Speech function analysis to explore CLIL students’ spoken language for knowledge construction

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the register variable of tenor within systemic functional linguistics (SFL) to examine spoken interaction involving secondary CLIL history learners in two contexts: one-to-one interviews with a researcher, and role-plays with peers. Tenor refers to the role relationship between interactants, and its impact on language use. We adapt speech function analyses developed by Eggins and Slade (1997) for ordinary conversation to settings in which CLIL learners jointly construct aspects of content knowledge in one subject, history. The findings show that the negotiation and roles assigned to participants impacted on the ways the learners managed to construct history content knowledge. We argue that speech function analysis can throw light on how role relationships in spoken interaction can create or restrict affordances for the expression of content knowledge in CLIL.