CLIL versus Traditional EFL

Target language-medium instruction is all the rage in the US and Europe these days. It seems that CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is on everyone’s mind; at least the best publishers, test developers, and teacher trainers are gearing up for the next era in language teaching. It’s what’s hot in ELT.  Cambridge ESOL has already developed a TKT: CLIL award; and Macmillan now offers a CLIL website and a free CLIL teacher magazine.

According to Macmillan: ‘The term CLIL was coined by David Marsh, University of Jyväskylä, Finland (1994). However, CLIL teaching has been practiced for many years, from the Babylonian era to the early sixties when bilingual education was introduced in many schools around the world.’

David Graddol in English Next India reminds us: "his divide between ‘private’ and ‘public’ has historically reflected the divide between English-medium and vernacular-medium schools. In other words, an elite minority learns through English medium in school, is better prepared for the challenge of university courses taught through English, and provides the main source of students on postgraduate degrees, such as the MBA, which lead to the best-paid careers.”

Latin America’s educational tradition has been much the same as in India, and in more ways than one. Although the main source of high paying jobs, business or study opportunities has been through the medium of English, globalization is pushing the need to learn it at younger ages, and not just in private schools.

CLIL, in the U.S. is better known as SDAIE (Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English) or SI (Sheltered Instruction). It has a somewhat different history and focus than CLIL in Europe. It is mainly the teaching of Academic English in K-12 settings (CALP rather than BICS, in bilingual parlance).

In Latin America, CLIL is usually carried out in French, German or English. When the former two are the main medium, English is normally taught as a third language. However, Portuguese and Dutch (Surinam only) are two other major native languages, particular to South America, aside from indigenous languages that are also given priority in certain national schools.

In any case, the recognition that bilingualism offers an advantage cannot be overstated. Whether it is British or American English, the value associated with being bilingual in English assures that subsequent generations will follow in their parent’s footsteps.

One example of this is The KU International Language Institute in Nicaragua, which was founded in 2000 and is an international, coeducational, college-preparatory institution that trains Spanish-speaking high school students to take on academic work at any mainstream American University.

In Nicaragua, the precursor to CLIL in the area of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) is the Keiser University Language Institute which follows an immersion EAP model touching on academic subjects in, such as language arts, social sciences, and academic writing.  Instructors focus on helping to develop English language skills in their students.

Professor Jack C. Richards appeals to our sense of history when he wrote (in Communicative Language Teaching Today, 2003) that “the main motivation for change comes from dissatisfaction with the present state of affairs.”

Studying teaching methods and applying CLIL in my own classroom at Keiser University, has been an education for me, a language teacher since 1980. I had, of course, a firmly established concept of “teacher-centered teaching.”  Understanding the “learner-centered” method has been the greatest reward.