Cognition is difficult concept to grasp and develeop when planning a lesson. Quite often there is wide gap between the students' cognition and their linguistic abilities.
The students can be confronted by complex concepts which they are able to grasp cognitively but they might lack the linguistic means to express their understanding. To overcome such a mismatch, teachers have to carefully plan what language they need to introduce in order to make learning and thinking possible for the learners without turning the CLIL lesson into a language lesson.
The relationship between language and cognition (thinking and understanding) is complex.
However what we do know is that effective learning involves cognitive challenge and feedback (assessment for learning).
In CLIL settings it is essential to ensure that the language does not get in the way of understanding whilst at the same time it can itself be cognitively demanding. Cummins developed a matrix for exploring the relationship between cognition and language. This has been adapted for CLIL settings. The matrix is a useful tool to audit teaching materials.
The greatest challenge for CLIL teachers is to develop materials and tasks which are linguistically accessible whilst being cognitively demanding.
Laura Riesco
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