Origin of the LAC concept

Language is central to learning. Learning involves language not just as a passive medium for instruction but as the principal means of forming and handling new concepts. In the context of curriculum, language is important for comprehension and for making use of knowledge. In the process of exchange of ideas between the teacher and the student, or among the students language is the chief medium.

LAC as a concept has been around for some time in academic and pedagogical theoretical discourse, but less so in school practice. It was developed in the late 70s / early 80s of the last century. It is originated in Great Britain, where the idea of LAC with school language policies as a whole received formal recognition in the so-called Bullock Report (entitled 'A Language Life', 1975).

A decade later this was underlined in the Swann Report(Education for all): 'Unless there is a school language and learning policy across the curriculum there will be wastage of effort and often confusion'.

The LAC movement follows the example set by the Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) movement of the 1980s, which sought to use writing as a central learning tool in classes outside the English department. Rather than relegating writing instruction to classes in literature or composition, WAC provides advice and assistance to students for the inculcation of the skills needed for writing in each curricular specialty. Similarly, LAC works with faculty to identify the specific vocabulary and genres that students need in order to function effectively in another language in their respective disciplines.

LAC also draws upon the content-based language instruction movement of the 1990s (Brinton, Snow, and Wesche, 1989; Krueger and Ryan, 1993; Stryker and Leaver, 1997). Instruction that emphasizes purposeful comprehension and communicative production yields superior receptive and expressive accuracy, complexity, and fluency. In brief, students who learn language for a purpose learn it better.

LAC aims to facilitate the use of languages in a variety of meaningful contexts and to motivate and reward students for using their multilingual skills in every class they take at each level in the university curriculum, thus preparing them for the cross-cultural and multilingual demands and opportunities of a global society (Consortium for Languages Across the Curriculum, 1996).

Language cannot be effectively learnt without a context while learning in all subjects is dependent upon language. In view of the above, language and content are closely interrelated. In fact, content subjects provide a context for language while effective language development facilitates the learning of content subjects. It is therefore necessary to integrate language and content.