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Language Across the Curriculum

Teaching Methods & Pedagogy

Useful for: REET, UPTET, BPSC TRE, Assistant Teacher Recruitment (Super TET), Bihar STET, Bihar Assistant Professor, BPSC Head Teacher / Headmaster, Bihar TET / CTET Route

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MP Assistant Professor, MP Teacher — High/Higher Secondary / Varg 1, MP Teacher — Middle / Varg 2, MP Teacher — Primary / Varg 3, Rajasthan Assistant Professor, Rajasthan PTI / Librarian, REET Mains / 3rd Grade Teacher, Rajasthan 1st Grade School Lecturer, Rajasthan 2nd Grade Senior Teacher, UP Assistant Professor, UP LT Grade / GIC Lecturer, UP TGT / PGT

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Overview

Language across the curriculum holds that every subject teacher is also a language teacher, because learning in any subject depends on reading, writing, talking and listening.

Key points

The Bullock Report (UK, 1975, "A Language for Life") promoted language across the curriculum.
NCF 2005 supports language across subjects.
Subject-specific vocabulary should be taught explicitly.
Reading to learn requires strategies such as skimming and note-making.
Writing in subjects (explanations, lab reports) deepens understanding.
Classroom talk helps students form and test ideas.

Explanation

Home languages can support understanding of new concepts.
Graphic organisers help structure ideas.
Teachers should model academic language.
Assessment should consider language demands of tasks.
Collaboration between language and subject teachers helps.

Step by step

Identify the concept, law or policy the question is testing.
Recall the exact provision, thinker or principle.
Prefer inclusive, rights-based and evidence-based options; reject punitive or exclusionary ones.

Examples

A science teacher teaches the words "evaporation" and "condensation" with pictures → subject vocabulary.
Students write a short explanation of why the sky looks blue → writing to learn.
A history class debates a source → talk for learning.

Traps and advanced points

Trap: Leaving language only to language teachers.
Trap: Ignoring subject vocabulary.
Trap: Penalising home-language use.

Quick revision

Every teacher is a language teacher.
Bullock Report 1975.
Read, write, talk to learn.

Practice MCQs

"Every teacher is a language teacher" is the idea of —
1. rote learning
2. streaming
3. remedial teaching
4. language across the curriculum
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Answer: (d) language across the curriculum. Learning in all subjects depends on language.
The Bullock Report "A Language for Life" was published in —
1. 1986
2. 2005
3. 1965
4. 1975
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Answer: (d) 1975. The UK Bullock Report appeared in 1975.
A science teacher teaching "evaporation" with pictures is teaching —
1. subject vocabulary
2. only spelling
3. grammar rules
4. history
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Answer: (a) subject vocabulary. Subject-specific vocabulary is taught explicitly.
Writing a short explanation of why the sky looks blue is an example of —
1. writing to learn
2. copying
3. dictation
4. rote learning
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Answer: (a) writing to learn. Writing deepens understanding.
Graphic organisers mainly help learners to —
1. structure ideas
2. avoid reading
3. copy faster
4. skip lessons
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Answer: (a) structure ideas. They organise information visually.
Classroom talk in subjects helps students to —
1. avoid thinking
2. memorise only
3. form and test ideas
4. waste time
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Answer: (c) form and test ideas. Talk supports thinking.
Which document in India supports language across subjects?
1. Companies Act
2. IT Act
3. NCF 2005
4. Motor Vehicles Act
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Answer: (c) NCF 2005. NCF 2005 supports it.
Assessment in content subjects should consider —
1. only speed
2. the student’s accent
3. the language demands of tasks
4. only handwriting
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Answer: (c) the language demands of tasks. Language difficulty can hide subject understanding.
Teachers modelling academic language mainly help learners —
1. use subject language correctly
2. avoid speaking
3. memorise answers
4. copy notes
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Answer: (a) use subject language correctly. Modelling shows how to use academic language.