Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education - Volume 11, Issue 2, 2023

This study is based on the comparison between two Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) contexts – in Madrid, Spain and in Hanoi, Vietnam – with a focus on teachers’ use of oral corrective feedback in classroom interaction at the primary school level. The model of corrective feedback (CF) developed by Lyster and Ranta (1997) and reproduced in Lyster and Mori (2006) was adapted for the analysis of teachers’ CF on errors of form and learners’ uptake. Participants of the study include three Spanish-native teachers in three bilingual schools in Madrid and four Vietnamese-native teachers in two bilingual schools in Hanoi, all at the primary school level. All classroom data was collected in CLIL natural-science classes in both settings. Results from the study showed that the overall CF patterns were very similar in both contexts with recasts as the most frequent CF type, followed by prompts and explicit correction. More specific differences were observed in the levels of uptake and repair following each type used by different teachers across the two contexts.

Despite the increasing interest in CLIL in Greece over the past decade, Greek CLIL research is largely absent from international review studies. This systematic review focuses on primary and secondary education, and examines peer-reviewed empirical research on CLIL implementation in Greece from 2006 to 2020. A total of 33 items are reviewed using qualitative Content Analysis. Organized according to commonalities shared by their foci, the reviewed items highlight three main research areas of CLIL implementation in Greece: (1) CLIL project evaluation, (2) CLIL students’ development, and (3) CLIL teachers. The reviewed studies suggest that CLIL implementation in Greece tends to be quantitatively examined, context specific, and very small in scale. The reviewed studies are largely outcome oriented and concerned with issues of efficacy. Contrary to project evaluation and learning outcomes, CLIL teachers in Greece have received significantly less attention from empirical research.

This study investigates 4 secondary school Turkish EFL teachers’ perceptions of their experiences in a new Soft-Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) context and explores whether these experiences led to the (re)construction of their identities. The data was collected through a focus group interview, netnography, and stimulated recalls and analyzed on the basis of inductive content analysis. According to the findings, role conflicts caused by lack of pedagogical knowledge on how to integrate content and language impeded a construction of an encompassing CLIL teacher identity. Therefore, ultimately, identity (re)construction was based on either content or language teacher identities. Adopting an interpretive paradigm, our study highlights the importance of investigating new CLIL teachers’ perceptions of their experiences in understanding their identity (re)constructions. It could thus offer implications for similar contexts, particularly by showing the importance of gathering teachers’ perceptions of experiences for CLIL teacher development.

The current article investigates the beliefs of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) subject and language teacher tandems in a situation where they worked in close contact to design and deliver a CLIL course. The aim was to discover their underlying beliefs concerning setting learning goals, developing academic language proficiency, using authentic materials and cooperative tasks, and managing assessment. The Interpretative Phenomenological Approach revealed both overlapping and idiosyncratic beliefs involving all of the focal aspects. Common beliefs included the dominance of subject learning goals over language goals, the need to develop academic language proficiency, the use of authentic materials and cooperative tasks as sources of subject knowledge and skills, as well as the need to involve appropriate assessment in the process. Differences included flexibility in the process of goal setting, the definition of academic language proficiency, the meaning of authentic learning materials and the repertoire of tools available for scaffolding learning and managing assessment.

Based on fieldwork and interviews, we explore five teachers’ views about their teaching of Swedish as a second language in an early immersion school in Finland (Larch) and a linguistically heterogeneous primary school in Sweden (Chestnut). Drawing from ecological perspectives, we aim to contribute new knowledge on how second language teachers express their goals, teacher experiences and expertise depending on language and education policy as discursive-material reality. We discuss how societal, discursive and material differences were entangled with the teachers’ discourses, for example, the fact that Swedish immersion at Larch enjoyed a higher social status than Swedish as a second language at Chestnut. Concomitantly, the teachers adhered to pedagogical principles and the value of students’ linguistic and cultural repertoires in similar ways. We specifically discuss teacher autonomy as entwined with prevailing discursive-material realities, including distinct language education policies.