International Journal of Bilingual Education and

Bilingualism

ISSN: 1367-0050 (Print) 1747-7522 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rbeb20

Introduction: L1 use in content-based and CLIL

settings

María Martínez-Adrián, M. Juncal Gutiérrez-Mangado & Francisco Gallardo-

del-Puerto

To cite this article: María Martínez-Adrián, M. Juncal Gutiérrez-Mangado & Francisco Gallardo-
del-Puerto (2019) Introduction: L1 use in content-based and CLIL settings, International Journal of
Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22:1, 1-4, DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2018.1508279

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2018.1508279

Published online: 24 Aug 2018.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION AND BILINGUALISM
2019, VOL. 22, NO. 1, 1–4
https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2018.1508279

Introduction: L1 use in content-based and CLIL settings

a
María Martínez-Adrián , M. Juncal Gutiérrez-Mangadoa and Francisco Gallardo-del-
Puertob
a
Department of English and German Studies and Translation and Interpreting, The University of the Basque Country,
Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; bDepartment of Philology, The University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain

ARTICLE HISTORY Received 27 July 2018; Accepted 30 July 2018

The use of the L1s1 in content-based and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) settings
has been investigated for a long time. However, several gaps remain that need to be addressed in
order to make effective and informed decisions as to how to best accommodate the use of non-
target languages in content-based education (i.e. Content-based Instruction (CBI), immersion, CLIL,
English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI)). This special issue is aimed at filling these gaps and provid-
ing language teachers and policy-makers with the latest developments in this area.
Lin opens this special issue by highlighting its theoretical stance. In particular, she discusses the
converging influence of sociocultural perspectives and the dynamic, distributed language view on
translanguaging and trans-semiotizing theories in conjunction with fine-grained analyses of class-
room meaning-making dynamics. The interconnection of these theories can help teachers, research-
ers, and policy-makers understand the importance of dialogic construction of meaning in CBI
classrooms. She concludes the paper by offering three principles that summarise the main pedago-
gical implications drawn from these theories which will benefit from further curriculum and class-
room research: (i) spontaneous translanguaging and trans-semiotizing; (ii) design curriculum
genres, and (iii) a continuous, expanding rather than replacement, hierarchical model of learning.
The special issue goes on with a first set of articles that contribute to the scarcity of research
carried out in meaning-oriented classrooms exploring how L1 use may develop the acquisition of
a second language (L2). These studies empirically investigate whether and how L1 use may facilitate
L2 acquisition and how the L1 and L2 can work together to develop students’ bilingualism and
biliteracy.
The study by Martín Beltrán, Montoya-Ávila, García, Peercy, and Silverman contributes to the
dearth of studies that have focused on L1 use in interactions around reading L2 texts in L2-dominant
contexts. In particular, this study addresses this gap by examining the use of L1 Spanish and interlo-
cutor responses among cross-age peers reading L2 English texts in two elementary schools in the US.
In addition, it offers a coding scheme for analysing interlocutors’ responses to L1 use in terms of
engagement in learning activities and subsequent language use. The quantitative analysis shows
how the use of L1 Spanish can create new opportunities to use and develop L2 English as students
draw from their wider linguistic repertoire to make sense of the texts and activities. Similarly, the
qualitative analysis of several excerpts reveals how L1 Spanish may facilitate students’ understanding
and engagement in learning activities. Likewise, the analysis also illustrates challenges using the L1
that are often overlooked, specifically in contexts where learners do not have formal education in the
L1, and therefore, they cannot draw upon an academic register in their L1.
Pavón and Ramos address the use of the L1 to scaffold content by low proficiency students in a
CLIL setting in Andalusia, Spain. They analyse the use of L1 strategies and their purpose in seven

CONTACT María Martínez-Adrián maria.martineza@ehu.eus

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 M. MARTÍNEZ-ADRIÁN ET AL.

Social Science and one Art lessons by Grade 5 students (10–11 year olds) immersed in a CLIL setting
where 50% of the content subjects are taught in English. The results show that students’ use of the L1
is largely determined by the teachers’ unplanned use of the L1 in the classroom. Accordingly, the
authors stress the need to develop systematic protocols that can inform teachers how to effectively
use the L1 in class and how to provide students with language support specific for the academic
dimension of the language of content. These measures may help reducing the need to resort to
the L1, so as not to hinder the exposure to the L2.
Subsequently, a second set of articles reports on protocols informing teachers about when to use
the L1 and when the L2 in the classroom. They also provide informed knowledge about how to take
control of language use in their classrooms. This set of articles also reflects on the planned use of the
L1 and the L2 for different phases of the curriculum.
Caldas, Palmer, and Schwedhelm’s investigation draws on data coming from four English-Spanish
bilingual preservice teachers involved in a foundational Spanish-instructed course for Bilingual Edu-
cation majors at a university in Texas (United States), where pedagogical measures were being taken
to enhance the development of Spanish. Classroom language policies were implemented throughout
a semester which fostered a translanguaging space that enabled these preservice teachers to inte-
grate content mastery and target language development. The authors rely on three different types
of data analysis (discourse analysis, complexity and accuracy analysis, and critical narrative analysis)
so as to unfold an appropriate use of the L1 (English) in content-based L2 (Spanish) instruction. This
use is reflected on both hybrid language practices allowing access to bilingual speakers’ entire lin-
guistic repertoires and, at the same time, empowering practices that help bilingual preservice tea-
chers develop their proficiency in Spanish further. This study evinces how bilingual teacher
preparation university programmes can prepare prospective bilingual teachers linguistically and
offer pluralistic language models for them to implement at bilingual schools in the future.
The article by Pun and Macaro explores the relationship between language choice (L1 vs. L2) and
teacher question types (higher-order vs. lower-order) in two different school contexts of EMI (early vs.
late EMI). This is an important issue to address as the nature of the EMI programme may have an
effect on teachers’ discourse and their use of the L1 in L2 pedagogy. The authors report on a
study examining Science lessons through English in eight different schools in Hong-Kong implement-
ing either early EMI, where content instruction in English is provided in all grades and learners exhibit
a higher competence in the target language, or late EMI, where English is used as an instruction
vehicle from grade 7 onwards and learners present lower proficiency levels in English. The analysis
revealed that the context had an impact on language choice: teachers in late EMI relied on L1 Can-
tonese to a larger extent than in early EMI; the number and types of questions addressed by late EMI
teachers were cognitively demanding higher-order questions and hence promoted more dialogic
interactions and provided learners with more opportunities to boost higher-order thinking (e.g.,
evaluation, analysis, synthesis). However, more research needs to be carried out to investigate
whether late EMI teachers’ linguistic behaviour facilitates L2 learning. The implications of the data
shown in this study for language pedagogy and policy are discussed at the end of this paper,
where an evaluation of the effects of different amounts of L1 in EMI is suggested as well as a reflection
on the type of professional training EMI teachers should receive.
In their study, Lo and Lin address the question of how teachers can develop a systematic approach
to planning and using the L1 so that it is used strategically to maximise the effectiveness of CBI both
in content and language learning. By applying the notions of ‘curriculum genre’ and ‘task structure’,
the authors analyse the patterns of teachers’ use of the L1 in two groups of L2 English learners (with a
different level of proficiency: higher vs. lower) in classes of History and Science. Lo and Lin suggest
that, with respect to curriculum genre, the L1 is beneficial for construing content knowledge and that
L1 use can be gradually minimised in what they call ‘joint-construction genre’ with the use of guided
reading, note-taking, and re-writing. By the time students get to the ‘independent construction’
genre, where they complete assignments and tests, they are expected to use mainly the L2. With
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION AND BILINGUALISM 3

respect to tasks, the authors observe that in groups with lower proficiency, the L1 can be used to
prepare students for the tasks and then the L2 can be introduced gradually in the focus and elaborate
parts to try to bridge the students’ understanding of the concepts in the L1 and the L2. In groups with
higher proficiency, teachers can use the L1 to extend the students’ learning experiences by linking
concepts to examples directly related to the students’ own daily lives.
We hope this brief introduction appeals to researchers and educators working in meaning-
oriented programmes and makes them eager to read this collection of articles by which we aim to
launch a fruitful discussion and provide answers as to how to best integrate L1 use in this type of
educational settings.

Note
1. The term L1 should be understood in a broad sense, including for example either of the two languages in bilin-
gual first language acquisition contexts.

Acknowledgements
The editors want to thank all those colleagues who have helped with the detailed reviews of the different articles that
comprise this special issue: María Juan Garau, Elisabet Pladevall, Fred Di Camilla, Luis E. Poza, Tom Morton, Nicole J.
Tavares, David Rose, Marta Antón, Ester De Jong, David Lasagabaster, Susana Ibarra and Nelson Flores.
The editors also gratefully acknowledge the grants awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitive-
ness (FFI2012-32212) and (FFI2016-74950-P), the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (UFI 11/06) and the Basque
Government (IT904-16).

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding
This work was supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FFI2012-32212, FFI2016-74950-P), The
University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), and The Basque Government (IT904-16).

Notes on contributors
Dr. María Martínez-Adrián is an Associate Professor at the University of the Basque Country where she received her PhD
in 2006. Her current teaching involves undergraduate courses in English language and linguistics in the BA in English
Studies as well as postgraduate courses in the MA in Language Acquisition in Multilingual Settings. She is a member
of the Language and Speech research group (www.laslab.org), highlighted by the Basque Government for excellence
in research. Her publications have focused on cross-linguistic influence in L2 and L3 acquisition, the acquisition of
morpho-syntactic features from the generative perspective in CLIL and NON-CLIL settings, the acquisition of productive
and receptive vocabulary, the oral presentation as a learning tool, the use of communication strategies and the appli-
cation of form-focused instruction in English pronunciation. She has co-edited the volume Contemporary Approaches
to Second Language Acquisition published by John Benjamins, which obtained the Spanish Association of Applied Lin-
guistics award 2014. Her work has appeared in books published by Springer and Multilingual Matters, as well as in jour-
nals such as RESLA, VIAL, Atlantis, International Journal of English Studies, ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics,
Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, Language Teaching Research, European Journal of Applied
Linguistics, International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (IRAL), among others.
Dr. M. Juncal Gutiérrez-Mangado is Associate Professor at the University of the Basque Country. At present, she teaches
undergraduate courses in English language and linguistics in the BA in English Studies and postgraduate courses in the
MA Language Acquisition in Multilingual Settings and the MA Linguistics. She is a member of the Language and Speech
research group (www.laslab.org), highlighted by the Basque Government for excellence in research. She has published
on L2 and L3 acquisition on topics such as cross-linguistic influence, CLIL, the acquisition of morphosyntax as well as on
the acquisition of L1 Basque and L1 Spanish movement-related structures, which have appeared in books published by
Springer, Multilingual Matters and John Benjamins as well as in journals such as Journal of Immersion and Content-Based
4 M. MARTÍNEZ-ADRIÁN ET AL.

Language Education, Atlantis, Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Acquisition, among others. She
has also coedited two books, entitled Movement and Clitics with Cambridge Scholars Publishing and Contemporary
Approaches to Second Language Acquisition published by John Benjamins, which obtained the Spanish Association of
Applied Linguistics award 2014.
Dr. Francisco Gallardo-del-Puerto is Associate Professor at the University of Cantabria. His current teaching includes
undergraduate courses in English Linguistics as well as a postgraduate course on Bilingualism and Second Language
Acquisition. He does research in the area of English-as-a-Foreign-Language and Content-and-Language-Integrated-
Learning contexts, where he has focused on oral skills, vocabulary and pronunciation. He has recently published articles
in European Journal for Applied Linguistics (in press), International Journal of Applied Linguistics (2015), The Canadian
Modern Language Review (2014). He has also published chapters in edited volumes such as Lexical Availability in
English and Spanish as a Second Language (Springer, 2014), and Content and Foreign Language Integrated Learning: Con-
tributions to Multilingualism in European Contexts (Peter Lang, 2011; awarded in 2012 by AESLA, Spanish Association of
Applied Linguistics).

ORCID
María Martínez-Adrián http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0324-0443