The role of content and language in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) at university: Challenges and implications for ESP

By Elisabet Arnó-Macià, Guzman Mancho-Barés. 2015

165 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract In a context characterized by the increasing presence of CLIL programs in universities with a tradition of ESP courses, we analyze the case of a university in Catalonia (Spain) with regard to the position of CLIL and ESP. As CLIL programs are promoted to improve students' language proficiency in English, we explore the importance of language learning in these programs and the implications derived for ESP. Data were obtained from institutional documentation, class observation, and lecturer and student views on CLIL expressed in focus groups and a questionnaire. Findings show imprecise guidelines for CLIL implementation. Although we can observe an institutional shift from ESP to CLIL, the latter courses do not generally include language support. Lecturer and student perspectives provide useful insights for action that can be taken by ESP course designers to adapt courses to make them more relevant to students' discipline-related needs. Faced with these findings, we propose engaging in collaboration with content lecturers to develop graduates' proficiency in English. This collaboration can take place both through the integration of language in content courses and through the integration of content in ESP courses to make them more relevant to disciplines' communicative needs.

Subfields: Literature and Literary Theory

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e3d94ea95d4668103f5d26af771f96fd176c8b40

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Literature and Literary Theory

Citations in the corpus

The Routledge Handbook of English for Academic Purposes (2016, background): “Although it is widely acknowledged that collaboration is needed between content and EAP teachers (Arnó-Macià and Mancho-Barés, 2015), such collaboration has the potential to cause serious problems when disciplinary differences in ideas about what counts as knowledge surface (see Chapter 2 of this ha”
Exploring the impact of English-medium instruction on university student academic achievement: The case of accounting (2016, background): “…of Southern Europe, the spread of EMI instruction may not be as extended as in Central and Northern Europe (see Wächter & Maiworm, 2014) possibly as a result of the lower levels of English proficiency among university students, lecturers and management in general (Arnó-Macià & Mancho-Barés, 2015).”
Implementing English-medium instruction (EMI) in China: teachers’ practices and perceptions, and students’ learning motivation and needs* (2019, background): “A recent study on the implementation of CLIL in Spain (Arnó-Macià and Mancho-Barés 2015) reveals very few language focus episodes caused by linguistic limitations or communication breakdowns. On the contrary, in an investigation of EMI by New Zealand teachers with a multilingual student cohort, Bast”