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In between subjects and disciplines: a case study of inter-subject relations in the EFL classroom.

Publication at Faculty of Education |
2020

Abstract

In the context of language teaching, the interdisciplinarity seems to represent an undoubtedly relevant approach superseding the disciplinary by the thematic orientation and stressing the complexity and interconnectedness of knowledge, content and skill (Huzjak 2016; Perrin and Kramsch 2018). Nevertheless, it also seems to be a sort of untapped approach that often causes difficulty to be defined and exactly determined including the context of language teaching.

Moreover, focussing on and examining the relations between fields of knowledge might include various perspectives, which is usually marked by the use of prefixes with their specific connotations, for example trans-, multi-, pluri-, cross- or inter-. This tendency naturally reflects the broadness and often even elusiveness of the examined issue.

The present paper explores the concept of interdisciplinarity in the context of foreign language teaching and introduces a case study of inter-subject connections in the Czech grammar school EFL classroom. In particular, the paper presents the results of a content analysis of relevant curricular documents researching various aspects of inter-subject relations and the educational field of Foreign (English) language and its realisation in the grammar-school EFL classroom.