English achievement and student motivation in CLIL and EFL settings

Abstract

Motivation is a complex psychological construct regarded as one of the determinant factors in successful foreign language learning, which is why it regularly comes to the fore when trying to explain individual differences among language learners. In fact, one of the main objectives of many foreign language teachers in classrooms the world over is to increase student motivation, so that pupils may acquire a good command of English, the current main lingua franca. While many studies have been devoted to the role played by different orientations in this process, this paper focuses on the effect of the approach used in the foreign language classroom. Thus, attention is paid to the relationship between motivation and the language proficiency attained through two different approaches: Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL), among 191 secondary school students. The results confirm the benefits of CLIL from both a motivational and a language competence perspective.

Keywords:

• CLIL
• EFL
• language competence
• motivation

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Grant FFI2009-10264 awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and the Grant IT311-10 awarded by the Department of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government.

Notes

1. Lasagabaster and Sierra (2010) point out that only 5% of first-year English Studies students at the University of the Basque Country watch TV programmes or films in the English original version (and this despite having chosen to study this particular degree). In the case of the participants in the present study, their exposure to English outside school (through music, the Internet or game consoles) was not controlled, but, bearing in mind the aforementioned scarce contact of English Studies undergraduates, it seems reasonable to conclude that secondary education students’ exposure to the foreign language is rather scant.