What is CLIL
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