals and direction in formulating and implementing LaC/RaC plans and projects in the school, an LaC Committee involving panel heads and teachers of different KLAs was established with the aims to:provide support for different KLAs using English as the medium of instruction in different modes (e.g. subject-based teaching, cross-curricular projects and diversified learning activities at the junior and senior secondary levels);
promote LaC/RaC inside and outside the classroom to enrich students' learning experiences; and
monitor the implementation of the school language policy and evaluate its effectiveness.
During the year, the panel heads of different subjects made good use of the LaC Committee as a platform to share and exchange their ideas, concerns and difficulties and disseminate good practices. Through professional dialogues with teachers of different subjects, English teachers gained a deeper understanding of the difficulties students encountered when using English in different subjects and ways to infuse language elements to support students' learning in non-language subjects. For non-language subject teachers, there was a stronger awareness of how to integrate knowledge and concept development with academic use of language in an effective manner to strengthen students' language proficiency and develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills. Near the end of the year, the LaC Committee members met to review the work of the year with the quantitative and qualitative data collected and plan the way forward.
English Department taking the lead to promote LaC/RaC
To better understand the concerns and difficulties of different subjects in incorporating language into their curriculum and daily teaching, the English Department took the initiative to offer support to different non-language subjects to maximise students' opportunities to use English effectively. This support includes:mapping the curriculum of English Language with different subjects using feasible entry points (e.g. vocabulary, language patterns, reading skills, text structures and themes);
analysing past Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) papers of subjects to identify the language needs and use;
conducting training workshops;
developing learning and teaching materials; and
supporting novice teachers through co-planning and co-teaching.
With the concrete support and guidance provided, the English subject acted as a super-connector to connect different KLAs strategically to promote LaC/RaC in a systematic and holistic manner.
Making good use of the opportunity created from the optimisation of the senior secondary core subjects
The optimisation of the four senior secondary core subjects provided the school with the impetus to holistically review the school curriculum to create space for developing students' potential and enriching their learning experiences. The school leadership team made good use of the released lesson time and learning time to provide diversified activities/programmes (e.g. reflection period, activity period and class teacher period) to promote cross-curricular initiatives such as LaC/RaC inside and outside the classroom, with the aim of increasing students' language exposure and enhancing their language and literacy development.
What happened
1) Conducting holistic curriculum planning
Levels |
Work done |
Rationales |
S1-6 |
As stated in the Secondary Education Curriculum Guide Booklet 2 Learning Goals, School Curriculum Framework and Planning (Curriculum Development Council, 2017), systematic curriculum planning helps ensure school priorities, in terms of vision, curriculum goals, major concerns, focal points and major renewed emphases (MREs) to be realised in student learning; and allows effective learning to occur by making meaningful connections within and across the curriculum and progression from year to year. To enhance the vertical continuity and horizontal coherence across the junior and senior secondary levels, a holistic review of the school English Language curriculum was made. First, the Learning Progression Framework (LPF) was used as a reference tool for teachers to set out the target objectives and expected learning outcomes about students’ development in the four skills. On the one hand, the LPF provides a representation of the growth of learners on a developmental continuum as they work towards the targets. On the other hand, it gives a clear direction for schools to understand students’ strengths and weaknesses and review the school language curriculum to align learning, teaching and assessment throughout the secondary education. Second, to ensure a broad and balanced coverage of the curriculum objectives, essential elements such as knowledge, generic skills, values and attitudes and cross-curricular initiatives were embedded into the curriculum to facilitate students’ whole-person development and enrich their learning experiences inside and outside class time.
Vertical continuity of reading skills from junior to senior levelsIn addition, different MREs (e.g. LaC/RaC, values education, national security education, life-wide learning and self-directed learning) were integrated into the modular/unit design to enrich students’ learning experiences, develop their learning to learn skills and set a solid foundation for lifelong learning.
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2) Implementing online RaC periods
Levels |
Work done |
Rationales |
S1 and S2 |
Due to the pandemic, to facilitate students’ learning of the knowledge and concepts in different non-language subjects through reading, a structured online RaC period programme was designed to equip students with the core and essential reading skills to study non-fiction texts in a step-by-step manner. A gradual three-step approach was adopted when the reading strategies were introduced to students: First, students were taught basic reading skills such as previewing and making predictions, which were then built upon with intermediate- to advanced-level reading strategies (identifying main ideas, inferencing and summarising). This approach provided students with a systematic and progressive understanding of the reading skills to be covered in KS3 and enabled them to study in a systematic manner. Second, subject-specific reading materials were included in an RaC booklet to illustrate reading strategies and broaden students’ knowledge of various subjects. Short and simple non-fiction texts from different subjects were introduced together with the core reading strategies at the beginning to engage students and maintain their interest in learning. Longer and more complex texts were presented at a later stage to help students apply some higher-order reading strategies such as summarising, evaluating and drawing conclusions and develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Third, the task design incorporated elements of self-directed learning and inductive reasoning. To foster independent learning skills, students were required to complete flipped learning activities at home during the pre-task stage to familiarise themselves with the necessary reading skills. Teachers then introduced the lesson's learning objectives and focuses to enable students to set their learning goals. Follow-up exercises and activities were designed to help students track their progress. This approach enabled students to monitor their learning progress and internalise the reading skills they had acquired. To make learning more interactive and meaningful, an inductive approach was adopted to help students deduce the rules of applying different reading strategies. For instance, when reading skills related to unknown words were taught, students were given sentences containing unfamiliar words and asked to infer their meanings using clues such as antonyms, synonyms, and homonyms within the sentences. Afterwards, students worked out the strategies they used and shared with their classmates. To further challenge them, teachers asked them to collaborate in groups to create sentences containing unknown words and share them via Google Docs. Students from other groups were then required to figure out the meanings of the unknown words and share their strategies with the class. This activity helped students apply and internalise the skills they had learnt, as well as develop their critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills. |
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3) Implementation of cross-curricular projects
Levels |
Work done |
Rationales |
S1-4 |
The English Department took the lead in collaborating with different non-language subject departments to develop various cross-curricular projects that enabled students to acquire subject-specific knowledge, concepts, and skills through English while enhancing their language competencies in the four skills. To facilitate cross-subject collaboration, the English subject took the initiative to identify students' learning needs and difficulties when they studied non-language subjects by seeking advice from the panel heads of different subjects and referring to the curricula and HKDSE papers of different subjects. English and non-language subject teachers then worked together to identify feasible entry points, such as subject-specific vocabulary, language patterns and structures, reading skills, text structures, and themes in English Language that can be mapped to relevant modules of different non-language subjects.
Purposeful and interactive tasks and activities (e.g. matching, classification and case studies) were designed to stimulate students' interest in the topic and enable them to apply language in subject-specific contexts in a meaningful way. Different levels of questions were set to assess students' comprehension of the knowledge and concepts in different subject contexts, and to develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills. To prepare students for a smoother transition to senior levels, some subjects, such as Biology, integrated language learning into the S4 module titled “Transport of Respiratory Gases”. This provided students with meaningful subject-specific contexts to apply the vocabulary, text structures and reading skills they had learnt, and to develop their language competencies. Pair work was used to help students communicate ideas and collaborate with their peers. To further challenge students, HKDSE type of questions were embedded into the project design to develop students’ summarising, critical thinking and problem solving skills. |
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4) Cross-curricular collaboration through diversified learning activities outside class time
Levels |
Work done |
Rationales |
S1-6 |
To develop students' full potential and enrich their learning experiences, the school utilised the opportunity created by the optimisation of the four senior secondary subjects to allocate more lesson time and provide diversified options that catered to students' different interests, abilities and aspirations. The English subject established cross-curricular links with other KLAs by organising various interesting and meaningful activities to maximise students' language exposure and enhance their literacy development.
For example, the English subject collaborated with the Religious Studies Department to organise All Saints Day and Mother's Day activities during class and activity periods. Students participated in English activities to learn about the history and traditions of these events and honour the holy saints and their mothers. This not only helped students apply English in meaningful learning experiences, but also promoted positive values and attitudes. To nurture a culture of reading to learn, the school utilised learning time to create a self-reflection period aimed at cultivating an independent reading culture on campus. Students were encouraged to study non-fiction reading materials from different KLAs. Motivating and interactive activities such as book sharing and reflection were conducted to arouse students' interest in reading and broaden their learning experiences. |
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Impact
Teacher level
Increased awareness of teaching reading through a systematic and strategic approach at the junior secondary level
In the past, teachers believed that students' low motivation and weak performance in reading were primarily due to a lack of vocabulary. However, throughout the collaboration journey, teachers came to understand that, in addition to vocabulary building, it is essential to establish a strong language foundation at the junior secondary level by equipping students with core essential reading skills.
With a focus on holistic curriculum planning and the implementation of the online RaC period, teachers became more aware of the importance of making reading progressively more challenging in every module/unit and systematically recycling reading skills. Furthermore, teachers used thoughtful scaffolding when explicitly teaching reading skills through a structured and systematic programme. As a result, students gained a clearer understanding of the reading skills they needed to learn at the junior secondary level and practical strategies for developing their reading competence.Moving away from textbook-bound teaching to student-centred learning
Igniting students' curiosity and engagement in learning is one of the key concerns of the school. In the RaC period and cross-curricular projects, teachers adopted an inductive approach to arouse students' interest to explore and discover the knowledge, concepts and skills learnt in the given topics. At the pre-task stage, teachers designed flipped learning activities to motivate students to learn about the topic or reading skills they need to study in the upcoming task-based activities. This approach would allow students to take ownership of their learning and learn at their own pace. In the while-task stage, teachers designed different scenarios in which students needed to work collaboratively to deduce the rules for tackling specific types of reading questions. This helped students develop critical thinking and think beyond the surface level to explore the underlying principles and concepts. At the post-task stage, teachers designed follow-up tasks which challenged students to transfer their knowledge and skills to a different context. This step encouraged students to apply what they had learnt in a new and unfamiliar setting, promoting a deeper understanding of the concept (e.g. definition, examples and causes & effect) and the development of transferrable skills.
For instance, in the cross-curricular projects between Biology, Life and Society and Integrated Science, teachers presented authentic case studies to students and challenged them to apply their knowledge, concepts and skills to investigate and solve the problems in these case studies. This approach provided an authentic situation for students to apply what they have learnt in real-life context, encouraging them to think more deeply about the topic and develop their generic skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and decision making, which are essential for success in both academic and professional settings.-
Fostering a sharing and collaborative culture across departments
In the past, non-language subject teachers often struggled with finding ways to increase their students' language exposure and proficiency within their own subject areas. However, through cross-curricular collaboration, English and non-language subject teachers started to work closely to expand students' knowledge and skills, while also increasing their language exposure through a combination of in-class and out-of-classroom activities.
By working collaboratively, teachers of different subjects contributed diverse viewpoints and specialised knowledge, creating a more diverse and engaging learning experience for students. Through this approach, students were able to develop their language skills and gain a deeper understanding of the content they were studying. Moreover, such collaborative culture helped build and sustain a positive learning environment where teachers of all subjects worked together towards a common goal of increasing students' motivation to learn and use English, while also building an English-rich environment in the school.
Student level
Gaining a wider repertoire of strategies in reading non-fiction texts
The RaC period adopted a systematic and structured approach to reading that focuses on teaching students a range of essential reading strategies such as identifying main ideas and supporting details, deducing unknown words, making inferences, summarising and drawing conclusion which helped them read critically and analytically in a strategic manner. The LaC projects, on the other hand, provided an authentic context for students to apply the reading strategies they have learnt in subject-specific contexts. By engaging in the cross-curricular projects, students were able to see how reading skills can be applied in real-world situations and gain a better understanding of how their learning can be used in practical ways. This not only makes reading more meaningful to students, but also helps arouse and sustain their interest in reading.Understanding how language, content and thinking are connected in learning
Through cross-curricular projects, students had the opportunity to delve into the intricate connections between language, content and thinking. Students were first exposed to a diverse range of non-fiction texts related to various subject areas. These compelling texts helped not only expand their knowledge and broaden their horizons but also develop a deeper understanding of how language is intricately intertwined with the content they encounter. Teachers then designed authentic and motivating tasks that encourage students to dive deeper into the text and apply the knowledge, concepts, and skills in real-life situations. These tasks challenge students to extract meaning, identify main ideas and make connections between the content and the world around them. By actively applying their acquired knowledge, concepts, and skills to real-life contexts, students developed a more profound grasp of the subject matter and cultivated essential critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making abilities.-
Expanding students' horizons: using inside- and outside-the-classroom activities to enrich students' learning experiences
The provision of released time allowed students to engage in a diverse range of cross-curricular activities that spanned different KLAs, both inside and outside of classroom time. These activities were designed to offer practical and meaningful experiences that went beyond the traditional classroom setting, providing students with opportunities to learn and apply their skills in real-world contexts.
Through their participation in these activities, students were able to broaden their horizons and develop new perspectives on various topics (e.g. arts and culture, life and career). They were able to engage with content in a way that was both interactive and immersive, allowing them to fully experience the subject matter. In doing so, they were able to deepen their understanding of key concepts while also honing their critical thinking and problem solving skills. Through these activities, students were able to improve their language proficiency and confidence in using English both inside and outside the school.
Conclusion
Facilitating factors
Strong support from the principal and management team through allocating human resources to support cross-curricular projects and placing LaC/RaC as a top priority in the school development plan
Early, systematic, and strategic planning to enhance cross-subject collaboration and better transition across key stages
Opportunities created from optimisation were maximised to provide cross-curricular activities inside and outside class time through better timetabling to increase students' language exposure and enhance their language and literacy development
Way forward
To sustain the positive impact of the cross-curricular projects conducted, the school will review the existing strategies and extend them to different levels. The school also plans to compile a "sharing kit" that includes curriculum design and lesson plans to facilitate the sharing of experiences in promoting LaC/RaC among teachers across the spectrum of experience.
Bibliography
Curriculum Development Council. (2017). CDC English Language Education Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide (Primary 1- Secondary 6). Hong Kong: Author.
Curriculum Development Council. (2017). Secondary Education Curriculum Guide, Booklet 2 Learning Goals, School Curriculum Framework and Planning. Hong Kong: Author.
Curriculum Development Institute. (2020). Connecting Students’ Learning Experiences through Promoting Reading and Writing across the Curriculum in the Junior Secondary English Classroom. Hong Kong: Author.
Curriculum Development Institute. (2022). Academic Use of English, Resource Pack. Hong Kong: Author.
Task Force on Review of School Curriculum. (2020). The Task Force on Review of School Curriculum Final Report: Optimise the curriculum for the future foster whole-person development and diverse talents. Hong Kong: Author.
Pui Tak Canossian College
Shirley LEUNG (Language Support Officer)