Content and Language Integrated Learning in Primary School - Impact on achievements in science

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Stefanie Frisch
• Subject Area: General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning
• Term: from 2015 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 273323441

The aim of this one-year emirical study is the investigation of achievements in science of all fourth graders in North Rhine-Westphalia who participated in a content and language integrated learning setting (CLIL) in comparison to fourth graders who attended regular science classes. Achievements in science will be assessed with the help of the test instrument of TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study). The control group are regularly taught learners of the same school and learners of schools which are located in the same cities. It is necessary to consider learners of other schools apart from the schools with a bilingual thread in order to be able to control a possible creaming effect.Content and Language Integrated Learning is currently assumed to be a promising teaching approach. Positive effects are expected both on the development of foreign language competences and multilingualism as well as on the development of cognitive thinking skills. In the meantime it is recommended to offer content and language integrated learning settings as early as in primary school. Empirical findings on the impact of CLIL in primary school on foreign language learning and on gaining new content knowledge are rare though.The aims of teaching science bilingually in primary school are ambitious. Learners should develop the same competences as in regular science classes. At the same time the learners should achieve higher foreign language competences by dealing with relevant and motivating contents. The aim is to achieve literacy in two areas. Up to the present it is more or less unclear which impact the specifities of a CLIL setting in primary school have on developing competences in science and to which level competences can be developed. BiLL NaWi aims at providing an empirical foundation for CLIL (science) in primary school.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants