Analysing content acquisition in CLIL vs. non-CLIL programmes

Abstract

Students following CLIL methodologies are believed to achieve higher levels of linguistic competence than mainstream EFL learners but conceptual content level is less clear, since scarce research has been conducted in this area. Moreover, SES and self-efficacy are variables that may affect the student’s academic results. To this end, the Social Sciences content level attained, the socio-economic status (SES) and students self-efficacy perceptions were compared across three groups of students: (1) a non-CLIL group (n=14), (2) a soft-CLIL group (n=14) and (3) a hard-CLIL group (n=18). All students took the same Social Sciences test in Spanish and completed two questionnaires regarding their SES and self-efficacy perceptions. Results revealed that CLIL groups slightly outperformed non-CLIL ones in subject performance, suggesting that CLIL methodology is also beneficial for content learning. Furthermore, no significant correlations were found between non-CLIL and CLIL test scores, their SES and self-efficacy levels. Individually, results revealed that levels of self-efficacy were inversely proportional to soft-CLIL scores, and directly proportional to hard-CLIL scores.