On a continuum between content and language teaching in CBI/CLIL-oriented settings

Abstract

The debate on integrating content and language learning/teaching, which has been going on for more than fifty years now, has taken many routes worldwide with the view to finding efficient ways of counterbalancing content and language aspects of instruction in a wide spectrum of L2 and FL contexts. As a consequence of a high primary evaluation of immersion programmes introduced in Canada in the 1960s, in which English and French were taught as a second language through school subjects, many theoreticians and practitioners felt motivated to take an opportunity to implement similar practices in their own educational environments. Special content and language-oriented courses proved to be in need for such addressees as ethnically and linguistically diverse L2 immigrant students aiming to acquire language proficiency of L1 peers so as to prepare for their tertiary education (e.g. in the USA, Canada, Australia), parents aspiring to enrich their children L2 fluency by studying selected content subjects in the target language (e.g. in India, China and European countries), or members of the European Union communities aiming to develop multilingual and multicultural education in Europe.