Is CLIL instruction beneficial in terms of general proficiency and specific areas of grammar?
ISSN: 2212-8433
Year of publication: 2015
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Pages: 51-76
Type: Article
More publications in: Journal of immersion and content-based language education
Sustainable development goals
Abstract
Recent studies have highlighted the benefits of CLIL instruction regarding general competence in the acquisition of second languages. However, it is not clear whether these benefits extend to specific areas of grammar. Here we compare the general proficiency and specific linguistic features of a group of learners of L3 English in a CLIL programme with two EFL groups: one matching the CLIL group in age and hours of exposure and a second group two grades ahead. The results confirm that the benefits of CLIL in general competence do not extend to the acquisition of specific linguistic features. In this respect, the best results were obtained by the older EFL learners suggesting that CLIL benefits do not extend to the acquisition of English verbal morphology.