Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) brings subject learning and additional-language learning together. This lesson introduces CLIL’s origins, its relationship to language immersion, and its educational objectives.
Content and language integrated learning, or CLIL, is an approach in which learners study subject content through an additional language, such as a foreign or second language. The approach aims to teach both the subject and the language rather than treating them as entirely separate goals.
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What is content and language integrated learning (CLIL)?
An approach in which learners study subject content through an additional language, with attention to both learning the subject and developing the language.
Who coined the term CLIL, and when?
David Marsh coined the term in 1994 to provide an umbrella label for different forms of using a language as the medium of instruction.
How is CLIL connected to language immersion?
CLIL draws on methodological principles established by immersion research. Both can involve learning subjects through an additional language, although the terms and approaches are not necessarily identical.
Name three important objectives of CLIL.
Objectives include supporting academic performance, developing proficiency in both L1 and the target language, fostering intercultural understanding, and developing social and thinking skills.
What does research say about CLIL’s language-learning benefits?
Evidence of gains is strongest for vocabulary and receptive skills. Findings in other language areas are mixed, and research on content-learning outcomes is inconclusive.
Quiz questions
What does CLIL aim to teach through an additional language?Answer: Subject content and the additional language.
How does English medium instruction (EMI) commonly differ from CLIL?Answer: EMI commonly lacks an explicit language-learning objective.
Why was CLIL intended as an umbrella term?Answer: To encompass different ways of using a language as the medium of instruction.
In the distinct-purpose perspective, how are CLIL and CBI commonly distinguished?Answer: CLIL integrates language from a content-class perspective; CBI addresses content needs in language classes.
What educational model was CLIL’s European development associated with?Answer: Additive bilingual education that adds a language without replacing the first.