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This paper focuses on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), an educational approach where a foreign language is used to teach non-language subjects. More specifically, this contribution presents new insights into an under-researched area, namely the potential of CLIL in fostering the learning and use of subject-specific target language vocabulary (SSV). This is investigated in a case study analysing spontaneous oral classroom productions of two groups of advanced, secondary-school students in an Austrian CLIL programme within the subject European economics and politics. Based on a holistic definition of SSV comprising both single and multi-word lexical units, complementary quantitative lexical and qualitative discourse-embedded research methods are employed to present a comprehensive picture of the engagement of learners with subject-specific vocabulary. Findings of the lexical analysis show a substantial and active use of SSV with some homogeneity but also considerable variation between students. Discursive investigations of the affordances for learning arising in interactions indicate that in constructing and negotiating SSV, the students make use of a range of learning and communication strategies, which indicates their heightened level of SSV learning awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the historical phases in the conceptualisation of and research on Content-and-language-Integrated Learning in Europe since the 1990s. Following upon early programmatic statements, the first wave of CLIL research concentrated on language learning outcomes. In a second wave, the focus was on descriptions of practice and studies of participant perspectives. More recently, studies have focused on the unique character of CLIL as an educational approach in its own right, not simply as a context of foreign language teaching. The crucial content-language interface is being addressed in research focusing on language and literacy in content curricula and classroom practices. A new CLIL research focus is the development of pedagogical practice through theory-based interventions. In line with the UN sustainable development goal of Quality Education, we identify equity and team work as future challenges and argue that CLIL could be a catalyst for a more collaborative and multidisciplinary approach in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European learners of English are increasingly using this language recreationally, which is referred to as Extramural English (henceforth EE). The level of EE use in a given country might be reflected in English Language Teaching (ELT) practices. Yet, no research so far has examined cross-nationally what potential for language learning teachers perceive in their learners' EE engagement and how this relates to ELT practices. To address this gap, the present study draws on interview data from lower secondary English teachers from Austria, France, and Sweden (n = 20). They were enquired about (1) their students' EE engagement and its effects on learning, (2) their accuracy and fluency teaching methods, and (3) the perceived link between EE and ELT. Swedish teachers seemed to have a more positive and fine-grained conceptualization of the impact of EE on learning than Austrian and French participants, especially in terms of grammar acquisition. The implicit learning environment that Swedish students encounter extramurally might extend to the classroom, where the use of explicit grammar rules occurs less dominantly than in the Austrian and French samples. The countries converged in the type of fluency-based instruction they reported. Gaps in language areas not (fully) developed through EE seem to be more intentionally addressed in ELT in Sweden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While research on CLIL suggests positive impacts on lexical proficiency and on spoken language, the crucial question of the effect of CLIL on advanced learners, both in terms of subject-specific language (SSL) proficiency and content knowledge, has received less attention. We argue that the ability to negotiate a factual position appropriately is a key element of SSL, relating to both content and to foreign language ability. As a theoretical framework for understanding these negotiations of generally opposing standpoints, we use argumentation theory. The study was conducted in upper-secondary CLIL classes on European economics and politics in Austria. From the data set of 16 hours of video-recording, comprising teacher-whole class interactions, group work, and role plays, episodes of argumentation were extracted and analysed. Two types of argumentation patterns emerge, with one focused on the joint construction and learning of new SSL and content knowledge, and the other on the enactment of such knowledge in interaction. Students' engagement in these argumentations gives clear evidence of their SSL proficiency in prepared and unprepared oral production. As the type of classroom event has an effect on the specific argumentation patterns, the need for exposing students to a diversity of educational practice is underlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a response to “A. Bruton. 2013. CLIL: Some of the reasons why … and why not. System 41 (2013): 587–597” and engages with the claims made in this contribution. We challenge a series of assumptions made about CLIL in Bruton (2013), i.e. that it is discriminatory, that it replaces foreign language instruction and that it does (or should) constitute a uniform pedagogy. We endeavour to position local CLIL practices within a wider framework and highlight the potential of CLIL to offer complementary language learning opportunities. On a language policy level, this paper shows how CLIL can be best conceptualised as a series of local responses to the global status of English. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is one of the most dynamic pedagogic trends in language teaching in Europe, and yet, the enthusiasm with which this innovation is implemented by stakeholders and ‘made a success’ is not fully understood. In this paper we argue for an investigation of CLIL implementation as a form of extended language policy, which relates language management, practice and beliefs, and so expands the notion of policy well beyond a top-down legislation. In this contribution, the suggested centrality of beliefs to CLIL policy analysis will be shown by a detailed investigation into the lay theories of teachers and learners involved in CLIL instruction in Austrian upper secondary colleges of technology, which traditionally attract students considered as relatively unsuccessful foreign language learners. The data consist of 48 in-depth interviews with teachers and students in this setting, covering a range of teacher specialisations and of student abilities. The discursive and content analysis of these interviews shows clear clusters of beliefs relating to language learning, the effects and benefits of CLIL and to the construction of success regarding CLIL. Findings suggest that the strength of beliefs and the relative absence of language management result in a construction of CLIL and of CLIL success that is partly at odds with those of experts or policy-makers, but which is linked directly to local CLIL practices. Issues arising of these mismatches are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: One of the effects of the growing importance of global English in professional contexts has been the rise of ESP teaching at all levels. Despite the concurrently increasing demand for ESP teachers, pre-service teacher education programmes in Europe have so far largely neglected this important area. In order to address the professional needs of future ESP teachers, a novel and coherent framework for mediating the findings of corpus linguistics and genre analysis has been developed. The advantages of such a model of mediated corpus-based genre analysis lie in its flexibility of application to diverse ESP settings and target groups, so empowering both student teachers and their future pupils to develop autonomous language capabilities. Following this model, student teachers are familiarized with the potential of specialized corpora as a source of information regarding specific genres, such as contracts of sale, sustainability reports or company profiles, and as a tool in materials development. This model of mediated corpus-based genre analysis, which will be presented and discussed in this paper, has been implemented in an innovative teacher education project at the English Department of the University of Vienna. Feedback from both student teachers and future employers underlines the positive effects of such a linguistics-informed approach to teacher education. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]