Authors: Manisha Kumari and Dr. Mitanjali Sahoo
Journal: Pedagogy of Learning
Volume: 8; Issue: 2
ISSN: 2395-7344
Pages: 1-8
Publication Date: 30 April 2022
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) or Content Integrated Language Instruction (CILI) is an integrated pedagogical approach which gives attention to both content and language learning. Like every pedagogical approach, this approach too has its share of challenges in practical application and best practices. This research paper aims to identify the challenges of implementing Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) or Content Integrated Language Instruction (CILI) in the Indian context through qualitative study. 64 learners of grade VIII of a government school of West Bengal and 12 teachers were selected purposefully for the study. Through classroom observation, informal conversation and interview, it was found out that there were many challenges in its ideal implementation. But through proper training and awareness, these challenges can be easily overcome because CLIL is highly flexible in nature and can be adapted to use in any kind of educational system.
CLIL implementation, Indian context, challenges, large classroom size.
Content and Language Integrated Learning or Content Integrated Language Instruction is a dual focused language teaching approach. It is integrative in nature where both language and content are taught through collaborative activities. This pedagogical approach is mainly used for teaching second, foreign or any other language. This approach is an umbrella term which covers more than a dozen of educational approaches like Content based language Instructions, bilingual education, Immersion Program and Content Integrated Language Instruction etc. (Mehisto, Marsh and Frigols, 2010). Pablo and Gandara (2020) state that the term Content and Language Integrated Learning is often used to refer to various language teaching which are based on the concept or idea of Content Based Instruction (CBI) or Content Integrated Language Instruction.In this research paper the terms Content Integrated Language Instruction (CILI) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) are used interchangeably. The genesis or origin of CLIL practice is interestingly quite old though it was in the year 1994 when this expression was thought of in Europe (Mehisto et al., 2008). This innovative educational approach was adopted by the Europeans Union in order to create bilingual and multilingual citizens who would contribute to the ever-changing global economic system and improve the relations and cooperation among European nations (Griffiths, 2019). When it comes to defining CLIL, there are not one but many scholarly definitions. Like Coyle, Hood and Marsh (2010), define it as an integrated educational approach where an additional language is used for teaching, learning of both content and language. Both the content and language are interwoven. The CLIL approach is successfully being implemented in European, American and even Asian countries. Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan and Taiwan are enthusiastically implementing this dual focused educational approach and have contributed to research in this area. Hu (2021), talks about the interest of Chinese academician in the CLIL implementation and research. Darvin, Lo, & Lin (2020), put forth that the CLIL approach has successfully spread its wings in Asia, Latin America and other countries where English is a language widely spoken and used in socio-economic context. But unlike other South Asian countries where CLIL is being implemented in classrooms and is a focus of research in the area of language teaching and learning, its implementation and research in the Indian context is very limited. Very few research literature (like Anuradha & Viswanathan, 2019; Justine &Ramganesh, 2013; Sunil, 2018; Kothuri, 2019; Lal & George, 2021) regarding the theory and practice of CLIL is available in the Indian context. All these researchers have talked about the viability and scope of CLIL in Indian classrooms. Sunil (2018), experimented CLIL on speaking skill of secondary students and found out that it is highly beneficial. Lal & George (2021) have discussed about the scope of CLIL in India and have found that it can be implemented here easily by following the basic principles. CLIL@India, a three years project, was launched in the year 2016. Four universities from India and three from Europe co-funded by Erasmus+programme of the European Union came together to study the effect of CLIL in the Indian context. The study concluded in the year 2019. The main objective of the study was to boost and preserve the multilingual nature of India. However, there is no empirical data available regarding the benefits of this project. Chaudhary (2017), points out in her research that there is a lack of awareness regarding the concept and implementation of CLIL among school teachers in the state of West Bengal. Therefore, it is quite evident that CLIL as a language teaching approach is still unexplored both in terms of practice and implementation. Though there is literature regarding the scope of implementation of CLIL in India, but the real experiences of classroom implementation of CLIL remains unexplored in the Indian context. So, this research paper aims to explore and identify the challenges that teachers would face in the real classroom situation in India. The paper would also focus on finding the strategies that would help in overcoming the challenges. Research Questions This research paper poses the following research questions – 1. What are the challenges of CLIL implementation in the Indian classroom? 2. What are some of the strategies to overcome the challenges related to CLIL implementation?
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Kumari, M., & Sahoo, M. (2022). Challenges in implementation of content integrated language instruction at elementary school level. Pedagogy of Learning: International Refereed/Peer Reviewed Journal of Education, 8(2), 1-8. E-ISSN 2395-7344.