Page 68 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Content and Language Integrated Learning

velop both BICS and CALP for pupils’ overall language and academic success,
at the YLs’ level this needs to be done gradually and systematically, using ef-
fective scaffolding strategies and age-appropriate support.
Another complex issue is related to assessment. The key question here is:
What do we assess in CLIL? Do we assess language, content or both? Con-
sidering the dual focus of CLIL, the assessment should cover both language
and non-language competences. However, the problem with YLs is that ow-
ing to their limited language proficiency, they are often not able to express
themselves effectively.
As Ellison (2019) points out, the reason for an incomplete or inaccurate re-
sponse may be poor language proficiency, insufficient content knowledge,
or poor understanding of the task. In dealing with the complexity of YLs’ as-
sessment in CLIL settings, it is prerogative to consider the learning objectives
and appropriate assessment methods (p. 257):

It would be unfair, for example, to assess children’s knowledge of the
water cycle in L1 if they had been introduced to it in English. Methods of
assessment therefore, should mirror classroom practices, i.e. the typical
tasks and activities planned by the teacher in order to reach the desired
learning outcomes.

In assessing YLs in CLIL classes, it is also useful to consider formative as-
sessment as an alternative to summative evaluation. Several methods can
be used to gather ongoing information about pupils’ learning progress, such
as observation, project work, teacher-student conferences, self- and peer-
assessment, language games and quizzes, etc.
Another issue is related to teacher training (Lipavic Oštir et al., 2015). Teach-
ers are often not sure how they are supposed to integrate language and con-
tent, especially in situations in which the subject and language teacher are
not the same person. Since CLIL is a relatively new approach in FL teach-
ing, some teachers also report that additional time and effort is required to
prepare the relevant CLIL materials. There are still relatively few textbooks
or other CLIL material on the market which CLIL teachers could use as sup-
port. So it is largely up to the teachers to decide which content areas and
type of materials are more suitable for CLIL-based classroom work. In addi-
tion, subject teachers report feeling insecure about their fluency and general
FLlevelandvoicetheirneedforfurtherlanguageandpronunciation training,
whereaslanguageteacherscallforgreatertrainingon thesubject matterand
CLIL methodology (Pérez Cañado, 2016). At thesometime, studies (Kampen

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