Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has become one of the most important approaches in foreign language teaching and learning. What began as a European response to the need to promote multilingualism in its citizens, this approach has resulted in a transnational and transcontinental network of multiple strands, faces and possibilities.
In this monograph, published by the prestigious Peter Lang publishing house and featuring an exceptional foreword writer, María Luisa Pérez Cañado, the authors, Esther Nieto Moreno de Diezmas and Magdalena Custodio Espinar, successfully undertake the byzantine task of addressing the past, present and future of CLIL from multiple perspectives in an efficient and concise manner, in three clearly differentiated sections. Critical and cross-sectional analysis, historical review, and profound reflections on the virtues and possibilities of this educational approach meet in this carefully crafted work. In the first section, chapter one offers an exhaustive review of the origins and current situation of the different approaches to bilingual education around the world, from the initial studies in Canada and the United States, to the European Union, where the term “CLIL” was coined, also considering its adoption in other international contexts. Chapter two offers an in-depth reflection on the current state of CLIL, highlighting the versatile and flexible nature of the approach and analysing the various ramifications that have emerged and will continue to emerge in its implementation and development. Similarly, concerns and objectives beyond language learning, such as attention to diversity or its function as an ecological phenomenon, are also encompassed in this chapter.
The second section defends the effectiveness of CLIL in foreign language learning, content acquisition and mother tongue development. Chapter three provides an exhaustive review of quantitative studies on CLIL effectiveness in language learning, exploring the linguistic competences and skills on which CLIL has had a more favourable impact compared to others that might be less affected. Furthermore, comments and observations related to the solidity of the studies carried out and various controversial aspects about the implementation and research on CLIL are likewise offered. Next, chapter four lists and analyses the most pertinent studies on the acquisition of content in CLIL environments, which dissipate any concern about an adequate assimilation of the subjects. The second section ends with chapter five, in which we find informed answers, supported by quantitative studies, to concerns related to the development of the mother tongue in CLIL. The transfer of skills between languages and the cognitive capacities resulting from the double processing of the bilingual mind means that CLIL not only does not harm the acquisition of the mother tongue, but may even provide beneficial effects, especially in the long term.
The third and final section begins with chapter six, which delves into the importance of preservice CLIL teacher training. Firstly, the different actions carried out by European universities in this regard, within the framework of the Bologna Process, are considered. Next, the increasing offer of postgraduate CLIL teacher training is presented. The chapter concludes with a successful dissertation on the challenges existing in preservice CLIL teacher training and the need to implement multivariate analyses. Finally, chapter seven expands on what was stated in the previous chapter, underlining the importance of inservice CLIL teacher training. Far from considering the heterogeneity of teaching profiles a problem, it is suggested that it contributes to the creation of an interesting scenario for the exchange of ideas and arguments on the matter.
In short, this rigorous monograph offers the perfect balance among description, analysis based on empirical evidence, critical reflection and scientific communication in the field of CLIL. It not only includes the most up-to-date and in-depth literature review on the subject, but also interesting contributions on the ramifications of bilingual and multilingual teaching methodology and its future possibilities in very different aspects. This work is, therefore, the perfect reference manual on CLIL, both for research and teaching professionals as well as for students, families and other stakeholders.
Lucas Baeyens Morata