Language and disciplinary learning combined: CLIL challenging conceptions of language skills

Tarja Nikula, Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyvåskylå, gives a talk for the EMI conference. This presentation is concerned with content and language integrated learning, CLIL. While research on CLIL and other forms of content-based instruction has revealed a great deal about benefits and challenges in teaching through the medium of a second/foreign language, the notion of integration itself and its impact on how language and learning are approached has only recently started to attract more attention (e.g. Llinares, Morton & Whittaker 2012; Nikula et al. 2016; Lin 2016). This presentation will argue that focus on integration invites a re-orientation to language and language skills as area-specific. Firstly, the implications of this at the conceptual level will be discussed. Secondly, how discipline-specificity is brought into being in processes of classroom interaction will be explored by examining data extracts from secondary level CLIL classrooms in Finland. It will be argued that approaching language skills as disciplinary has implications not only for academic research but also for teacher education in ways that extend well beyond CLIL to any educational context.