PROFILING EUROPEAN CLIL CLASSROOMS

LANTIX
Develop Plurilingual Interests and Attitudes
European countries differ considerably with respect to the ability of citizens to use languages
other than the mother tongue. This is a reflection of not only language policy but also
attitudes towards the relevance and importance of learning languages at the grassroots.
Language policies and political rhetoric may influence attitudes towards language
learning, but it is also increasingly grassroots opinion that is decisive. Such opinion is
often based on peoples’ perception of what is advantageous for young people and
their future needs.
A critical factor here relates to whether people believe that European working life
communication will be increasingly dominated by one single language.
There is a view that a dominant ‘lingua franca’ type language can be used, for example,
to start CLIL, but because the ‘the youngsters will pick it up anyway’, other languages
should be learnt using this approach.
Finally CLIL is viewed as positively influencing a young person’s ‘language learning
self-profile’, which can act as a catalyst for developing plurilingual attitudes.
Key CLIL Features
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There are different attitudes towards the value of being only partially competent in
a language. This focus often involves a learner being able to use different languages,
rather than achieving very high competence in one additional language through CLIL
If CLIL brings positive results in relation to one widely used additional language such
as English or French, then interest groups may be active in exploring possibilities
within a school for the introduction of CLIL in other languages
There is a difference between having plurilingual attitudes and plurilingual
competencies. A school can cultivate the attitudes through not only CLIL but also by
having ‘languages and communication’ centrally placed within the curriculum
Examples
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Special ‘language schools’ which offer extensive language-related programmes
Vocational and professional education curricula where learners need to learn
languages for specific purposes in different languages
Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire (William Butler
Yeats)
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