Content and Language Integrated Learning for CSL Students Using a Picture-Book Approach: An Action Research in Hong Kong Kindergartens

This paper examines the function of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) approach in complementary multilingual kindergarten classrooms for non-Chinese-speaking (NCS) children learning Chinese characters in Hong Kong. The module of this study was implemented with a picture-book approach. The participants comprised 28 learners of Chinese in the third year of kindergarten (K3) from both two kindergartens in Hong Kong. The student participants came from Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, and India. The participants’ learning of vocabulary was tested using a pre-test and delayed post-test design. The results reveal that the CLIL module with picture modulest desighad similar positive effects on both speaking and reading. The lessons were videotaped, and the teachers were interviewed after the one-year intervention. The results of the pre-test analyses are discussed along with how they could inform researchers, and pedagogical implications for teachers are presented.