Proud to be tvmbo - Kortlopend Onderwijsonderzoek

vocational literacy or vocational language proficiency (Vollmer, 2006: 189) and
expresses the need for students to develop this as well as academic literacy. It is, therefore,
important to focus, perhaps after the first two years in tvmbo, on the specific language
needed for future vocations.
2.4.2 Opportunities
In a policy document for the Council of Europe, Vollmer writes about Languages
Across the Curriculum, or LAC (see glossary). The Council of Europe has stated that
“each of its member states should develop a comprehensive and coherent language
education policy including LAC” (Vollmer, 2006: 180) for all languages. Vollmer discusses
the importance of language in and for school education, for learning in every
subject, in both the first and second languages. The goals of LAC are “to support language
development in each and every child (our emphasis), in all domains of language
use, in each learning activity in school” (Vollmer, 2006: 182). The aim of LAC is, basically,
to improve all students’ language competences across the curriculum, in all
subjects. LAC implementation is also considered important for personal development
and for students’ future careers in the workplace. Tvmbo is one way of achieving this
European goal for foreign languages.
2.4.3 Motivation: learning language in natural situations
Tvmbo gives students opportunities to learn language in more natural situations than in
the regular classroom, since it involves communicating about topics in another language.
Writing about CLIL at higher vocational levels, Coyle et al write that vocational
CLIL gives a chance to students to learn a second language in a different way
from the traditional language class at school: “Vocational curricula are particularly interesting
because even if some of the students may not have achieved well in earlier
language learning, the opportunity to learn content through CLIL can provide a second
chance to access the CLIL language.” Just like the professionals quoted in chapter 1,
they also mention the importance of another language in jobs: “The added value of being
able to use more than one language now permeates vocational sectors in different
countries” (Coyle et al, 2010: 23).
Tvmbo provides many opportunities for exposure to language in meaningful situations,
in the classroom with the teacher when content is being discussed, but also on
exchange trips, work placements in English or contact with native speakers. Since
tvmbo students are learning a language in a communicative context, often doing a lot
of speaking and communication rather than learning lists of vocabulary or grammar
rules, they are more likely to understand the immediate use of the language they are
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