cohesion - European Centre for Modern Languages

comparison/contrast essays can serve as a testing method for the teacher to assess
students’ progress in content knowledge.
Research questions
Within of theoretical framework outlined above, the following research questions were
posed.
1. Is it possible for students who are taught using content and language integrated
approach to achieve higher results in tests on Academic Reading, Academic
Writing and Use of English tests than those attending an English as a foreign
language course?
2. Will the experimental (CLIL) groups make comparable progress in developing
language competence despite the fact that they have been studying different
content components?
Method
Participants and setting
Our research was conducted at the Academy of Technology and Humanities in
Bielsko-Biala during the 2006/2007 academic year. The participants (69 second-year
undergraduate students of International Relations) were members of two types of
groups with very different course programmmes:
34 students of the experimental groups (CLIL) studying social studies in English
(group A: “History of European Integration”, group B: “British Civilisation”);
35 students of the control groups (traditional language classes) learning English as
a foreign language.
The participants from both the experimental and the control group were comparable in
terms of age and educational background: the students were 21 and 22-year-olds, they
mostly came from one county and attended the same secondary schools in the local
area. The time exposure variable regarding classes taught through English for all the
groups was identical: 90 minutes per week during two semesters (60 hours in total for
the whole course).
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