Discourse in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Classrooms (Language Learning & Language Teachning)

The term Content-and-Language-Integrated-Learning (CLIL) refers to educational settings where a language other than the students’ mother tongue is used as medium of instruction. While in principle, of course, any second or foreign language can become the object of CLIL, in this study, as well as in educational reality, English is the language which dominates the scene, be it as a foreign language in Europe and many parts of Asia, or as a second language in North America but also parts of Africa and Asia. A whole gamut of terms are in use internationally and nationally (e.g. Content-Based-Instruction (CBI), Bilingual Teaching, Dual Language Programs, English Across the Curriculum, Bilingualer Sachfachunterricht (BiLi), Englisch als Arbeitssprache EAA, and many more).1 All have their particular historical and contextual roots and accompanying slightly different philosophical implications. However, the term Content-and-Language-Integrated-Learning (CLIL) is now well established in the European discourse on the matter and will therefore be used throughout this study.