Integration of English language into other school subjects in primary school education – A comparative cross-national study in Finland and Sweden

(1)

Integration of English language into other school subjects in primary school education – A comparative cross-national

study in Finland and Sweden

Janita Lehti & Ville-Valtteri Tuumi University of Eastern Finland Philosophical Faculty

School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education 16.06.2021

(2)

University of Eastern Finland, Philosophical Faculty

School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education

Lehti, Janita & Tuumi, Ville-Valtteri: Integration of English language into other school subjects in primary school education – A comparative cross-national study in Finland and Sweden

Master’s thesis, 93 pages, 1 appendix (1 page) Supervisor: Sari Havu-Nuutinen, professor June 2021

Keywords: Curriculum integration, comparative cross-national study, basic education, classroom teacher, English language education

With the foundation of the latest basic education curriculum (National Board of Education, 2014), teaching in primary school setting has gone through certain changes. Educators are required to implement curriculum integration between disciplines and pay more attention to cross-

curricular approach, diminishing the boundaries between disciplines and making connections between them. As the curricula in many countries are modifying and educators need to adapt themselves to the new ideologies, there is increasingly more need for research that would delve deeper into the topic of how disciplines are integrated between one another and in what ways the cross-curricular methods are implemented in schools today. In this study, curriculum integration refers to a teaching method that structures a subject and teaching situation into a purposeful unit or entities.

This dissertation examines the implementation of curriculum integration in primary school education in Finland and Sweden. More specifically, it investigates how educators work across subject boundaries with a particular focus on English language education. The research task of this paper is answered with the help of four research questions that cover some of the central aspects of curriculum integration forming a general picture around the topic. The aim of the investigation is to discover which disciplines are being integrated in English language education by educators in Finland and Sweden, how they implement curriculum integration between disciplines, how educators experience the role of curriculum integration within English language

(3)

education and what aspects of curriculum integration within English language education were similar and different among Finnish and Swedish educators.

The investigation was carried out as a qualitative, comparative cross-national study. The data of the research consists of transcribed interviews and surveys of total of eight informants. Four of these informants were working in Finland and four in Sweden in the time of the investigation. All the informants were class teachers that worked in primary schools and taught lessons on English language as a part of their work. The collected data was analysed with qualitative content

analysis.

The results answered the pre-set research questions and showed distinctively which disciplines were more often connected to each other in terms of curriculum integration with some clear similarities and differences in the implementation of curriculum integration between the Finnish and Swedish educators. Environmental study from the natural sciences was also welcomed in both countries. The results showed that arts and skills subjects were most popular in both countries. Especially music education and physical education were favoured by educators.

Disciplines of religion, physics, and chemistry, in turn, were experienced as challenging to integrate in English language education. Another unifying factor between Finland and Sweden was that both countries implemented curriculum integration similarly excluding two phenomena that were discovered. Majority of the Finnish educators used integrative approaches that were based on daily routines, whereas the integration between English language education and other languages were highly used in Sweden. This study provided new insights into the field of

curriculum integration in terms of English language education and indicated how it is done in two different countries that had recently renewed their curricula.

(4)

Itä-Suomen yliopisto, filosofinen tiedekunta

Soveltavan kasvatustieteen ja opettajankoulutuksen osasto

Lehti, Janita & Tuumi, Ville-Valtteri: Integration of English language into other school subjects in primary school education – A comparative cross-national study in Finland and Sweden

Pro-gradu, 93 sivua, 1 liite (1 sivu)

Tutkielman ohjaaja, professori Sari Havu-Nuutinen Kesäkuu 2021

Asiasanat: Oppiaineintegraatio, kansainvälinen vertaileva tutkimus, perusopetus, luokanopettaja, englannin kielen opetus

Viimeisimmän perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelman perusteiden (Opetushallitus, 2014) myötä, nuorten oppilaiden opettaminen peruskoulussa on kokenut muutoksia. Opettajilta on vaadittu oppiaineiden integraation toteutusta oppiaineiden välillä, joka hälventää oppiaine rajoja ja luo yhteyksiä niiden välille. Monien maiden opetussuunnitelmien muokkausten myötä opettajien on täytynyt sopeutua siihen, mikä osoitti tarpeen syventyä tarkemmin, miten oppiaineita

integroidaan keskenään ja miten monialaista opetusta toteutetaan kouluissa nykyään. Tässä tutkimuksessa oppiaineiden integraatio viittaa opetusmenetelmään, joka muodostaa

oppiaineesta ja opetustilanteesta mielekkäitä kokonaisuuksia.

Tässä tutkielmassa tutkitaan oppiaineintegraation toteutumista suomalaisissa ja ruotsalaisissa peruskoulussa. Tarkemmin sanottuna tutkimme, miten opettajat työskentelevät oppiainerajojen yli, ja miten integraatio on toteutettu englannin kielen opetuksen ja muiden oppiaineiden välillä.

Tutkimustehtävään vastattiin neljän tutkimuskysymyksen avulla, jotka sisälsivät myös tarkentavia alakysymyksiä. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää sitä, mitä oppiaineita integroidaan englannin kielen opetukseen suomalaisten ja ruotsalaisten opettajien toimesta, kuinka he toteuttavat oppiaineiden integraatiota oppiaineiden välillä, kuinka opettajat kokevat oppiaineiden integraation roolin englannin kielen opetuksessa ja mitkä oppiaineintegraation aspektit englannin kielen opetuksessa olivat samankaltaisia ja erilaisia suomalaisten ja ruotsalaisten opettajien välillä.

(5)

Tutkimus on luonteeltaan kvalitatiivinen kansainvälinen vertaileva tutkimus. Tutkimusaineisto sisältää sekä litteroituja haastatteluja että kyselylomakkeen muodossa kerättyä materiaalia.

Tutkimukseen osallistui yhteensä kahdeksan tutkimushenkilöä, joista neljä työskenteli tutkimuksen aikana Suomessa ja neljä Ruotsissa. Kaikki tutkimushenkilöt ovat peruskoulun luokanopettajia ja opettavat englannin kieltä osana opetustyötä. Aineiston analyysimenetelmänä toimi kvalitatiivinen sisällönanalyysi.

Tutkimustulokset vastasivat ennakkoon asetettuihin tutkimuskysymyksiin ja osoittivat selkeästi, mitkä oppiaineet olivat enemmän integroituja keskenään sekä mitä eroja ja samankaltaisuuksia suomalaisten ja ruotsalaisten opettajien välillä löytyi oppiaineiden integraation toteutuksessa.

Tuloksista kävi ilmi, että sekä suomalaiset että ruotsalaiset opettajat suosivat taito- ja

taideaineiden integrointia eniten. Erityisesti musiikki ja liikunta olivat opettajien suosiossa. Myös ympäristöoppi luonnontieteellisistä oppiaineista sai kannatusta molempien maiden opettajilta.

Puolestaan haastaviksi koettiin uskonto, fysiikka ja kemia. Tulokset osoittivat myös, että Suomen ja Ruotsin välillä on eroa sen suhteen, miten oppiaineintegraatiota toteutetaan. Maiden välinen samankaltaisuus oli, että molempien maiden opettajat toteuttivat integraatiota oppiaineita yhdistävän teeman kautta ja oppiaineiden yhteistyön kautta, jossa oppiaineet hyödyntävät toistensa sisältöä. Eroavaisuutena sen sijaan oli suomalaisten opettajien paljon käyttämä ja suosima jokapäiväisten rutiinien hyödyntäminen integraatiossa sekä ruotsalaisten suosima muiden kielten hyödyntäminen englannin kielen opetuksessa. Tämä tutkimus tarjosi uutta tietoa oppiaineintegraatiosta englannin kielen opetuksen näkökulmasta, ja osoitti myös, miten sitä toteutetaan kahdessa eri maassa, jotka ovat hiljattain uusineet opetussuunnitelmansa.

(6)

Abbreviations

CLIL Content Language Integrated Learning.

CLI Cross-linguistic influence.

ESD Education for sustainable development.

FNBE Finnish National Board of Education that supervises education and the national core curricula in Finland.

(7)

1 Introduction

The education in Finland and other countries has gone and is still in the process of going through many changes. Both basic education and high school education were introduced with new curricula that are gradually put into service in the beginning of August 2016 for basic

education and in the beginning of August 2021 for high school education (Finnish National Board of Education, 2016). These two new national curricula brought new challenges to schools, urging schools and educators to work across subject boundaries. Therefore, our master’s thesis is focusing on finding out how teachers within basic education work across subject boundaries and integrate other subjects into their teaching of English language, combining two or more subjects into integrated entities. Briefly described, curriculum integration is a teaching method where the purpose is to structure the subject and teaching situations into meaningful entities (Kujamäki, 2014, p. 1) and correlate subjects and their themes (Brough, 2012). This helps students to make connections between subjects and facilitates them to understand complex and vast learning units (Psaltou-Joycey, Mattheoudakis, Agathopoulou & Mattheoudakis, 2014).

As educators are facing the new national curricula, they are obligated to bring democracy into the classroom by letting the pupils participate in choosing the themes for lessons which increases motivation and self-direction remarkably among them (Kujamäki, 2014, p. 16).

However, the renewed curricula do not come without challenges. Kujamäki (2014) states that learning through curriculum integration needs to be planned and implemented with the learning goals in mind because they are to be met by every student (p. 25). In addition to this, educators need to be conscious of the fact that young learners need to be aware of the learning goals and to be equipped with adequate knowledge and skills to be able to engage in lessons that are based on curriculum integration and the lessons are to be built on real-life phenomena that enhance pupils’ comprehension (Imbimbo, 2009, p. 2). These new challenges might result in structural challenges and affect schools’ operating culture and educators’ attitudes as well as lead to negative attitudes from the pupils’ guardians that are not supportive of the curriculum integration. (Kujamäki, 2014, p. 29.)

(11)

Another phenomenon that our master’s thesis will focus on is to compare how curriculum integration is implemented in Finland and in Sweden, and what types of curriculum integration methods are being utilized in teaching. The Swedish and Finnish national core curricula differ in emphasis of the concept of curriculum integration. Curriculum integration is included in the Finnish national curricula as a concept, and the implementation of curriculum integration is one of the goals that Finnish primary schools are required to have (Kujamäki, 2014, p. 1). Curriculum integration does not have as distinctive role in the Swedish national curricula as it is not stated there as clearly. The concept of the curriculum integration can be interpreted as a goal that makes a request for educators to “integrate knowledge in its various forms” (Skolverket, 2018, p.

11). This means that there are potentially some differences in how educators implement curriculum integration in these two countries. Also, the implementation of curriculum integration is likely to be more regular and prominent in Finland as it clearly stated in the national curricula. Due to this reason, the comparison on this concept between these two countries is significant.

Integration of school subjects has become quite topical and prominent in the school world and has also been included in the new core curricula in Finland (see e.g., Finnish National Board of Education, 2016). Curriculum integration as a teaching method has also a significant importance especially in teaching of English as a foreign language since the phenomena that the students are expected to comprehend are very often connected to one other in one way or another.

Finnish National Board of Education (2016) sees that integration promotes the ability to see connections between disciplines and facilitates the understanding of these connections and dependency between phenomena within different school subjects (p. 31). In addition, English language has never played this significant role in Northern Europe’s school system before, as the pupils now begin their English studies already in the first grade in many countries. Another reason this topic is worth examining is that according to prior studies, the student-centred teaching methods benefit pupils by facilitating their ability to make connections between discipline areas and providing authentic learning contexts. What is more, it also enhances students’ achievements and increases engagement during lessons. (Brough, 2012.)

(12)

1.1 History of integrated curriculum

Before it is possible to understand curriculum integration, we need to look at the subject separation and why this division has happened in the first place. In classical times, the focus of education was to produce widely read, well-spoken individuals through general education on those topics. As such, education approached subject integration rather than subject separation.

This was, however, changed by a 5^th century scholar Martianus Capella that indicated that there would be seven distinct liberal arts that would together form the basis for education. (Anderson, 2013, p. 2.) This idea of specialization was accepted as the basis for curricula and so it remained until the latest decade. A problem with that kind of disciplinary approach, however, is that it promotes the segmented and compartmentalized views of knowledge (Bautista, Tan,

Ponnusamy, & Yau, 2016, pp. 610-611). This kind of approach seems to fail to address the reality where the boundaries between subjects and matters do rarely exist.

The idea of integrated curriculum was first idealized in the beginning of the 20^th century as an alternative to the disciplinary approach. It emphasizes the learner and learning rather than discipline, and it also corresponds to the holistic view of the world itself. The roots of curriculum integration are progressivism and constructivism (Bautista et al., 2016, p. 611). Progressivism is a historical educational approach that is based on John Dewey’s educational theory where each experience is based on the interaction between a human and an object. In such educational idea, the child’s experiences are central, and the learning focuses on providing the learner with different types of projects and problem-solving exercises. (Radu, 2011, pp. 85-88.)

The other central educational theory that has affected the birth of curriculum integration is constructivism. It is an approach that is based on Piaget’s concept of cognitive development that emphasizes the learner’s participation in the learning. That theory supports different types of student-activating tasks and problem solving as well as teamwork and interaction.

Constructivism also diminishes the role of a teacher as the supreme master, and instead, emphasizes the meaning of the learning process for both the teacher and the student. (Judova, Chudy, Neumeister, Plischke & Kvintova, 2015, pp. 345-347.) With the ideas of progressivism and

(13)

constructivism it has been possible to build such educational approaches that are student- centred and that are based on general knowledge and ideas without subject boundaries. A learning environment where the teacher is viewed as a supreme master and where learning is mainly teacher-centred is perceived as outdated with newer student-centred theories gaining more support. This phenomenon can be seen in the content of the modern curricula. For

example, Finland and Sweden have made some changes in their national curricula to make them reflect the contemporary needs of teaching and learning.

1.2 Curricula for basic education in Finland and Sweden

A curriculum is a document that sets frames for education. In Finland it is the Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE) that creates new curricula for basic education and high school education every tenth year. There are national curricula for every educational grade, yet the schools are required to form their own individual curricula that are based on the national

curricula (Finnish National Board of Education, 2016). In this research we will utilize two national curricula for education in Finland and in Sweden: National core curriculum for basic education 2014 in the case of Finland, and the Curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool class and school-age educare 2018 for Sweden.

In the general section of the Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education, there is a description of how education and different subjects within it should aim for extensive learning:

“[c]ompetences that cross boundaries and link different fields of knowledge and skills are a precondition for personal growth, studying, working and civic activity now and in the future”

(Finnish National Board of Education, 2016, section 2.5). This means that all the disciplines should be in dialog with one another rather than work as their own units. To make this kind of approach easier, FNBE has set six transversal competence areas for basic education that are: 1) thinking and learning; 2) cultural competence, interaction and self-expression; 3) taking care of

(14)

oneself and managing daily life; 4) multiliteracy; 5) competence in information and

communication technology; and 6) participation and involvement (Finnish National Board of Education, 2016). These sets of general, broader goals for education, should be targeted in different subjects to build such competences that will be needed in all spheres of life in future.

Another description of curriculum integration can be found in section 4.3 in the Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education. In this section, the national curriculum describes

curriculum integration, what its goals are, and what kinds of methods there are for curriculum integration. These goals and methods are described further in chapter 2 in this paper. What is noticeable, however, is that the curriculum obligates every school to accomplish at least one multidisciplinary learning module each academic year. These learning modules are ones that integrate different subjects into larger entities that work together around a theme. The theme, learning goals and subjects for the learning module can be decided locally. (Finnish National Board of Education, 2016.)

In the Swedish Curriculum for compulsory school, preschool class and school-age educare, there does not seem to be any specific mentions regarding curriculum integration. Instead of

describing methods of integration, the curriculum sets broader aims and goals for different subjects that might require curriculum integration but without mentioning it straight (Skolverket, 2018). In such, the Swedish curriculum does not support curriculum integration in the extent that the Finnish curriculum does. Due to this difference between the Swedish and Finnish curriculum, it is worth researching to find out whether this dissimilarity has any effect on how educators actually implement curriculum integration in Finland and Sweden.

(15)

1.3 Purpose of the study

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to investigate how classroom teachers that also teach English language implement curriculum integration in their teaching of English as a foreign language. Another purpose of the thesis is to explore the ways that curriculum integration is implemented at schools in Finland and Sweden as well as to compare how curriculum

integration is executed in these selected countries. The investigation on this topic is done with the idea to map out how integration is implemented to facilitate learning, especially when integrated and combined with English language studies. Furthermore, there will be a cross- national comparison to find out how Finnish teachers utilize integration and how it is done by their colleagues in Sweden. In the final result discussion chapter of our master’s thesis, we will withdraw conclusions regarding the results as well as discuss the meaning of these results. As curriculum integration is extremely vast as a research topic, we have narrowed it down to

exploring how teachers exploit integration in their teaching of English as a foreign language. The compression of the research topic to integration of English language was done in order to gather more detailed information about integration and how it is considered to facilitate learning of English language.

Customarily, teachers have relied on traditional book- and subject-centred teaching methods as the subject boundaries have defined what should be learned in which lesson (see e.g., Atjonen, 2008). Ever since the new curricula became common in schools, teachers have been required to utilize curriculum integration in their work. Our aim is to discover how curriculum integration takes place in the Finnish and Swedish classrooms today. Recently, book- and subject-centred education has been seen as an outdated way of teaching (Brough, 2012). Following this and the new educational ideologies, this old-school practice is beginning to be left aside by educators as they are adapting to the new curricula. In previous studies on curriculum integration, educators have been trusted in collaborative and more child-centred methods, such as group work,

discussions and project-based learning (Kujamäki, 2014) as well as themes and phenomena from real-life (Brough, 2012). Along with mapping out curriculum integration methods used in English language teaching in Finland and Sweden, the focus of our research is on which collaborative

(16)

and child-centred methods are being utilized, what sorts of new integrations methods are put into effect in these countries, and how the Finnish and Swedish differ in their practices of curriculum integration that they utilize in the teaching of English language.

(17)

2 Curriculum integration

There has been some earlier research on integrative teaching in the Finnish and Swedish primary schools, however, these studies have not been specifically conducted in discovering integrated teaching methods within English language education. This is a topic worth to

investigate since the volume of studies that are conducted similarly to ours is not that high. We aim to find out the similarities and differences of approaches for curriculum integration in the field of education in these two educationally successful countries, and since integration has been an important part of both countries’ national curricula, it is always profitable to examine the topic even further.

Curriculum integration is an approach to education where subject-matter lines of delineation are ignored (Anderson, 2013, p. 1). This means that the strict idea of subject-specific teaching is replaced with an idea of a coherent curriculum where the focus is on bigger, meaningful entities.

Finnish National Board of Education (2020) states that with curriculum integration it is possible to form meaningful entities that let the students combine and investigate different kinds of disciplines without subject boundaries. This kind of integration and dialog between subjects helps the students to establish an interrelation between their learning and the real world (Rennie, 2013).

There are multiple different terms and concepts that are used to describe integration of two or more subjects into larger units, such as subject integration, integrated teaching, unification, cross-curriculum integration and curriculum integration (see e.g., Christensen & Wistoft, 2019).

Subject integration is the term used to describe the link between two or more school subjects that are integrated into a larger entity, giving more emphasis on the school subjects that are being used in the integration process (Christensen & Wistoft, 2019). A great example of this could be learning opportunity with subject integration between English language education and music education, where students could be learning songs that are familiar to them but in

English, which would potentially enhance their learning of English (Jansen van Nuuren, 2018).

(18)

Integrated teaching or integrated approach differs slightly from the other concepts

mentioned above. Integrated teaching methods contain more freedom in terms of putting them into practice. In integrated teaching, the educator needs to decide whether he or she wants to integrate the contents of two or more disciplines or to acquire knowledge about a phenomenon around the disciplines that are chosen to be utilized. (Karppinen, Kallunki, Kairavuori,

Komulainen & Sintonen, 2013.) For example, an educator can choose water as a theme or phenomenon since it has a connection to two or more school subjects and builds learning opportunities upon on that. Overall, the concepts described above are very similar, and it is challenging to make any difference between the terms since they all are related to curriculum integration and making of connections between disciplines. Cross-curriculum integration or cross-curriculum approach refer to teaching methods that favour active and effective learning of topics and themes. These learning topics and themes are in turn linked to number of learning areas across the curriculum and the topics are taught through these themes and learning topics to the pupils. (International Bureau of Education, n.d.)

In this thesis, we will use curriculum integration to describe the unification of two or more subjects in a meaningful way. This means that in order to call it curriculum integration, the integrated subjects should operate in a way that they support the learning of one or more contents. In practice, curriculum integration removes the boundaries between the school subjects, providing learning opportunities from two or subjects that are somehow connected to each other. An example of curriculum integration is that when the students are provided with a historical point of view whilst learning about new countries in geography. The concept of

unification is quite similar to the concept of curriculum integration. It is a term used for the integration or unification of the curricula of neighbouring disciplines, making connections between two or more school subjects (Kneen, Breeze, Davies‐Barnes, John & Thayer, 2020).

(19)

2.1 Different forms of curriculum integration

Curriculum integration is an umbrella concept that does not only include one but multiple different approaches. These approaches are often divided and named after the length and form that curriculum integration takes in each instance. Thus, the number of different approaches within curriculum integration is vast. In the following paragraphs, we will shortly introduce one kind of division that can be used for dividing integrative approaches into larger entities through a three-step model that follows the line of increasing levels of integration starting with

multidisciplinary approach, then moving to interdisciplinary approach, and finally finishing with transdisciplinary approach. Alongside with these approaches, we will also explain the key terms used in this thesis, thus forming the basis for understanding curriculum integration and

concepts related to it.

2.1.1 Multidisciplinary integration

In multidisciplinary integration, the focus is on the different disciplines and the different perspectives they can bring into the learning process. The disciplines are connected through a common theme, topic, or issue, that is studied from the perspective of one or more discipline (English, 2016; International Bureau of Education, n.d.). This kind of integration illustrates rather shallow integration where the traditional division into different disciplines remains strong, and sometimes it can be even difficult to determine whether it is a question about integration at all.

Parallel study and sequencing are examples of multidisciplinary integration where different disciplines are connected through a common topic, theme, or issue. In parallel study, the theme is studied in two or more subjects at the same time, whereas sequencing refers to sequential order of these subjects (Niemelä & Tirri, 2018). In these both, the common topic is studied on the lessons of different disciplines, yet without creating of deeper connections between these

(20)

disciplines. This kind of integration can include, for example, theme vocabulary or grammar that is studied in different languages or a theme that is studied from the linguistic perspective and from the perspective of factual information. The word syntegration refers to more specific kind of multidisciplinary integration where the two integrated subjects in the case of Russell-Bowie (2009), as described later in this thesis, are a linguistics subject and an arts and skills subject.

From the perspective of a language, this kind of integration can help different kinds of students with different intelligences to learn the language easier and in a more meaningful and natural way (Russell-Bowie, 2009; Jansen van Nuuren, 2018).

Multidisciplinary integration does not only provide education with more variation but also enhances students’ learning when utilized purposefully. The results from Menano, Fidalgo, Santos, and Thormann’s (2019) investigation suggests that 3D-printing that integrates arts, physics, and mathematics, can help to develop a student’s creativity and imagination besides skills in physics and maths (pp. 228–229, 232). This illustrates the mutual benefit that integration can have on both or all subjects that are integrated. The hindrance of multidisciplinary

integration lies on the amount of knowledge and skills that are required for successful integration. If the resources of a teacher or the cooperation of multiple teachers are not

sufficient enough, the integration will not attain its full power in order to promote learning and education as wanted (Menano et al., 2019, p. 232).

2.1.2 Interdisciplinary integration

Interdisciplinary integration takes the idea of multidisciplinary integration one step further by approaching integration where the disciplines are no longer the centre of integration, but the content is. By utilizing the content, theories, methodologies and perspectives from different disciplines, interdisciplinary integration aims to advance the learning of concepts and skills across traditional discipline boundaries (English, 2016; Internation Bureau of Education, n.d.).

(21)

This kind of integration approaches the central idea of integration, yet not fully dismissing subject boundaries but by integrating different subjects into entities in a meaningful way.

Longer multidisciplinary learning modules follow the idea of interdisciplinary integration where different disciplines work around a general content. In Finland, the central content or theme for each longer multidisciplinary learning module as well as the subjects that area included in the module are stated in the local curricula (Finnish National Board of Education, 2016). Whereas this kind of approach helps to bring the topics closer to the student’s own experiences about the life in the local area, the teacher or developer of these learning modules has to be careful not to make the module too overwhelming for the learner with too extensive load of topics and

material (Habib, Deshotel & Williams, 2018). In the Finnish model of including one longer multidisciplinary learning module in education once a year, there is also danger that these modules turn to artificial products that serve only the purpose of the curriculum and lose their authenticity (Komulainen & Leijamaa, 2019).

Interdisciplinary integration can benefit both the teacher and the learner. Whereas the teacher can benefit from the cooperative approach of disciplines and in many cases teachers, the student can obtain more authentic experiences from the study entities where subjects collaborate. What is required, however, is the time and mutual understanding from the

collaborative teachers as well as understanding of interdisciplinary integration and in what ways it can and should be utilized. This is not always evident for the teachers, and in some cases the misconceptions of integration have led the teachers thinking of interdisciplinary integration as a vastly complex matter to realize. (Weinberg & Sample McMeeking, 2017.)

2.1.3 Transdisciplinary integration

Transdisciplinary integration is explained by International Bureau of Education (n.d.) as “[a]n approach to curriculum integration which dissolves the boundaries between the conventional

(22)

disciplines and organizes teaching and learning around the construction of meaning in the context of real-world problems or themes.” By dissolving the boundaries between conventional disciplines, this approach aims to combine different subjects in a way that binds learning to real- world subjects and themes rather than to subject boundaries. In such approach, teaching is arranged in a manner where the knowledge and skills from two or more disciplines form the basis for the learning experience (English, 2016, p. 1). The real-world problems or themes can be any kinds of issues rising from the learner’s individual world, but they can also be, for example, themes that utilize the transversal competence areas described in the core curricula for

education in Finland.

Theme days and thematic learning illustrate transdisciplinary integration where subjects work around a real-world theme. The theme is in the centre of this kind of learning where the different perspectives and the knowledge provided by different school subjects form together the core of studying and learning. As such, they provide the learner with multidisciplinary

perspective and knowledge about the theme on hand. Even holistic integrated instruction where the teaching focuses on themes and issues without any subject boundaries, can be seen as an extreme example of transdisciplinary integration. With a holistic approach, education can provide the learner with ability to think innovative without limitations to different disciplines.

This kind of integration, however, would require special arrangements from the school and the teachers since it requires holistic teaching without subject boundaries, thus moving from subject teachers and teaching of a subject towards an approach where the theme is in centre of the learning. (Komulainen & Leijamaa, 2019.)

The list and the division of different types of integrations above is not complete nor unchangeable. Daily routines as daily activities where certain the language is learned in a routinised way utilising different themes from other subjects, for instance, are mentioned multiple times in our research material but cannot be included in any of the three main

categories of forms or integration. Also, it depends on the manner the activity is completed that in which main category it belongs in each case. For instance, if a longer multidisciplinary learning module is not restricted to certain disciplines but utilises the material and knowledge from any

(23)

subject that helps to form a bigger picture about the topic, it could also be labelled as

transdisciplinary integration. Thus, there can be relatively much variation between and inside of each main category and each form of integration.

2.2 Curriculum integration in Finland and Sweden

When comparing earlier research results on curriculum integration between Finland and Sweden, a few similarities can be found among some differences. In Sweden, educators have approached implementations of integrated curriculum through a variety of methods. The connection between English language learning and science has been built upon the idea of giving pupils opportunities to do their science presentations in English. Both the Swedish and the Finnish national curricula provide topical phenomena from modern society, such as climate change. The educators in Sweden tend to exploit articles, news and other content created by the media that are associated with these phenomena and utilize it in their teaching. (Hulten, 2013.) This way pupils are exposed to new vocabulary and given a chance to work on current

international issues by learning the essential vocabulary and to make comparisons on phenomena between countries.

These same phenomena were used when educators applied the Education for Sustainable Development method as well. With it the phenomena are made even more emotional, and the students are to come up with a solution on how to fix the emotional problem and change their daily habits in terms of the phenomena. In this kind of approach, the ultimate goal is to enhance the student’s motivation and interested towards the phenomena and the topics within it.

Sometimes pupils get to find articles and news independently, which is how technology and the use of digital tools are brought in, resulting in pupils becoming more technology savvy. The use of drama and role play were essential in both countries, which requires pupils to develop their vocabulary and enables them to actually use the learned words in discussions. (Psaltou-Joycey et

(24)

al., 2014.) Overall, there are prominent routines of activity-based learning methods in both countries, where the pupils would “carry out tasks first and by doing so acquire the language”, as it is defined by Psaltou-Joycey et al. (2014) in their book Cross-Curricular Approaches to

Language Education.

In Swedish schools, the educators emphasized the importance of cooperation between teachers in order to make the integrated teaching work. Once the cooperation between two professionals is synchronised, the integration of themes and phenomena into English lessons is very effective and student-centred (Sund, 2020). One of the largest differences between Finland and Sweden is the use of Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) strategy in Sweden, which is apparently quite popular in some Swedish schools. In CLIL-strategy, the pupil’s mother tongue and the foreign language that is being learned are used parallel and simultaneously when teaching foreign languages (Sylvén, 2019). In addition, the Swedish national curriculum for basic

education contains something that is known as “spheres of work”. In this case, these spheres are terms or phrases that make connections between two school subjects, offering an opportunity to learn new concepts from angles of two separate school subjects (Hulten, 2013). Another aspect worth mentioning in the field of teaching English language in Sweden, is that Swedish schools tend to add language-related computer use as a method for teaching English language.

The computer use is most often gameplay and gaming in its nature, and it is perceived extremely motivating and engaging by the Swedish pupils and found out to be an ideal method for

language learning. The learning can occur, for example, through a single-player simulation game called The Sims. Moreover, the computers are used to learn English through music, TV-shows, and news. (Sundqvist & Sylvén, 2014.)

In the Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education (National Board of Education, 2014) the theme of student-centred learning through phenomena is stressed just like in its Swedish counterpart. The national core curriculum mentions current phenomena and issues that can be included in teaching. Just like cooperation played a huge role in Sweden, so it does also in Finland for Finnish educators usually get to plan larger units together which seems to be a cornerstone of integrated or cross-curricular teaching, making it an effective strategy. In Finland

(25)

drama and interaction are prominent methods to integrate school subjects and inserting discourse and the Finnish concept of “learning by doing” to everyday lessons (National Board of Education, 2014). Finnish educators also believe in the emotional phenomena, and they try to convey a message that an individual is always a part of and responsible of something much bigger than oneself (Kujamäki, 2014). Technology has a role in integration as well. Very often pupils’ task is to work on a larger project or find more information about a specific phenomenon in English, using technology as it is used in Sweden. What is more, educators might let the pupils cooperate face to face or via a platform, where they have to plan the whole project in written English using a chat feature on the platform. This is often done in collaborative heterogenetic groups (Kujamäki, 2014, p. 26). Another effective but too rarely used way of integrating technology is to have pupils record a video clip of themselves using the language which is a popular teaching method in the Finnish primary schools (Niemi, 2012, pp. 161–170).

Overall, allowing pupils to work on two specific learning modules from two different school subjects and to combine them into one is a widely used method in Finland and in Sweden. Above we have discussed integrative methods within the higher primary school grades. According to Niemi (2012), integrative teaching in the first and second grades are done slightly differently from the teaching in higher grades in Finland. She states that within the first two grades of Finnish primary school, the English language education is being integrated in a playful and even more functional way than in higher grades. It takes place in the form of functional games, songs and rhymes. During the first two terms of the Finnish primary school, the emphasis in

integration methods lies on the concepts of listening, comprehension and speaking. The

exposure to written text or learning the skills of writing English are gradually brought in once the oral skills are adequately developed (Niemi, 2012). According to VanPatten & Benati (2010), one of the key concepts is language acquisition and more specifically second language acquisition that is a research field that examines how learners are learning a new language system. Some researchers (see e.g., Niemi, 2012) also prefer to separate foreign language learning and second language acquisition. However, this type of distinction will not be made in this research. So, in this research the term second language acquisition refers to the concept of acquiring the

(26)

language of the first foreign language that is learned in the Swedish and Finnish primary schools, often being English.

Teaching of English as a foreign language starts from the first grade, which is why the integration methods are more focused on the skills of listening, comprehension and speaking. Integration between English language and other subjects is also implemented in a simple but broad manner without diving too deep. For example, geography and English language are integrated by

introducing the English-speaking countries to pupils, showing them the locations of these countries and providing them some essential information of the cultures that prevail in these countries. In contemporary English education, the main emphasis is on getting the pupils comfortable with using the language, not so much on grammar or structure of the language. In the lower grades, drama, role play, and interactive everyday situation simulations are highly utilized to stress the skill sets of listening, comprehension and speaking. (Niemi, 2012.)

(27)

3 Curriculum integration in English language education

In many countries, English is the first foreign language to be taught in the educational system.

There is evidence that supports the idea of early language education, yet the learner’s young age must be acknowledged in the teaching and learning situations for attaining the eligible results.

The best results in early language education seem to be obtained when the foreign language education is incorporated as a part of topic- or theme-based approach. This way, young learners can recognize the value of English in relationship with other school subjects. (Hayes, 2020, pp.

242, 255.)

Foreign language education is not only about teaching the language but involves also cultural aspects. Cultural awareness is an essential part of successful conversation, and thus it has a stabile position also within language education. Learning to be polite in English and learning about the differences between different English-speaking nations are often included in study books in multiple occasions. Without cultural awareness, the language that second language learners produce is different from and in some cases even unreadable to native speakers, thus the importance of culture within language education cannot be dismissed. (Chan, Bhatt, Nagami

& Walker, 2015, pp. 1, 335.)

3.1 Developing English language skills with arts and skills

Curriculum integration has been widely used to integrate arts and skills subjects into language education. The purpose of this chapter is to shed light on how arts and skills can be integrated in language education, and what is meant by these concepts. Arts and skills subjects consist of disciplines in which pupils are engaged in opportunities to develop their creativity as well as personality, emotions, and skills in handicraft as well as to experience the feeling of communality (Tornikoski & Ylämäki, 2009). Traditionally, such disciplines are physical education, music

(28)

education, crafts, drama, and arts. The concept of language education in the case of this research refers to English language education as a foreign language.

3.1.1 English language integration with drama

Language is all about words and their meaning, and English education aims to equip students with adequate oral and writing skills to be able to communicate in English. School subjects in which language is used heavily play a significant role, and drama is a great tool to explore and teach the use of language in certain contexts and situations of life. With drama, educators can create situations of their preference, in which students can practice their language skills. The possibilities are limitless since drama has the power to turn someone or something into someone or something else. (Winston, 2013.)

Nowadays in the first grade, the curriculum of English education highly focuses on the communication skills of English language. Educators pay attention to teaching of the basic listening, speaking and comprehension skills of English language (National Board of Education, 2020), thus leaving the grammar, structure and writing aspects for to be focused on in higher grades. With drama, language can be seen and used in a context that appeals to pupils. Let us imagine that one of the themes of English language would be groceries and going to the grocery store. Pupils can take roles of customers and cashiers using the vocabulary they have learned about the topic, and develop their speaking, listening and comprehension skills. An extremely simple teaching method like this helps children to become aware of the meanings behind the words, the subtexts. Overall, successful drama provides vivid yet imagined contexts and

situations, which makes English language learning skill-based, student-centred, and fun. This way a content of a discipline can be taught through another discipline. (Winston, 2013.)

(29)

3.1.2 Visual arts and music education

The acquisition of a new language is widely controversial topic covering multiple theories about how people learn new languages. Over the years, there have been numerous theories on how language acquisition occurs. Yet, it has been asserted by the Suzuki Talent Education Association of Australia (n.d.) that learning of a mother tongue occurs through the process of listening, imitation, and repetition. Later, the Suzuki Talent Education Association of Australia’s philosophy on language acquisition was used as a foundation for the claim that music and the acquisition of a language are acquired in a very similar manner. Therefore, the same philosophy could apply for second language acquisition (Jansen van Nuuren, 2018).

According to Russell-Bowie (2009), arts-integrated approaches are effective for second language acquisition. He states that there are three more widely studied and used methods for arts- integrated teaching: service connections method, symmetric correlation method and

syntegration method. Service connections are situations where a subject is taught and an activity from another subject is added into the process to assist with retention. Symmetric correlation in turn, is a method, which includes equal emphasis on both subjects. Syntegration is a term that originates from combination of words synergy and integration, implying that better outcomes can be achieved when the subjects co-operate instead of functioning alone. (Russell-Bowie, 2009.)

Studies based on arts-integrated teaching have shown quite promising improvements on learners within second language acquisition skills. Researchers who conducted an arts- integrated language program intervention in South African schools, aimed to measure the possible positive impact of arts-integrated language program and its activities in classroom setting. They integrated music and arts into English language education and got remarkable results on second language acquisition of the 4th graders (see Jansen van Nuuren, 2018). The results indicated that when children’s songs and art activities that are linked to the curriculum with the help of word walls are used to introduce new vocabulary, the learners second language acquisition improved by more than 45%. In addition to this, the pupils’ confidence in terms of

(30)

using the English language through songs and artwork increased visibly. (Jansen van Nuuren, 2018.)

3.1.3 Physical education

The physical activity levels of primary school pupils have become a global concern. Decreasing levels of physical activity are strongly linked to a variety of chronic diseases such as obesity. In addition, being physically active has shown to enhance a pupil’s engagement as well as cognitive and academic performance. Several international physical activity recommendations indicate that children should get the minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity per day. However, only a small percentage of children meet these recommendations. (Mavilidi, 2019.)

Integrating physical education into English language lessons has shown positive results in children’s learning performance (Owen, Parker, Van Zanden, MacMillan, Astell-Burt & Lonsdate, 2016), executive functions (i.e., inhibition, shifting and updating) and academic success.

Integrating physical education into English language lessons can be done in the form of movement-based learning methods, where pupils get opportunities to learn through physical movement and exercise or through simple methods that can be embedded into daily lessons such as short activity breaks during lessons and active recess and lunch breaks. Overall, integration of physical education into English lessons tend to entail positive effects in many aspects among primary school students and according to students it is the preferred way of implementing instruction in the classroom (Mavilidi, 2019).

(31)

3.2 Developing English language skills with natural sciences

Certain themes and phenomena that pupils are supposed to learn can be quite complex and broad which can make them tricky and difficult to comprehend. There is a great amount of coherence between different school subjects that need to be understood. Educators are trying to take advantage of this coherence through collaboration of disciplines, meaning that two or more school subjects are connected to one another through curriculum integration. In addition to this, many themes and phenomena within science as a school subject can be very complicated for young learners, and this can diminish their levels of focus and motivation together with how well they understand the connections of the themes and phenomena within two or more school subjects.

Integrated teaching pursues to facilitate the pupils to form an easily understandable coherence between two school subjects, which broadens their comprehension and brings the school subjects closer together when the connection between them is more distinctive. Combining science with English education through integrated teaching does not necessarily seem like an effective combination but it can be that. It requires a great level of knowledge from an educator if he teaches both disciplines, science and English. On the contrary, if these two disciplines are taught by two different people, it requires a lot of cooperation between the two educators. For science-English collaboration, the most popular type of integration method is the

interdisciplinary cross-curricular collaboration, which is “characterized by lesson content that can be demonstrably authentic, deriving from the typical subject knowledge and customary practices in each contributing subject” (McClune, Alexander & Jarman, 2012, p. 67). Typical this type of content are news reports about science-related topics. Science-related news reports are a

common method to develop English language reading and comprehension skills. (McClune et al., 2012.)

There is coherence and common ground between science and English language education. Many studies have indicated that cross-curricular teaching of these two disciplines can promote the acquisition proficiency in the English language. To make this possible, it is important to stimulate

(32)

learners’ natural curiosity and provide them with a relevant context for interactive language learning. According to many sources (see e.g., Zeegers & McKinnon, 2012; McClune et al., 2012), this is best implemented through linking the learning with pupils’ life and giving out meaningful learning activities that can be completed through interaction. For example, if an educator wants to integrate these two disciplines with each other, he can start off by showing the students picture cards of different local animals and insects. Then the learners would categorize the cards into groups. The cards would be already labelled with the group name. Next, the teacher would shed little information on each group of animals, and thereafter the students would write down questions about the animals that would be answered later. Other activities evolving around the same topic can be group discussions about where and when spiders can be spotted, and to explore them through microscopes and focus on the language acquisition aspect by learning the spiders body parts by name. The very last activity with student assessment could be a

presentation on spiders that would be done individually or in pairs, with the help of technology.

This type of integration method where group work meets different versions of working around a theme or category can be extremely effective when implemented effectively (Zeegers &

McKinnon, 2012). These two different disciplines usually emphasize different aspects, meaning that science highlights the scientific accuracy of things and English language education in turn stresses the grammatic and language acquisition side of things. Nevertheless, science and English have an unexpected alliance in terms of integrated or cross-curricular teaching, and they are an effective way to grow one’s vocabulary, which also functions as one of the connecting aspects between these two disciplines (McClune et al., 2012).

The discipline of mathematics falls under the umbrella of natural sciences. Integration of mathematics and English language education has been quite a controversial topic for years.

Almost twenty years ago Brown (1997) stated mathematics and language to be “dichotomized”

and that these two disciplines were to be viewed as two separate school subjects with no

coherence. However, later Cambridge ESOL (2010) and researchers Smit, Bakker, van Eerde and Kuijpers (2016) argued that mathematics and English language education can be integrated until certain extent, and that language plays a crucial role in mathematical activity, and vice versa.

(33)

They claimed that mathematic also had linguistic features that could be linked to other disciplines and even to grammar.

With the help of mathematics, languages can be concretized in an effortless way. Take geometry, for example, which is heavily about shapes and lines. By having pupils sort shapes into groups, naming them or describe them, the mathematical language is being concretized, which gives the pupils an image of what a hexagon looks like. This way the student’s vocabulary, comprehension of language and language use can be increased, and they learn to use language in an

appropriate matter. So, the integration of mathematics and English language education offers an opportunity to simultaneously teach language and a subject matter. (Martínez, 2019.)

3.3 Developing English language skills with history

As a school subject, history can be overwhelming with hundreds of historical events and figures to memorize. In the matter of fact, history is one of the vastest disciplines in multiple ways.

Integrated teaching methods and cross-curricular approaches aim to form a coherence between history and one or more school subjects to make it more motivating to learn and easier to grasp.

Integration of history to English language education and other disciplines is very often described as “thematic” approach to teaching and learning. The reason behind this description is that sometimes other disciplines are easier to embed into a larger theme.

Despite the fact that it is sometimes labelled as a thematic approach, the cross-curricular approach or integrated teaching approach are the same method as the thematic approach.

Logically thinking, a theme functions as the unifier, through which separate subjects are taught.

However, the goal is always to maintain learning of history as the main focus and as the lead subject (Percival, 2018, p. 3). Combining merely history and English language education through integration without adding a third discipline can cause limitations to the teaching itself in the

(34)

classroom. Integrating history with English language education would definitely offer more options for teaching methods such as theme day activities with dressing up as historical figures.

However, studies show that one of the most notable integration methods between history and English language education includes letter and report writing that would be based on the historical events or the experiences of historical figures. So, history as a school subject can be quite diverse, allowing pupils to learn through themes or purely through a cooperation of another discipline. (Percival, 2014.)

3.4 Developing English language skills through language education

The level of multilingualism, referring to the use of more than one language, is increasing quite rapidly within European countries and frankly all over the world. Even though many individuals and students at schools speak something else than English as their mother tongue, English language still possesses the status of the universal language and is in the centre of the world’s language system. This way English language is talked and used all over the world. (Mair, 2013, p.

259.) The English language is simply all over us, and one cannot miss being exposed to it. Even pre-schools and primary schools are adding increasingly more bi- and multilingual aspects to their profiles (Bonnet & Siegmund, 2018).

Due to the growth of multilingualism in our society and schools, the research on the benefits of learning multiple languages simultaneously has become more popular over the years. Current research (see Bonnet & Siegmund, 2018) indicates that pupils learning can be enhanced in a multilingual setting through cross-linguistic influence (CLI), as languages that are learned interact with and influence each other. This way, once something is learned about a language, for

example grammar rules, the same piece of information can influence the learning of another language, having the languages building knowledge upon each other (Bonnet & Siemund, 2018, p. 7).

(35)

Some of the very simplest examples of learning in multilingual environment or cross-linguistic influence are effortless to implement and can be used daily. Educators who work utilizing the phenomena mentioned above very often write instructions and other sentences in all languages that the pupils have knowledge of or are learning. Studies (see e.g., Conteh & Meyer, 2014) show that learning through multiple languages does not tend to confuse students or the pedagogies of teachers are not negatively affected, but that with multiple languages an educators can create a welcoming environment with an accepting atmosphere where languages are embraced. This type of teaching also enables translanguaging in further explanations or clarifications on a matter to whole class, smaller groups or individual pupils that do not necessarily comprehend something. Translanguaging refers to a method where a person can use his full linguistic repertoire, or simply said, use multiple languages within one sentence, for example. This is a very effective method since translation is not always available and using another language to describe something can solve the issue. Conteh and Meyer (2014) described languages to be able to cooperate and be taught through one another. According to their research, pupils that have been situated in a multilingual setting tend to have higher reflective competence and learn best through cognitive activation of their languages, making a solid coherence between

languages as a learning tool. (Conteh & Meyer, 2014.)

Conclusively, it can be stated that the role of English language education has increased within curriculum integration as a teaching method. Teaching of English and other languages has grown over the years, and the cultural aspect of language learning has become very topical.

Overall, arts and skills offer language education with limitless possibilities. With younger

learners, integration between English language education and arts and skills work well since on the first grades of primary school, the focus is on listening and speaking skills that make early language education an optimal field for integration of arts and skills. What makes it beneficial is that music and languages are learned the same way, so the benefit of the integration between music and languages is huge. Children seem to be learning effectively through the integration of movement and language as well. Integrating physical education into English language education has shown promising results in learning, and embedding of physical aspects in language

(36)

education is not too complicated. Integrating English language education and natural sciences seem to have a positive effect on language learning as it results in coherence between the disciplines and is remarkably effective tool especially for growing pupils’ vocabulary. In addition, language and knowledge can be taught simultaneously through the integration between

language education and natural sciences. This makes the learning situation effective and beneficial for both subjects.

(37)

4 Research task and research questions

The aim of this research is to investigate curriculum integration within primary school foreign language education. This is done with a cross-national comparative approach where the practice of curriculum integration is compared between the two countries: Finland and Sweden. By interviewing total of eight elementary school teachers, we aim to investigate, what subjects are integrated, what are the methods of curriculum integration presented by the respondents, and in what ways are these described and applied to English language education. The research will be restricted to investigating English language education provided by primary school classroom teachers in Finland and Sweden. This will limit the scope of the research to meet the limits set for a master’s thesis as well as give a narrow enough space for getting more detailed information about a specific topic. Furthermore, the investigation will be limited to basic education which will close any other forms and levels of education out of the scope of the research.

The following four research questions are set for this study:

1. What subjects are integrated into English language education by teachers in Finland and Sweden?

2. What are the approaches of curriculum integration presented by teachers in Finland and in Sweden?

3. How do teachers see the role of curriculum integration within English language education?

4. What are the similarities and differences between Finland and Sweden in curriculum integration within English language education?

With the first research question, we aim to investigate the variety of disciplines that are utilised within language education. We are not only interested about the subjects that are preferred to be integrated but also those that are left outside of integration. By asking the teachers about

(38)

their preference and disfavour of integration of different school subjects, we aim to gather information about the variation of disciplines as well as reasons behind the preference over certain disciplines. This information is deepened with the second research question where we aim to find out about the different practices and approaches of curriculum integration. By asking for detailed description as well as concrete examples about integrative practices that are used by the informants, we aim to increase and deepen our knowledge about the ways that curriculum integration occurs within language education.

With the third research question, we aim to investigate teachers’ attitudes towards curriculum integration within language education. We want to get information about the positive and

negative attitudes related to curriculum integration in order to understand what it can provide to language education and what aspects must be considered about curriculum integration from the teacher’s perspective but possibly also from educational perspective more broadly. The final research question is about cross-national comparison between two countries, Finland and Sweden. This research question will be answered based on the results of the first three research questions. Despite the small sample of data, we want to investigate what kinds of similarities and differences will raise from our data between these two countries without generalizing the results too much. Overall, by finding answers to the four research questions, we aim to develop our understanding of curriculum integration within language education and shed light on the different aspects of it.

We assume that teachers integrate multiple different subjects in language education, and that they have a positive attitude towards curriculum integration as it is an essential part of

education these days. Furthermore, we assume that the teachers will describe and give examples of different forms of curriculum integration that they use in their teaching. The differences between the two investigated countries, Finland and Sweden, might be large as well since the curricula in these two countries are different in multiple ways even if they both support the idea of curriculum integration.

Integration of English language into other school subjects in primary school education – A comparative cross-national study in Finland and Sweden