CLIL METHODOLOGY AND ITS IMPACT IN A PROFESSIONAL PATHWAY: THEORY, PRACTICE AND DATA ANALYSIS

Abstract

The importance of CLIL methodology has been highlighted by many scholars, European institutions and countries during the last decades. It has been proved that this approach, if conducted successfully by teachers, can develop different skills in pupils. In such teachings, students will not only learn new contents but they will also improve their language competence in the foreign language selected for their experience. Moreover, CLIL allows the development of students’ cognitive skills and the creation of an environment marked out by intercultural tolerance and understanding. This experimental study deals with the impact of the CLIL methodology applied in a professional pathway. The aim of our research is that of understanding if the students of such schools taking part in CLIL courses can benefit from this particular didactic approach. The first part of this analysis is about CLIL literature review. Here we will clarify how CLIL has been defined in previous literature, how the European legislation has dealt with it, how CLIL has been actually implemented and spread in Italy and how Italian CLIL teachers are trained. Moreover, in this first section we will treat directly CLIL methodology, taking into consideration also its advantages and possible disadvantages. The second part of this paper is about our experimental study conducted in a 3rd class of a bartending course organized by an istituto professionale located in Venice. We will first define the context of the research and the participants involved in the study, then we will clarify research methodology, instruments and objectives. We will finally analyse and discuss the collected data and propose ideas for future researches.