Pragmatics of Content-based Instruction: Teacher and Student Directives in Finnish and Austrian Classrooms

Abstract

Using a pragmatic framework, this paper examines how directives are performed by teachers and students in Finnish and Austrian CLIL classrooms, that is settings where a foreign language (in this case English) is used as the medium of instruction in non-language subjects such as history or chemistry. We explore how interpersonal aspects of communication get realized in the performance of directives, and the way contextual factors such as the object of directives (information/action) or the type of classroom register (instructional/regulative) affect speakers’ directness choices. The findings show that both these contextual factors interact systematically with speakers’ use of directives. For example, demands for information seem to be fully sanctioned by the educational context and are therefore normally performed directly by both teachers and students whereas demands for action require more interpersonal work, evidenced by the more indirect strategies used. Moreover, while there are student demands for information in both instructional and regulative register, students’ right to perform directives for action seems to be restricted to regulative register. Our results show how the specific conditions of classroom discourse affect the language environment in CLIL classrooms and we argue this should be taken into account when formulating language goals for this educational approach.