An empirical study on the acquisition of content in a CLIL-based chemistry course: A preliminary report
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5294/laclil.2012.5.1.2Keywords:
AICLE, química, enseñanza, aprendizaje de una segunda lengua, pedagogía, efectividad.Abstract
This article presents the findings of an empirical study on the acquisition of content in a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) course conducted by the author at a middle school in Radom, Poland. The research involved a group of Polish students who learn chemistry through English as part of their school curriculum. The results of the research support an understanding that using a foreign language as a means of teaching non-linguistic subjects does not impair content acquisition—and may actually improve overall learning processes. The research raises questions about the relationship between a foreign language and conceptual knowledge, as well as about the mechanisms that may compensate for the additional difficulties students may encounter while learning content (such as chemistry) through a foreign language. By way of introduction, the article offers an overview of the literature on the effectiveness of CLIL teaching. This theoretical background leads to the description of the experiment, followed by an analysis of its results. The paper ends with conclusions and some final thoughts relating to the experiment.
Downloads
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This Journal and its articles are published under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 DEED Attribution 4.0 International license. You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The license cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the terms of the license.