CLIL in languages other than English –
Successful transitions across educational stages

In this very first year, we have discovered the complexity of our project. The project aims to develop recommendations for implementing CLIL in Languages Other than English (LOTE) across educational stages (primary, secondary, tertiary), both in the language classroom and in other subjects. Furthermore, the project sees CLIL as a vehicle for promoting pluralistic approaches to language learning. The recommendations will be illustrated by practice examples from various contexts.

This complexity can be visualized as follows:

In this very first year, we have also discovered how innovative our project is. Our review of what has been achieved in previous CLIL projects and our study of the research literature in general has shown that the approach to build bridges across educational levels in CLIL LOTE breaks new ground. Furthermore, the connection between CLIL LOTE and pluralistic approaches to languages is hardly an established practice.

We have therefore decided to issue a questionnaire, based on Eurydice Reports from 2006 and 2017, in the beginning of 2021 in order to:

• to collect information about and challenges concerning CLIL in Languages Other than English in the ECML member states, and
• to establish a CLIL LOTE network / a collaboration with representatives from the ECML member states, who could help provide practice examples from different contexts and could either be invited to the project network meeting in 2021 or the project workshop in 2022.

In 2020, we have initiated a collaboration with associate partners in order to gain their perspectives on our work and furthermore, over the next two years, to collect scenarios and materials from different contexts.

Should you have expertise within the field of CLIL LOTE linked to transitions and/or pluralistic approaches, please contact us. We look forward to collaborating with you in this complex, innovative and highly important field!

Petra Daryai-Hansen, project coordinator

Visit the project website "CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions across educational stages" (available in English, French, and German): www.ecml.at/CLILLOTEtransitions

How do we define CLIL and plurilingual education? Which kind of projects have we been involved in - on CLIL and plurilingual education across educational levels? How will we organise this new three-year ECML project?

At this web-based expert meeting we (1) got to know each other and discussed our understanding of the field and our context, (2) agreed on project organisation and design, and (3) defined the next steps.

Building on previous ECML projects, our project will develop recommendations to implement CLIL in languages other than English (LOTE) across educational levels (primary, secondary, tertiary), both in the language classroom and other subjects. Furthermore, the project will promote pluralistic approaches to languages in CLIL (CLsIL).

In this first year, our project will among others

• systematically review what has been done in previous CLIL/CLsIL projects;
• collect recommendations, models and teaching materials from different contexts;
• synthesise existing resources and develop a first draft of recommendations to implement CLIL in LOTE across educational levels; 
• initiate a collaboration with associated partners and the ECML national contact points.

In 2021, the project will invite other experts to a network meeting, and in 2022, we will organise a workshop for representatives of the member countries of the ECML. One of the main goals of our project is to illustrate the recommendations through practice examples from various contexts.

Please get in touch, if you are interested to share your knowledge and experiences, or if you would like to participate in our events!

Author: Petra Daryai-Hansen

More information

• Project website (available in English, French and German): www.ecml.at/CLILLOTEtransitions
• Project team