Collaborative curriculum making at a local level: the Culture and Language integrated Classrooms (CLiC) project – integrating linguistic and cultural learning in the day-to-day practices of language teachers

Koro, Ruth; Hagger-Vaughan, Lesley

Abstract

Despite international trends, fostering learners’ intercultural understanding (ICU) remains subordinate to linguistic proficiency in language education policy and everyday practice in England, whilst making the case for intercultural learning requires teachers to commit much additional time and effort in a performance-driven, examination-led education system in which pedagogy and curricula are increasingly prescriptive. This paper employs a curriculum making lens to explore the affordances and constraints experienced by language teachers in their efforts to integrate linguistic and cultural learning into their practices, through participation in the Culture and Language integrated Classrooms (CLiC) Project. Participants reported that collaborative curriculum making empowered them to critically navigate policy and enabled them to enact locally relevant language curricula that contributed to learners’ ICU. By highlighting the importance of incorporating explicit intercultural objectives into schemes of learning and revisiting common topics through an intercultural lens, this research in turn highlights the importance of developing more holistic formative assessment tools and approaches which can map progress in intercultural learning. The study also brings to the fore the value of ‘meso curriculum making’ through the creation of trusted, local, communities of practice which facilitate opportunities for collective language teacher agency through collaborative curriculum making.

Citation

Koro, R., & Hagger-Vaughan, L. (2025). Collaborative curriculum making at a local level: the Culture and Language integrated Classrooms (CLiC) project – integrating linguistic and cultural learning in the day-to-day practices of language teachers. Language Learning Journal, https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2025.2475107

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 25, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Mar 17, 2025
• Publication Date: Mar 17, 2025
• Deposit Date: Mar 24, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 25, 2025
• Journal: Language Learning Journal
• Print ISSN: 0957-1736
• Electronic ISSN: 1753-2167
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2025.2475107
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/46994869
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09571736.2025.2475107#abstract