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This article presents a study carried out in the subject of Didactics of English for Very Young Learners, taught in English to Spanish-speaking students at the School of Education of the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. Three comparable classes were exposed to different teaching and assessment conditions. Two of them were the research groups, learning under a competence-based CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) paradigm, while the control group did so under a content-based EMI (English-Medium Instruction) model. The participants (n = 76) were asked to answer two questionnaires, which collected their expectations (pre-questionnaire) and final perceptions (post-questionnaire) in regard to their levels of anxiety towards studying in English. The qualitative and quantitative comparison of their answers facilitated results that allowed to discuss and conclude the beneficial effect of CLIL as a competence-based coping strategy to diminish foreign language anxiety among student teachers who face the challenge of learning in a bilingual classroom setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the effects of the type of instruction (Content and language integrated learning, CLIL, vs. non-CLIL) and gender upon foreign language motivation in Primary Education learners in northern Spain. A total of 252 students with ages ranging from 9–12 completed a questionnaire measuring different motivation components. Results showed that CLIL students seem to manifest greater parental support and be more critical with their image as foreign language learners. Additionally, gender turned out to be a more influential factor in non-CLIL learning settings, since non-CLIL males obtained worse results than their female counterparts in overall motivation and intrinsic motivation. This gender effect was not observed in CLIL classrooms, which potentially makes this learning approach a more egalitarian educational setting for both genders in terms of foreign language motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In classroom settings, laughter and smiles are resources for action that are available to both teachers and students. Recent interactional studies have documented how students use these resources to deal with trouble of various kind, but less is known about the sequential and activity contexts of teachers' laughter-relevant practices, as well as their pedagogical functions. We use multimodal conversation analysis (CA) to investigate the interactional unfolding and pedagogical orientations of teacher smiles during instructional IRE (initiation-response-evaluation) sequences in a corpus of 37 bilingual lessons collected in schools in Finland and Spain. In analysing the focal smiles, we pay attention to their temporal relationships to students' preceding and subsequent facial expressions and the unfolding of on-going talk. We argue that smiling can index teachers' affiliative and pedagogical responsiveness to troubles and competences implied by prior student actions. The analysis of selected data fragments shows how smiling is part of multimodal action packages through which teachers manage momentary action disalignments and restore a sense of students as competent actors. The findings contribute towards recent CA research on the embodied and interactional nature of teaching and learning by showing some ways in which smiling is a situated practice used for professional purposes. • We investigate pedagogical work done by teacher smiles in bilingual classrooms. • Smiles are used to manage action disalignments and to frame students as competent actors. • Smiling is a way to show pedagogical responsiveness to student-displayed trouble. • In this way, smiling is a situated and embodied professional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bilingual turn required education systems to undergo structural changes in order to adapt to the new situations. These adjustments included better language training for teachers, the adoption of alternative teaching methods, the increased use of ICT and self-designed materials, the curricular integration of content and language and the creation of competence-based assessment guidelines. In order to evaluate the depth of this transformation and the actual effect that it had on students and schools, a sustained observation covering a sufficiently wide timespan needed to be performed. Two decades after the inception of bilingual education in Andalusia—Southern Spain—, this paper will describe the configuration of the Bilingual Program as perceived by the change agents: the school teachers. L1 Spanish teachers, L2 teachers and content teachers adopted different practices and therefore hold slightly divergent opinions. Nevertheless, there exists a consensus on the general benefits of CLIL bilingual education. Drawing from their perceptions, which will be presented for each of the above-mentioned aspects, this paper will counter the most recurrent criticisms that CLIL education meets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates students' performance in content-subjects in the framework of CLIL programmes in Spain. So far, CLIL research has focused primarily on language attainment in the L2 and the L1, but students' achievements as regards content-subjects have been largely ignored. Competence in Science in the L1 is analysed by comparing pupils enrolled in mainstream schools with students in the so-called 'bilingual streams' offering CLIL-based approaches. The main objective is to assess if students learning Science through the L2 (English) outperform their counterparts studying in the L1 (Spanish) as regards content acquisition. The paper analyses a sample of 709 6th grade Primary Education students enrolled in public schools in the Principality of Asturias (Spain). A test to assess students' knowledge in Science and a context questionnaire (measuring participants' socio-economic status) were designed. The main finding is that students learning contents in their L1 perform slightly better than those studying Science through the L2. Furthermore, participants with lower socio-economic status obtain lower scores than those coming from more privileged backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Content and language integrated learning is an evidenced approach focused on teaching content in which the language is learnt implicitly, facilitating internationalization. The purpose of this study was to determine nursing student satisfaction with a clinical skills course taught in English in a non-English speaking country. It includes the exploration of variables, barriers, benefits, and competence acquisition as perceived by the students. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-reported questionnaire administered to students who had completed the Clinical Skills course during the 2016/17 and 2017/18 academic years (n = 159). The students did not perceive the lessons in English as a barrier to acquisition of knowledge and clinical skills (mean 1.08; SD 1.64), and they were satisfied with the lessons received (mean 4.04; SD 1.65). Most students considered that receiving lessons in English adds value to their training process (mean 4.04; SD 2.35), and most agreed that it would benefit them in future (mean 4.48; SD 1.75). From the outcomes of our investigation we conclude that the content and language integrated learning approach should be maintained in future courses owing to the evidenced benefits, which may advance professional internationalization and the nursing competence development of students, leading to high student satisfaction. • Content and language integrated learning approach provides benefits in nursing students in a non-English speaking country. • Spanish nursing students were satisfied with the content and language integrated learning approach in this study. • The English language was not a barrier to the acquisition of knowledge or development of clinical skills. • The study results point to the value of continuing to implement content and language integrated learning approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes the findings of a corpus-based study investigating assessment for learning (AfL) and its relationship to motivation in CLIL contexts. Using a mixed methods approach, classroom recordings from bilingual primary schools in Madrid, Spain, were analyzed to identify motivational strategies used by teachers. The relationship between these strategies and the AfL techniques implemented by teachers was then examined. The findings show that the implementation of AfL coincided with an increase in frequency, length of time of use, and variety of teacher motivational strategies. This led to classes in which activities were supported by a more motivational discourse. A qualitative analysis of the corpus shows that the incorporation of AfL techniques coincided with several motivational strategies for language learning. The findings contribute to an understanding of how the use of AfL techniques may contribute to integrating motivational strategies in a more systematic way in the CLIL educational context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A number of studies on CLIL, particularly from Spain, which is familiar to this author, will be analysed to show that there are numerous anomalies not only in the research, but in the analysis, and doubts about the conclusions drawn. CLIL instruction is not always necessarily that beneficial, and there is every reason to believe some students may be prejudiced by CLIL, and that not only academic, but also institutional, interests may be taking precedence over some students’ interests in the state educational sector. Some research issues are covered in the detailed analysis of one study before a plea is made for ensuring that disinterested research is carried out into the overall effects of CLIL initiatives in state educational institutions and systems, so that the welfare of all state-school students is recognised and respected. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article discusses challenges involved in contrastive discourse analysis that emerged while carrying out a follow-up study into a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) program in Spain. Reversing the focus on English of much contrastive rhetoric work, the study investigates the effect of second-language-English on first-language-Spanish writing. The motivation for this focus and the choice of tools from Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) for genre and clause analysis are discussed. Reflecting on the difficulties involved in contrastive discourse analysis, in particular the challenges of comparing texts, it is suggested that contrastive work benefits from a more differentiating analytical method and a more dynamic conception of language. The implications of an influence from English are also considered, with the theses of hybridity and of homogeneity contributing to indicate a role for language awareness work in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents a study of written development in English as a foreign language produced in a content and language integrated learning (CLIL) environment. The texts analysed, from history classes, were collected annually over the four-year obligatory junior secondary education program from the same students (aged 12 to 16), in two state schools in Madrid, Spain. The ability to produce coherent texts and the appropriate management of the nominal group, or noun phrase, to create disciplinary registers are key skills for academic writing. With the purpose of identifying the linguistic resources used to create coherence and appropriate register in the CLIL students’ written texts, all the nominal groups in the corpus were analysed in terms of recoverability of the elements they referred to, further classifying the referential elements into different types. Finally, the structure of the nominal groups was analysed for pre- and post-modification. The results show development in the control of textual resources, as well as some increase in nominal group complexity, over the four years. The study suggests that CLIL settings, which focus primarily on the learning of content, provide suitable contexts in which to develop written discourse, since the students can draw on a solid knowledge base from which to create their text. Students need to be given the opportunity to construct scaffolded but longer and more autonomous texts in the required genres, an ability which is inextricably linked to academic success in the content area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article serves as the introduction to this special issue of Language Teaching Research on content-based language teaching (CBLT). The article first provides an illustrative overview of the myriad contexts in which CBLT has been implemented and then homes in on the five studies comprising the special issue, each conducted in a distinct instructional setting: two-way Spanish—English immersion in the USA, English-medium ‘nature and society’ lessons taught at a middle school in China, English-medium math and science classes in Malaysian high schools, English-medium history classes in high schools in Spain, and ‘sheltered instruction’ classes for English language learners in US schools. In spite of such divergent contexts, the five studies converge to underscore the pivotal role played by teachers in CBLT and the concomitant need for professional development to support them in meeting some of the challenges specific to CBLT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]