Implementing Content and Language Integrated Learning

A Research-driven TIE-CLIL Foundation Course Reader.
(edited by David Marsh and Gisella Langé)

This book, edited by David Marsh and Gisella Langé, contains ideas and experiences focusing on the issue of language education. It shows the outcomes of some international research, mostly carried out in Finland - which is presented as a case study in Part Two - and describes experiments that schools of other European countries, such as France, Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy, have conducted in the field of language teaching.

The volume stresses the importance of language education in the school curricula of every country, in particular within the European Unity, and encourages teachers at all levels to try implementing the CLIL approach. It can even be an effective way of preparing young people for a future working life in a world which is increasingly unpredictable and diverse. So the initiatives of single schools, or even single teachers, may produce important results which others will be encouraged to profit from. As Gianfranco Porcelli, Head of Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at the Catholic University in Milan, points out in the Foreword, "European unity/oneness is more likely to emerge from the work of individual, highly competent principals and teachers who fight against cultural and language barriers through innovation in schools."

CLIL moves from Krashen's theory that there is a degree of language learning which could be regarded as automated and linked to exposure. So one form of CLIL can be called "immersion". In the book are mentioned some immersion programmes in Canada, which revealed benefits in using a second/foreign language to study other subjects. Besides, in some primary schools often parents supported "language showers" in the form of play. This was found to provide a sort of intercultural communication with positive effects. In lower and upper secondary schools there is a predominance of English as second language, but the introduction of other European languages is encouraged and hoped for. CLIL seems to have a positive impact not only on the learning of content and the target language, but also on other factors, such as learner motivation, methodologies and autonomy. In consequence it is reasonable to assume that certain types of CLIL will have an impact on the learner's first language. Obviously teachers are very important elements, therefore they need motivation, acquisition of new and more complex competences and strong support.

Among some of the most popular trends in European educational thinking there is the focus on learner-centred methods and greater learner autonomy. Since 1976, when the Council and Ministers of Education outlined objectives for foreign language teaching, many inter-governmental documents have enhanced language learning at European level. Many official declarations have been made, which culminated in the 1995 White Paper "Teaching and Learning - Towards the learning society". CLIL can be an answer to the growing needs of young people in this society. It has three core objectives: 1) to build self confidence and boost interest in foreign language learning; 2) to enhance and activate existing foreign language knowledge; 3) to improve students' language skills sometimes to the level of "functional bilingualism".

Part Three of the book, which is called "Pursuing Plurilingualism", contains interesting suggestions about, among other things, planning and defining objectives, teaching methods, materials and assessment. It also poses a fundamental question, that is the extent to which content learning is enhanced or impeded because of the use of the additional language. The answer is that either may occur, but overall there is a sense that linguistically enhanced education of this type carries benefits as regards the learning of content.

In Part Four, which presents various localized CLIL partner contexts, Gisella Langé, Maria Pavesi and Franca Quartapelle describe the Italian linguistic situation, some school experiences favouring bilingualism, initial training programmes and perspectives. They suggest that the recent law which has granted autonomy to schools will open up new opportunities for CLIL implementation.

In conclusion, even if designing and implementing a CLIL project is not an easy task, the authors of this book suggest that, given the necessary conditions under which teachers can work, this approach is likely to successfully lead to effective language and content learning.