Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics - Volume 7, Issue 2, 2018

The Netherlands is often held up an example of a ‘success story’ in terms of practices and research regarding the teaching and learning of subject content in a second language (de Graaff & van Wilgenburg, 2015; Pérez-Cañado, 2012). Nearly 30 years after its initial beginnings, bilingual secondary education in the Netherlands continues to thrive and to evolve in fitting with educational demands, as does the research associated with it. This Special Issue includes contributions addressing Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) as a pedagogical approach in the context of bilingual education as a curricular paradigm, both specifically within the Dutch context. The issue contains six research articles from different perspectives, supported by discussions both from an international research standpoint and from the educational field. It is hoped that the publication of this issue will not only indicate a next stage for bilingual education policy and practice, but also give impetus to new areas for research.

Research into the pedagogies employed by CLIL teachers has been limited to date and, as such, has been identified as a key area in need of further investigation (Pérez-Cañado, 2012; Dalton-Puffer & Smit, 2013). This review uses an elaborated 4Cs Analysis Framework (adapted from Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010; Coyle, 2015a, 2015b) as a basis for analysis of studies of pedagogies implemented by CLIL subject teachers internationally and in Dutch classrooms. This allows us to place the Dutch situation in an international context and to identify avenues for future research and development. The following questions guided the review: (1) What appear to be the most prominent international trends with regard to the implementation of the 4Cs in CLIL subject pedagogies?; and, (2) To what extent do Dutch CLIL subject pedagogies appear to reflect these international trends? Findings about pedagogies reported in the reviewed studies suggest that, in general, studies from the Netherlands stand out compared to international studies in several respects. Specifically, there is evidence of a relatively strong pedagogic focus in the Netherlands on developing students’ intercultural competence. The Dutch studies also stand out, however, for not addressing the role that the L1 can play in CLIL pedagogy. Furthermore, a main finding is that both the Dutch and the international studies reviewed provide little insight into aspects of CLIL pedagogy related to subject-specific culture and into ways in which content and language are integrated.

This small-scale observational study explores how Dutch bilingual education history teachers (BHTs) focus on the L2 component in their CLIL-lessons. We observed and rated eight BHTs on five language teaching categories. Results show that Dutch BHTs focus more strongly on using the L2 to teach subject content and that they tend to be less engaged in teaching specific second language topics, such as focus on form or language learning strategies. Further results and suggestions for improving the BHTs’ L2 focus are discussed together with a plea for a CLIL definition that is more in line with the everyday reality of the CLIL classroom.

In bilingual streams in the Netherlands, school subjects are taught in an additional language so that pupils learn both subject content and the target language by using language meaningfully. Teachers of English in bilingual streams (TEBs) are often expected to collaborate with subject teacher colleagues (STs). In addition, they teach separate language lessons. This provides TEBs with specific challenges. This article reports on a focus group (FG) study exploring the extent to which the ideals of stakeholders in bilingual schools in the Netherlands reflect the literature on this topic, using a frame of reference developed for this purpose (Dale, Oostdam, & Verspoor, 2017). Five FGs were held with TEBs and STs from Dutch schools in the network for bilingual education and with members of the network’s quality assurance panels. Each FG consisted of between three and six participants with a similar role in bilingual education; audit panel chairpersons, audit panel secretaries and STs and TEBs from different schools. Participants were asked to discuss what an ideal English teacher would do in English lessons and in cooperation with subject colleagues. Data consists of five transcripts of the FG discussions. On the basis of inductive and deductive analyses (using MaxQDA), the ideals of stakeholders are positioned in the framework to explore to what extent different types of stakeholders have complementary or conflicting views. The findings suggest that stakeholders need to develop more shared understandings and a shared language to allow TEBs to realise their ambitions.

The effect of bilingual education (BE) on the attitude towards learning English of pupils in the first three years of pre-vocational secondary education in the Netherlands (n = 488) was investigated. Contrary to several other BE/CLIL studies, in the present study pupils choosing for a bilingual stream are not preselected based on their attitude or motivation. Attitude was measured using the Model of Planned Behavior (MPB). The best-fitting attitude model was one in which the perceived importance of learning English was a direct predictor of the Intention to make an effort, and not mediated by Affect. At the start of BE in year 1 (age 12), attitudinal differences between bilingual and mainstream pupils were non-significant, but after one or more years of a bilingual program, BE pupils scored significantly higher on four of the five MPB attitudinal constructs. BE appears to positively influence the attitude towards learning English of junior vocational students.

In the present paper, we compare L2 English influence on French third language acquisition (L3A) in first-year and third-year bilingual stream secondary school students and in third-year mainstream secondary school students by means of a gap-filling task. We found that the influence of L2 English on French L3A increases from first- to third-year bilingual students, which is not the case in the mainstream group. This raises the question if L2 influence on L3A in bilingual education is the result of the increased L2 exposure or of a higher L2 proficiency, factors that both have been claimed to play a role in L3A-research (Hammarberg, 2001; Tremblay, 2006; Jaensch, 2009). The results of this study show that there is no individual correlation between L2 English proficiency and influence of English in L3 French learning. Therefore, we suggest that it is L2 exposure rather than L2 proficiency that leads to more influence of the L2 in L3 French.

Within the Netherlands, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in foreign language teaching can be considered a sibling of ‘Language Oriented Content Teaching’ (LOCT), a pedagogy in mainstream classes with second language learners of Dutch, where Dutch is used as language of instruction. This article characterizes two decades of research on LOCT through Dutch in multilingual schools and discusses its relevance for CLIL development. A distinctive feature is the discourse coalition between subject and language researchers, teacher educators, curriculum development staff and others. Their cooperation furthered the identification of disciplinary literacies and subject specific language pedagogies which can be seen as a renewed conceptualization of content obligatory language (Snow, Met, & Genesee, 1989). LOCT work in the Dutch context shows how content obligatory language that is relevant and feasible can be identified and included in content teachers’ pedagogies, findings that might be useful for the further development of CLIL.

The contribution at hand provides a discussion of the six articles in this special issue on bilingual education and CLIL. It does so against the background of recent conceptual and empirical insights and the author’s perspective as an “outsider from the inside”, i.e. as a visitor to Dutch CLIL schools, a CLIL researcher and part-time teacher at a German CLIL school. The studies and resulting suggestions presented in this volume mark the way forward to a more efficient and effective CLIL practice in the Netherlands and beyond. At the same time, it becomes clear that there are still many open questions and issues to be looked into as CLIL is an intricate and challenging and endeavour for teachers, students, researchers and educational policy alike.

This paper sketches the historic relationship between practice and academic interest in Dutch bilingual education, from the perspective of policy-makers and practitioners. It highlights the recent developments in the field and offers suggestions for future research that might support its further development.