Meeting CLIL teachers' training and professional development needs

• Published in: NABE Journal of Research and Practice Vol. 9; no. 3-4; pp. 119 - 127
• Main Author: Pérez Agustín, Mercedes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wheaton Routledge 31.12.2019; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Aural Learning; Bilingual Education Programs; Bilingualism; Content and language integrated learning; Cooperation; Course Content; Educational Needs; English (Second Language); Faculty Development; Foreign Countries; Integrated Activities; Interdisciplinary Approach; Language; Language of Instruction; Language Proficiency; Learning Activities; Material Development; Multilingualism; Professional development; Professional Training; Scoring Rubrics; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Second language teachers; Teacher Aides; Teacher Attitudes; Teacher Competencies; Teacher education; Teacher Role; Teaching Methods; Europe; Spain
• ISSN: 2639-0043; 2639-0035
• DOI: 10.1080/26390043.2019.1634961

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has emerged as a response to Europe's calls for increasing plurilingualism, due to its dual-focused approach which aims to foster and consolidate both non-language subject matter and language learning. As the approach becomes more widespread, more resources become available to help teachers facing new methodological challenges. However, there are still wide gaps between the demand for CLIL teachers and the current levels of training and professional development available. In this paper, we review the research on the teacher training to acquire the linguistic competences on the foreign language as well as a particular bilingual methodology and professional development needs of CLIL teachers in Europe, and particularly in Spain. Findings show that teachers' professional development needs center around (1) the need for improvements to their language proficiency (particularly aural skills), (2) the need for methodological training in areas such as materials design as a response to the lack of materials particularly addressed to this methodology, (3) the opportunities to collaborate with others (e.g. coordinators and teaching assistants) in order to plan in advance the CLIL methodology that will be used in schools and (4) the need to create rubrics to assess in a transparent and efficient way.