CLIL research in Europe: past, present, and future

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive, updated, and critical approximation to the sizeable literature which has been produced on the increasingly acknowledged European approach to bilingual education: content and language integrated learning (CLIL). It begins by tracing the origins of CLIL, framing it against the backdrop of its predecessors: North American immersion and bilingual education programs, and European international schools. It then provides a synthesis of the research which has been conducted on our continent into the effects of CLIL programs. It transpires from this review that, while at first blush it might seem that outcome-oriented investigations into CLIL effects abound throughout our continent, there is still a well-documented paucity of research in this area. The article concludes by identifying future research agendas to continue mapping the CLIL terrain. The ultimate aim of this three-pronged examination of the past, present, and future of CLIL is to depart from the lessons learned from recent research and to signpost ways forward in order to guarantee a success-prone implementation of this timely solution to European plurilingual education.

Keywords:

• content and language integrated learning
• research
• quantitative
• qualitative
• Europe

Notes

1. Given the amply documented predominance of English as a CLIL language (cf. Dalton-Puffer, Nikula, and Smit 2010a; Hüttner and Rider-Bünemann 2010; Madrid and Hughes 2011a; Sierra, Gallardo del Puerto, and Ruiz de Zarobe 2011) and the preference for this language on the research scene (to the extent that Dalton-Puffer, Nikula, and Smit 2010b speak of CEIL – Content and English Integrated Learning), this article will focus on studies in which English is the CLIL L2 or L3.

2. The grouping of European countries is a personal one, based both on geographical proximity and on the affinity of the research conducted into the effects of CLIL.