A Case of CLIL Practice in the Turkish Context: Lending an ear to Students

| December 3, 2013
Title
A Case of CLIL Practice in the Turkish Context: Lending an ear to Students

Keywords: CLIL, higher education, advantages and disadvantages, reflection, student perspective

Author
Derya Bozdoğan and Buket Karlıdağ
Abant İzzet Baysal University, Turkey

Bio
Derya Bozdoğan is currently working as an Assistant Professor at Abant İzzet Baysal University and is interested in Computer Assisted Language Learning, CLIL, and Teaching English to Young Learners.

Buket Karlıdağ, is both an MA student at the ELT program and an instructor of English at the preparatory school at Abant İzzet Baysal University. Her research interests are CLIL, Materials Development, and Teaching English to Young Learners.

Abstract
Though CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) has not yet been extensively practiced in Turkey at all educational levels, it could be observed mainly at the higher education levels at some selected faculties of either state universities or private ones. This study explores the CLIL practice reflections by reporting the views of students at a state university. After data had been collected through semi-structured interviews, the findings were coded and categorized based on the principles of content analysis. The findings revealed that students considered instruction in English as a great advantage with feelings of success and self-confidence; on the other hand, students expressed that comprehension of the content in L2, specifically the terminology, was a big challenge. Additionally, they claimed that their course curricula are simpler than those in L1 as a result of CLIL practice. What’s more, they feel no improvement but some regression in their productive skills after having had the one-year intensive program of preparatory courses. Content instructors could be suggested to cooperate with language teachers and be more aware of the students’ language problems and seek linguistic advice.

See page: 90-111

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Category: Main Editions, Volume 15 Issue 4