The Effect of Clil on L3 Students'Oral Production and Comprehension in a Primary School Setting: A Comparison Between Clil and EFL Programmes

Abstract

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programmes have been adopted as the main educational approach in multilingual settings, as is the case of the Valencian Community (Spain). In fact, so as to measure the effectiveness of this approach, considerable research has been conducted comparing the outcomes of CLIL with more traditional non-CLIL contexts (Agustín-Llach, 2016; Agustín-Llach, 2017; Arribas, 2016; Basterrechea & García-Mayo, 2014; Binterová, Petrášková & Komínková, 2014). However, very little is known about the effect of CLIL on the oral production and comprehension of young L3 language learners. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to compare and analyse L3 students‟ oral production and comprehension in CLIL and EFL settings; and second, to determine the effect of CLIL on L3 students‟ oral production and comprehension. In order to accomplish the aim, different CLIL science and EFL lessons in a primary school setting have been observed and recorded. Results have demonstrated that CLIL programmes in primary education benefit the students‟ oral production as they foster the learning and practice of technical language and specific vocabulary related to the content subject, the use of complex grammatical structures, and students‟ oral fluency, confidence and pronunciation. Besides, we have found that the EFL programme offers better results in grammar use, everyday language, accuracy and oral comprehension. Finally, the adoption of a multilingual approach is proposed in order to promote multilingual education.