Investigating Content and Language Integrated Learning

Insights from Swedish High Schools

Liss Kerstin Sylvén

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781788922432
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Educational Policy

This book provides a rich and unique longitudinal account of content and language integrated learning (CLIL). The chapters report on the findings from a large-scale, three-year research project undertaken at senior high school level in Sweden. The ecological perspective, with quantitative and qualitative methods, gives voice to both learners and teachers, as well as being an excellent critical example of how such longitudinal research might be carried out. Through emic and etic approaches, the book provides insights into language learning outcomes, both with regard to the target language English and the majority language Swedish; learner motivation among CLIL and non-CLIL students; effects of extramural exposure to English; issues in relation to assessment in CLIL and much more. As a whole, the book offers an unprecedented overview of learner outcomes and detailed insights into the comparison of CLIL and non-CLIL education. While it is embedded in the Swedish context, the nature of this study means that it has strong implications on an international basis.

Part 1

The Context

Introduction to the Volume and to Part 1: The Context

This is a book about content and language integrated learning, CLIL, in the Swedish context. More specifically, it is about the large-scale, longitudinal research project Content and Language Integration in Swedish Schools, CLISS, in which various aspects and dimensions of CLIL in Sweden were investigated. In the following chapters, our findings and insights regarding such CLIL concerns as language learning outcomes and motivation are reported; however, other less frequently focused upon topics, such as assessment and participating students’ thoughts in relation to CLIL, are also covered. The volume in its entirety comprises five parts, each devoted to an overarching theme with individual chapters focusing on different aspects of that theme. By way of introduction, the first part covers the context of the project. The second addresses assessment and motivation in relation to CLIL. In the third part, various aspects of students’ proficiency and progress in as well as contact with English are investigated; in the following part, similar perspectives in relation to Swedish are covered. Finally, Part 5 focuses on the views and experiences of students and teachers.

In order for our results and findings to make sense, however, an understanding of the overall setting in which the research has been conducted is fundamental. In this introductory part, therefore, the aim is to give the reader some insight into the general context as well as the layout and design of the CLISS project itself. It contains three chapters. In the first chapter, written by Liss Kerstin Sylvén, the Swedish educational system is presented, followed by an outline of the CLISS project, its aims and methods. In Chapter 2, BethAnne Paulsrud offers an overview of the types and extent of CLIL in present-day Sweden. Part 1 concludes with Chapter 3, by Britt-Marie Apelgren, in which background facts about the students involved in the CLISS project are addressed.

1CLIL, CLISS and the Swedish Context: An Overview

Liss Kerstin Sylvén

1 Introduction

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) offers an immersive second or foreign language (L2/FL) context, using the L2/FL as the medium of instruction in one or several non-language subjects, while also studying the L2/FL as a subject in its own right. The acronym CLIL was introduced in the late 1990s (Nikula, 1997) as a distinctly European version of L2 teaching and learning, based on the Canadian immersion method (Swain & Lapkin, 1981), even though the use of a language other than the students’ first language (L1) to convey content instruction had been implemented in schools around Europe long before then (Sylvén, 2013). CLIL has been widely studied in Europe, Asia and Latin America during the last decade (Dalton-Puffer, 2011; Li, 2002; Lim & Low, 2009; Lorenzo et al., 2005; Maljers et al., 2007; Tsui & Tollefson, 2007). Today, CLIL is not limited to the European context, but is becoming increasingly popular in other regions such as Australia, New Zealand, Asia and South America (Banegas, 2011; Cross, 2016; Lin & Man, 2010; Smala, 2012).

This volume focuses on CLIL, and in particular CLIL in Swedish schools investigated in the large-scale longitudinal research project Content and Language Integration in Swedish Schools (CLISS). In the Swedish context, the setting of the work presented here, a typical example of CLIL would be a Swedish teacher using L2/FL English to teach history to Swedish students in a Swedish school following the Swedish curriculum.

This introductory chapter starts with a summary description of the Swedish education system, followed by an account of the role of English in this context. After that, CLIL is presented along with our understanding of the term, and an overview of previous research, with a particular focus on the Swedish context, is provided. The chapter concludes with a description of the CLISS project and a brief introduction to the overall structure and plan of the volume.

2 The Swedish Education System

Sweden is a country with approximately 10 million inhabitants. While Swedish is the major official language, spoken by approximately 80% of the population (Parkvall, 2016), there are five officially recognized minority languages: Finnish, Meänkieli (i.e. Tornedal Finnish), Sami, Romani Chib and Yiddish. In addition, a large number of other languages are represented, such as Arabic (spoken by some 155,000), Kurdish (84,000) and Polish (76,000). Since the mid-1960s, the influx of immigrants has been substantial, and approximately 16% of the population are of non-Swedish background (https://www.migrationsinfo.se/migration/sverige/).

In Sweden, 5–5½ years of study at university are required in order to qualify as a teacher at senior high school level. In addition to the educational core (pedagogy and didactics) and practice periods in schools, two subjects are studied. All in all, approximately 76% of all senior high school teachers are appropriately qualified, leaving some 24% without the required level of education (Swedish National Agency for Education, 1). To date, no CLIL teacher education is available at pre-service level, and only a handful of in-service courses are offered.

School is mandatory from the age of seven in Sweden. The present-day reality, however, is that most children attend preschool starting at the age of one. In 2015, 83% of all one- to five-year-olds (and 94% of the four- and five-year-olds) in Sweden attended preschool (Skolverket, 2016). At the age of six, all children are offered the opportunity to atten...