Why Clil?
Why CLIL?
1.1. Language policy From the onset of the European Union in 1992, language teaching has figured prominently in Community recommendations regarding education. The promotion of linguistic diversity in education and training has always been an important consideration in planning the successful construction of Europe.
Back in 1995, the European Council Resolution for development and promotion of language learning (March 31, 1995) stated clearly that linguistic policy in Europe should be based on pluriligualism. It stated that all EU citizens, by the time they leave compulsory schooling, should be able to speak two languages other than the mother tongue. We will look more closely in subsequent sections at what is meant by 'speak', but for now, the policy statement is all that concerns us. By making this policy official, the European Union was in effect committing itself to the administrative and financial implications of establishing this very plurilingualism.
Efficient plurilingualism cannot happen automatically, of course. It requires policy. During the same Council Resolution there arose a debate as to whether the current practices of language teaching were sufficient/appropriate for realising this stated ambition. The conclusion was 'no'.
This was hardly a novel conclusion. The Lingua Programme, set up in 1990, had already declared the importance of 'promoting innovation in methods of foreign language training' (Eurydice, 2006), and the 1995 Resolution itself spoke of;
'...encouraging exchange with Member States of higher education students working as language assistants in schools, endeavouring to give priority to prospective language teachers or those called upon to teach their subjects in a language other than their own' (Ibid page 8)
In the same year, the European Commission, in its White Paper on education and training (Teaching and Learning - Towards the Learning Society) wrote that;
'...it could even be argued that secondary
1.1. Language policy From the onset of the European Union in 1992, language teaching has figured prominently in Community recommendations regarding education. The promotion of linguistic diversity in education and training has always been an important consideration in planning the successful construction of Europe.
Back in 1995, the European Council Resolution for development and promotion of language learning (March 31, 1995) stated clearly that linguistic policy in Europe should be based on pluriligualism. It stated that all EU citizens, by the time they leave compulsory schooling, should be able to speak two languages other than the mother tongue. We will look more closely in subsequent sections at what is meant by 'speak', but for now, the policy statement is all that concerns us. By making this policy official, the European Union was in effect committing itself to the administrative and financial implications of establishing this very plurilingualism.
Efficient plurilingualism cannot happen automatically, of course. It requires policy. During the same Council Resolution there arose a debate as to whether the current practices of language teaching were sufficient/appropriate for realising this stated ambition. The conclusion was 'no'.
This was hardly a novel conclusion. The Lingua Programme, set up in 1990, had already declared the importance of 'promoting innovation in methods of foreign language training' (Eurydice, 2006), and the 1995 Resolution itself spoke of;
'...encouraging exchange with Member States of higher education students working as language assistants in schools, endeavouring to give priority to prospective language teachers or those called upon to teach their subjects in a language other than their own' (Ibid page 8)
In the same year, the European Commission, in its White Paper on education and training (Teaching and Learning - Towards the Learning Society) wrote that;
'...it could even be argued that secondary