CLIL

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is bilingual education whereby students do not only study a second language, in addition to their native tongue, but learn a school subject in that foreign language. This study is based on the teaching of chemistry in English to Grade 9 students in the Republic of Bulgaria. Correlation exists between the performance of students in chemistry taught in English with their performance in English in Grade 8 and Grade 9. There is also a correlation between their performance and gender and regarding the second language chosen. In fact, students who opted for Russian and Spanish fared better than those who opted for German and French. More laboratory experiments at school, lessons incorporating interesting games, and stimulating interactive projects were recommended by students as useful tools to improve their scientific literacy.

Over the last 15 years European Higher Education institutions have adapted to the requirements of the European Commission as regards academic degrees. Some of the key premises derived from the Bologna declaration (1999) include the promotion of employability and students' mobility as well as multilingualism at universities. More recently, the European commission language policies have established the Common European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR), making language level certification a compulsory requirement at the end of a degree. Although never declared the lingua franca among the EU member states, English has become the preferable foreign language chosen among EU universities to communicate internationally; therefore a minimum level of the English language is currently required before the end of a degree in most Spanish universities. To do so, most Spanish universities have opted to offer some of their degree subjects in English, so that students get familiar with specific subject content in English, thus implementing a Content Language Integrated Learning teaching model (CLIL). This paper presents a practical teaching example of a subject from the Humanities discipline taught in English and the challenges the content language teacher has to face in the classroom in order to follow the European commission language requirements for Higher Education

Does Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teaching have an effect on pupils’ language outcomes? Our point of departure is a research project initiated by The Norwegian Centre for Foreign Languages in Education. The project is tightly linked to classroom practice, teaching goals and educational decision making. Building on teacher assessment and experiences from a 10th grade classroom project and summative assessment in connection with a small quantitative survey among 7th grade Norwegian pupils, we offer two proposals. First, that the language skills of CLIL pupils improve for weak as well as for strong pupils. Second, the data may indicate that pupils who were exposed to CLIL teaching over a period of two years improved their language skills more than others who were exposed to CLIL during one school year. These proposals are based on results retrieved through collaboration between teachers and researchers.

The article was published at the Conference Proceedings of the "CLIL Methodology in University Instruction: Online and in the Classroom", 13-14 February 2009, University of Urbino.

Acknowledging the new international working demands, following the major expansion that the European Union has recently undergone and the overall globalization, the methodology of CLIL in teaching and learning English seems to be the best solution for university students, since its benefits may be seen in terms of cultural awareness, internationalisation, language competence, preparation for both study and working life, and increased motivation. The curriculum of the department of Marketing and Operations Management of the University of Macedonia, in Edessa includes the following compulsory subjects at the 1st and 2nd year of studies:  “Academic Vocabulary in English and Reading Comprehension Skills” - English I, “Writing for Academic Purposes in English” - English II, “Vocational English” - English III  and “Presentation skills”- English IV. The English teachers attempt to develop learning material by selecting contemporary authentic texts from worldwide known financial magazines and websites and by designing activities so as to improve specific skills. In the course “Academic Vocabulary in English and Reading Comprehension Skills” students are introduced to a variety of authentic financial texts, such as newspaper articles, articles published on the Internet, book extracts etc, in order to enrich their vocabulary, familiarize them with the different written genres and improve different techniques of reading. The course “Writing for Academic Purposes” focuses on developing students’ abilities to classify, organize, compose and formulate a text in a coherent way. The different parts of a thesis, content and form (preface-introduction-chapters-conclusion-notes-indexes-references) are also explored. The courses “Vocational English” and “Presentation skills” are conducted mostly via Information Communication Technology. Among others, students write their Curriculum Vitae in English by using the site of European Commission, a motivation letter, a thank you letter to their employer, a report about a colleague and, as an assignment, they are asked to present an international company (using PowerPoint). 

Accepting the aforementioned and focusing on the learner’s active participation, this research aims at observing and investigating learners’ needs and views by engaging them in the process of self assessment and evaluation of the course. More specifically, the aims of this research are: to introduce self-evaluation and self-assessment in ESP learning and teaching and more importantly to study and explore learners' attitudes and needs in terms of the usefulness of the various activities, materials, tools, lesson plans, class organisation methods adopted in content teaching in a foreign language. In the case of the department of Marketing and Operations Management, content teaching refers to business and financial issues.

U skladu sa obrazovnom jezičkom politikom javlja se potreba za primenom savremenih pristupa i procedura (CLIL i TBLT) u nastavi stranih jezika. Projektni zadatak, osnov TBLT pristupa, zahteva od učenika da jezik procesuje pragmatično sličan načinu na koji se jezik upotrebljava u stvarnom svetu. Zadaci su primenjivi u CLIL kontekstu, gde se istovremeno vrši podučavanje i usvajanje jezika i sadržaja, pri čemu ciljni jezik ima posredničku ulogu. U radu će biti predstavljeni osnovni principi i karakteristike CLIL i TBLT nastave u nastavi stručnog engleskog jezika u Vazduhoplovnoj akademiji, kao i mišljenja i stavovi učenika o nastavi stručnog engleskog jezika u odnosu na tradicionalnu nastavu opšteg engleskog jezika.

This paper considers the potential benefits and challenges of implementing CLIL (content and language integrated learning) for young learners in light of the existing research. We highlight the relative lack of attention that has so far been directed towards CLIL in pre-secondary levels, but suggest particular avenues that might be suitable for CLIL implementation with young learners at different stages. Nevertheless, there is a great need for targeted teacher training, both for in-service and pre-service teachers, since prior research also reveals the pitfalls of trying to implement CLIL when an educational system is insufficiently prepared for the changes of focus and attitude that it implies (and, indeed, demands). Yet an increasingly globalized, knowledge-driven society increasingly implies the need to prepare today's young learners -- tomorrow's problem-solvers -- to communicative competence in multiple languages to make more effective and collaborative use of content in addressing increasingly complex challenges. Though much remains to be done with regards in terms of preparing individuals and systems for successful CLIL implementation, though the potential rewards for the effort are very great.