The potential of CLIL for intercultural development: a case study of Andalusian bilingual schools

Abstract

The most outstanding overhaul in educational policies in Spanish monolingual communities has been the widespread implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programmes. This article delves into the supposedly indissoluble relationship between CLIL and intercultural communicative competence. Using as a basis a case study on CLIL primary and secondary school teachers' and students' perceptions, this study questions whether bilingual programmes in Andalusia provide learners with the necessary competences to cope efficiently with otherness. Findings show that CLIL presents an apparent potential for the development of crucial intercultural attitudes, the vital development of critical cultural awareness, and, finally, action-taking as a sophisticated outcome of both assessments.

Los cambios más importantes en política educativa de las comunidades autónomas españolas monolingües ha sido la implantación paulatina de los programas de Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lengua Extranjera (AICLE). Este artículo examina la relación entre AICLE y la competencia intercultural. Partiendo de un estudio de casos sobre las percepciones del alumnado y del profesorado AICLE de Primaria y Secundaria en Andalucía el artículo cuestiona si dichos programas dotan al alumnado de la competencia intercultural necesaria. Los datos demuestran que AICLE tiene un gran potencial para el desarrollo de actitudes interculturales claves, de la conciencia cultural crítica y, finalmente, de la competencia de orientación para la acción, una competencia compleja que es fruto de ambas.

Keywords:

• foreign language education
• intercultural awareness
• intercultural learning
• language policy
• intercultural communication

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to express her sincerest gratitude to the Educational Authorities in the Delegación de Educación de Jaén and to the Primary Schools ‘Almadén’, ‘San José de Calasanz’ and the Secondary School ‘Sierra Mágina’, to their headmasters, the language assistants, the linguistic and non-linguistic area teachers and the learners for their willingness to participate in this study and for sharing their insightful views on the CLIL programme with her.

Notes

1. Before proceeding to the case study of the primary and secondary schools, the research tool, the semi-structured interview, was piloted in a different but similar school. For the sake of validity and reliability, the bilingual French–Spanish primary school ‘Almadén’, located in the city of Jaén and which had joined the programme immediately after the publication of The Plan, was chosen. The significant data obtained were not discarded.