Page 57 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

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Content and Language Integrated

Learning

Chapter Objectives
• Identifying the term and characteristics/principles of CLIL
• Understanding the main elements of CLIL
• Interpreting effective CLIL methodologies in the classroom with YL
• Identifying the stages of planning a CLIL lesson

One of the most innovative approaches in FL teaching developed in the past
decades is Content and LanguageIntegrated Learning, known by the acronym
CLIL. It involves learning a content (or curricular subject), such as mathe-
matics, sport, music, or fine arts through a foreign language. It also means
learning a foreign language by studying a content-based subject (Coyle et
al., 2010). According to Dalton-Puffer and Bauer-Marschallinger (2019, p. 1):

TheprimarymotivationforusingCLIListhedesiretoimprovelanguage
skillsbybroadeningthescopeoftraditionalforeign languageteaching,
while at the same time achieving the same level of specialist knowl-
edge as would be attained if the lesson were taught in the students’
first language.
In the European educational context, CLIL has been established as an um-
brella term for teaching settings in which an FL is used as a medium of in-
struction. The acronym was introduced by David Marsh in 1994 who then
referred to CLIL as situations where content or curricular subjects, or parts
of subjects (some topics or themes), are taught through an FL with dual-
focused simultaneous aims: learning of content and of a foreign language.
CLIL brings several benefits to language teaching and learning. It encourages
holistic learning, stimulates student’s cognitive potentials (higher taxonomic
levels),encouragescriticalandcreativethinking,discussion,aswellasprofes-
sional literacy (Kampen et al., 2016; Mehisto, 2012; Brumen et al., 2015). In ad-
dition, CLIL contributes to intercultural understanding and language aware-
ness, provides a student-centred instruction, and boosts learners’ indepen-
dence (Griva & Chostelidou, 2017; Kashiwagi & Tomecsek, 2015). It also pro-
vides additional teaching of ‘foreign languages without increasing the over-
all instruction time or taking away lessons from other curriculum subjects’
(Eurydice, 2017, p. 14).

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