Table 2.2.1 Three models of CLIL. Source: Bentley (2010).
Soft CLIL
Type of CLIL Language – led
Time
Context
45’ per week Some curricular topics are taught during a language course.
Subject-led
15 hours per Schools choose parts of the subject syllabus term
Hard CLIL
which they teach in the target language.
Subject-led
About 50% About half of the curriculum is taught in the
(partial
of
immersion)
curriculum
the target language. The content can reflect what is taught in the L1 curriculum or can be new content
Time column in this table is just a reference and schools and autonomous regions in Spain differentiate among them in this aspect. In Madrid, 30% of the curriculum (first foreign language courses included) suffice to be a bilingual school. Only a few of schools with a BEP reach half of the time in CLIL. Despite different models can be found in schools, generally speaking Content and Language Integrated Learning is a bi-focal approach to education in which a second language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language. This is not a new form of language teaching and learning, neither other way of content teaching. Rather, CLIL is a fusion of subject and language didactics, sharing elements of different practices: language immersion, bilingual education, contentbased language teaching, teaching of English as a second language, etc. CLIL is content-based learning, teaching curricular subjects through a foreign language: a SL is used to learn and communicate at the same time, the curricular contents determine the type of language to be used without grading it for the pupils; so language is determined by the subject, not the other way round. It is not a language-led teaching that imports texts from other subjects to highlight language dimensions of it. It is rather a subject-led teaching and learning process in which explicit language teaching may not play any role in the making. By doing so, content and language learning outcomes are realized in classroom. Curricular content is learnt, and incidental learning of language fulfilled. The concept is applied successfully in primary, secondary and tertiary education as well as across different types of schools. Some of the basic assumptions of CLIL in language learning is the increase in quantity of exposure to the SL and quality of its use. As CLIL implies teaching content subjects, the total amount of time using a SL is raised up. But not only we get more hours of teaching a SL but a new way of doing it, as use of the SL occurs in a very unnoticed, natural way for pupils, because their attention is focused on content rather than language. This is only the first aspect of quality of exposure. CLIL demands 8
