Content and Language Integrated Learning – an overview and some research findings

Speaker: Professor Liss Kerstin SYLVÉN (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

CLIL is often referred to as the European version of Canadian immersion, but since its early beginnings in various European countries during the 1970’s it has spread as a popular teaching method to large parts of the globe, not least in South America and Asia (Banegas, 2016; Dalton-Puffer, 2011; Nikula, 1997). The basic intention with CLIL is to enhance second or foreign language (FL/L2) learning by using a FL/L2 as a vehicular language in content teaching. Most commonly, English is used as the medium of instruction. I will start out by sorting out what CLIL means and explaining the CLIL continuum, trying to capture how schools in different parts of the world implement CLIL. I will then become more specific and report findings from CLIL research conducted in the European context, and particularly studies from Sweden (Sylvén, 2019). In order to explain the vital importance of contextual factors, special attention will be paid to the somewhat counterintuitive findings obtained in Sweden, which can, in part, be explained by the abundance of extramural English activities in which a majority of school-aged children are engaged (Sylvén, 2013). The aim is for the webinar to be interactive, and I welcome comments and questions from the audience both during and after my presentation.