Content and Language Integrated

Learning (CLIL) has become the umbrella term describing

both learning another (content) subject such as physics or geography

through the medium of a foreign language and learning a foreign
language by studying a content-based subject.

In ELT, forms of CLIL have previously been known as 'Content-based instruction',

'English across the curriculum' and 'Bilingual education'.

● Why is CLIL important?

● How does CLIL work?
● The advantages of CLIL
● CLIL in the classroom
● The future of CLIL
● Where is CLIL happening?

Why is CLIL important?

With the expansion of the European Union, diversity of language and the need for
communication are seen as central issues.

● Even with English as the main language, other languages are unlikely to
disappear. Some countries have strong views regarding the use of other
languages within their borders.
● With increased contact between countries, there will be an increase in the
need for communicative skills in a second or third language.
● Languages will play a key role in curricula across Europe. Attention needs to
be given to the training of teachers and the development of frameworks and
methods which will improve the quality of language education
● The European Commission has been looking into the state of bilingualism and
language education since the 1990s, and has a clear vision of a multilingual
Europe in which people can function in two or three languages.

How does CLIL work?

The basis of CLIL is that content subjects are taught and learnt in a language which
is not the mother tongue of the learners.

● Knowledge of the language becomes the means of learning content

● Language is integrated into the broad curriculum
● Learning is improved through increased motivation and the study of natural
language seen in context. When learners are interested in a topic they are
motivated to acquire language to communicate
● CLIL is based on language acquisition rather than enforced learning
● Language is seen in real-life situations in which students can acquire the
language. This is natural language development which builds on other forms
of learning
● CLIL is long-term learning. Students become academically proficient in
English after 5-7 years in a good bilingual programme
● Fluency is more important than accuracy and errors are a natural part of
language learning. Learners develop fluency in English by using English to
communicate for a variety of purposes
● Reading is the essential skill.

The advantages of CLIL

CLIL helps to:

● Introduce the wider cultural context

● Prepare for internationalisation
● Access International Certification and enhance the school profile
● Improve overall and specific language competence
● Prepare for future studies and / or working life
● Develop multilingual interests and attitudes
● Diversify methods & forms of classroom teaching and learning
● Increase learner motivation.

CLIL in the classroom

CLIL assumes that subject teachers are able to exploit opportunities for language
learning. The best and most common opportunities arise through reading texts. CLIL
draws on the lexical approach, encouraging learners to notice language while
reading. Here is a paragraph from a text on fashion:
 The miniskirt is a skirt whose hemline is high above the knees (generally 200-300
mm above knee-level). Its existence is generally credited to the fashion designer
Mary Quant, who was inspired by the Mini Cooper automobile, although André
Courrèges is also often cited as its inventor, and there is disagreement as to who
invented it first.

The language to be looked at in a passage like this falls into three categories -
subject specific, academic and other lexis including fixed expressions and
collocations:

Subject specific Academic Other language

miniskirt credited above the knee(s)

hemline designer credited to

knee-level cited inspired by

fashion designer invented cited as

disagreement as to

The treatment of this lexis has the following features:

● Noticing of the language by the learners

● Focus on lexis rather than grammar
● Focus on language related to the subject. Level and grading are unimportant
● Pre-, while- and post-reading tasks are as appropriate in the subject context
as in the language context.
The future of CLIL

There is no doubt that learning a language and learning through a language are
concurrent processes, but implementing CLIL requires a rethink of the traditional
concepts of the language classroom and the language teacher. The immediate
obstacles seem to be:

● Opposition to language teaching by subject teachers may come from

language teachers themselves. Subject teachers may be unwilling to take on
the responsibility.
● Most current CLIL programmes are experimental. There are few sound
research-based empirical studies, while CLIL-type bilingual programmes are
mainly seen to be marketable products in the private sector.
● CLIL is based on language acquisition, but in monolingual situations, a good
deal of conscious learning is involved, demanding skills from the subject
teacher.
● The lack of CLIL teacher-training programmes suggests that the majority of
teachers working on bilingual programmes may be ill-equipped to do the job
adequately.
● There is little evidence to suggest that understanding of content is not
reduced by lack of language competence. Current opinion seems to be that
language ability can only be increased by content-based learning after a
certain stage.
● Some aspects of CLIL are unnatural; such as the appreciation of the literature
and culture of the learner's own country through a second language.

Until CLIL training for teachers and materials issues are resolved, the immediate
future remains with parallel rather than integrated content and language learning.
However, the need for language teaching reform in the face of Europeanisation may
make CLIL a common feature of many European education systems in the future.

Where is CLIL happening?

CLIL has precedents in immersion programmes (North America) and education

through a minority or a national language (Spain, Wales, France), and many
variations on education through a 'foreign' language. Euro-funded projects show that
CLIL or similar systems are being applied in some countries, but are not part of
teacher-training programmes. There has been an increase in the number of schools
offering 'alternative' bilingual curricula, and some research into training and
methodology. Several major European organisations specialising in CLIL projects
have emerged, including UNICOM, EuroCLIC and TIE-CLIL (see web references for
details).

● In the UK the incentive comes from the Content and Language Integration
Project (CLIP) hosted by CILT, (the National Centre for Languages) which is
the UK government's centre of expertise on languages. CILT monitors a
number of projects covering the 7-16 age range and involving innovations in
language teaching such as the integration of French into the primary
curriculum. Other research is based at the University of Nottingham, while
teacher training and development courses in CLIL are available through NILE
(the Norwich Institute for Language Education).

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framework for planning CLIL lessons.

● Underlying principles
● Classroom principles
● Lesson framework
● Conclusion

Underlying principles

The principles behind Content and Language Integrated Learning include global
statements such as 'all teachers are teachers of language' (The Bullock Report -
A Language for Life, 1975) to the wide-ranging advantages of cross-curricular
bilingual teaching in statements from the Content and Language Integrated
Project (CLIP). The benefits of CLIL may be seen in terms of cultural awareness,
internationalisation, language competence, preparation for both study and working
life, and increased motivation.

While CLIL may be the best-fit methodology for language teaching and learning in a
multilingual Europe, the literature suggests that there remains a dearth of CLIL-type
materials, and a lack of teacher training programmes to prepare both language and
subject teachers for CLIL teaching. The theory may be solid, but questions remain
about how theory translates into classroom practice.

Classroom principles

Some of the basic principles of CLIL are that in the CLIL classroom:

● Language is used to learn as well as to communicate

● It is the subject matter which determines the language needed to learn.

A CLIL lesson is therefore not a language lesson neither is it a subject lesson

transmitted in a foreign language. According to the 4Cs curriculum (Coyle 1999), a
successful CLIL lesson should combine elements of the following:

● Content - Progression in knowledge, skills and understanding related to

specific elements of a defined curriculum
● Communication - Using language to learn whilst learning to use language
● Cognition - Developing thinking skills which link concept formation (abstract
and concrete), understanding and language
● Culture - Exposure to alternative perspectives and shared understandings,
which deepen awareness of otherness and self.

In a CLIL lesson, all four language skills should be combined. The skills are seen
thus:

● Listening is a normal input activity, vital for language learning

● Reading, using meaningful material, is the major source of input
● Speaking focuses on fluency. Accuracy is seen as subordinate
● Writing is a series of lexical activities through which grammar is recycled.

For teachers from an ELT background, CLIL lessons exhibit the following
characteristics:

● Integrate language and skills, and receptive and productive skills

● Lessons are often based on reading or listening texts / passages
● The language focus in a lesson does not consider structural grading
● Language is functional and dictated by the context of the subject
● Language is approached lexically rather than grammatically
● Learner styles are taken into account in task types.
In many ways, then, a CLIL lesson is similar to an ELT integrated skills lesson,
except that it includes exploration of language, is delivered by a teacher versed in
CLIL methodology and is based on material directly related to a content-based
subject. Both content and language are explored in a CLIL lesson. A CLIL 'approach'
is not far removed from humanistic, communicative and lexical approaches in ELT,
and aims to guide language

processing and supports language production in the same way that an ELT course
would by teaching techniques for exploiting reading or listening texts and structures
for supporting spoken or written language.

Lesson framework

A CLIL lesson looks at content and language in equal measure, and often follows a
four-stage framework.

Processing the text

The best texts are those accompanied by illustrations so that learners can visualise
what they are reading. When working in a foreign language, learners need structural
markers in texts to help them find their way

through the content. These markers may be linguistic (headings, sub-headings)

and/or diagrammatic. Once a 'core knowledge' has been identified, the organisation
of the text can be analysed.

Identification and organisation of knowledge

Texts are often represented diagrammatically. These structures are known as

'ideational frameworks' or 'diagrams of thinking', and are used to help learners
categorise the ideas and information in a text. Diagram types include tree diagrams
for classification, groups, hierarchies, flow diagrams and timelines for sequenced
thinking such as instructions and historical information, tabular diagrams describing
people and places, and combinations of these. The structure of the text is used to
facilitate learning and the creation of activities which focus on both language
development and core content knowledge.
Language identification

Learners are expected to be able to reproduce the core of the text in their own
words. Since learners will need to use both simple and more complex language,
there is no grading of language involved, but it is a good idea for the teacher to
highlight useful language in the text and to categorise it according to function.
Learners may need the language of comparison and contrast, location or describing
a process, but may also need certain discourse markers, adverb phrases or
prepositional phrases. Collocations, semi-fixed expressions and set phrases may also
be given attention as well as subject-specific and academic vocabulary.

Tasks for students

There is little difference in task-type between a CLIL lesson and a skills-based ELT
lesson. A variety of tasks should be provided, taking into account the learning
purpose and learner styles and preferences. Receptive skill activities are of the
'read/listen and do' genre. A menu of listening activities might be:

● Listen and label a diagram/picture/map/graph/chart

● Listen and fill in a table
● Listen and make notes on specific information (dates, figures, times)
● Listen and reorder information
● Listen and identify location/speakers/places
● Listen and label the stages of a process/instructions/sequences of a text
● Listen and fill in the gaps in a text

Tasks designed for production need to be subject-orientated, so that both content

and language are recycled. Since content is to be focused on, more language
support than usual in an ELT lesson may be required.

Typical speaking activities include:

● Question loops - questions and answers, terms and definitions, halves of

sentences
● Information gap activities with a question sheet to support
● Trivia search - 'things you know' and 'things you want to know'
● Word guessing games
● Class surveys using questionnaires
● 20 Questions - provide language support frame for questions
● Students present information from a visual using a language support
handout.
Conclusion

From a language point of view the CLIL 'approach' contains nothing new to the EL
teacher. CLIL aims to guide language processing and 'support language production
in the same way as ELT by teaching strategies for

reading and listening and structures and lexis for spoken or written language. What
is different is that the language teacher is also the subject teacher, or that the
subject teacher is also able to exploit opportunities for

developing language skills. This is the essence of the CLIL teacher training issue.

CLIL – how to do it
“Chris, we’ve been asked to work with some schools to develop their CLIL courses.
Can you look after that?” That was the first time I heard the term CLIL. I said yes,
not really knowing what I was letting myself in for, but now, many years down the
line I hope some things I learnt can be of use to others having to design and teach
CLIL courses.

Much has been written on what CLIL is and why to do it, for example the articles on
TeachingEnglish, but there is very little practical guidance on how to plan and teach
CLIL lessons. If you are a subject teacher who has been asked to teach in English
(or any other language for that matter), or a language teacher who has been asked
to help teach content then this article will show you where to start.

Where to start

The first things to think about when planning a CLIL lesson, or indeed a whole
course, are the who and the what. That is who your students are – their level of
English (or whatever the second language is), level of content knowledge, and their
requirements. What refers to what you will teach, in terms of both content and
language, and what materials to use. The who feeds in to the what.

Who your students are

In one secondary school in Italy that I taught CLIL in the students had generally
quite a high level of English and that meant that I could focus more on the content
side (here science and technology), using English as a vehicle for content. With
these students, I was able to adapt material designed for native English pupils. On
the other hand, in another school the English level was quite weak, so I had to go
for a more language-oriented approach, focusing on the particular vocabulary
related to the content areas (in this case art and design). With these pupils, native
English text books were linguistically too hard for them, so I had to write and adapt
my own materials to both teach key art and design vocabulary and also develop
language skills, with the goal of allowing these students to be able to use “real”
English content text books by their last year of school.

Cognitive load

Another important factor to consider when selecting materials is cognitive load –

that is you don’t want to blow their brains with too much information. This can be
done by choosing a relatively simple content area or by using an area that you have
already covered in L1 and doing the CLIL lesson / course as revision and extension.

A colleague in a Japanese university recently explained to me how he chose his

materials. He teaches an introductory English course to help science and engineering
undergraduates be able to cope with the English that they will need later on at
university. To do this he uses a science text book designed for native English
secondary schools. This works very well for both teacher and student as the content
level is not too hard, but provides an authentic context for the vocabulary that the
students will need later on. As the book is already there with its exercises ready-
made, all that remains for the teacher is to design activities to teach the language
that is in the book.

Finding CLIL materials

There are also many sources of materials on the internet, some good ones are in the
Links section of this site . One particularly useful one is Wikipedia, both the normal
English and the 'Simple English' sites are great sources of texts that can be legally
adapted and used in class.

If language teachers and content teachers are working together then it’s vital to
work as a team. If you can then observe each other’s lessons and talk together.
Content teachers will have loads of materials which you may be able to find
equivalents of in English, and language teachers will probably have ideas as to how
to exploit those materials for language.
How to exploit materials

When you’ve found a text that you want to cover (written or listening), the next
question is how to exploit it. Here language teachers are in familiar territory, but
subject teachers are probably less familiar with the techniques of how to exploit a
text for language. One of the first aspects to think about may be the vocabulary – is
there any technical or specialist vocabulary that your students need to know for the
course or to understand the text? If so then you might want to pre-teach this by
getting students to match words to definitions or pictures, or by making a gap-fill.
Alternatively, you could help them discover the meanings through the text – helping
them to guess meaning from context.

Your main activity will probably concentrate on general comprehension of the text.
You can do this with comprehension questions, information gaps, jigsaw reading
tasks, jumble tasks, or many of the other ideas on the Try section of
TeachingEnglish.

Follow-up activities can work on reinforcing the vocabulary taught earlier and
developing both language skills and comprehension of the topic. These activities can
include group discussions, individual presentations, making posters and writing
about the topic (for homework or in class).

Have a look at the CLIL activities on TeachingEnglish for more ideas.

Conclusion

David Graddol once noted that when CLIL works, it works well, but it is hard to do
well. Hopefully this article will help you to avoid some of the pitfalls – spending too
much time looking for materials and designing. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the rewarding
experience of being a CLIL teacher – seeing your students develop their language as
well as knowledge and understanding of the world. If you have any comments,
please feel free to write them below and we can start a discussion on the area of
CLIL lesson and course planning.