Content and Language Integrated Learning: reflections on a pilot module

CLIL, or ‘Content and Language Integrated Learning’, is a term used to describe the practice of teaching content through a foreign language. It represents an educational approach, which can embody a range of different methodologies and has, in recent years, been receiving increased attention in Europe partially as a result of the fact that efforts put into language teaching are not always reflected in the results achieved. This paper begins with a brief overview of developments in the field of foreign language acquisition and how these might relate to the notion of CLIL. It then goes on to describe the design, delivery and evaluation of a module in German language for intermediate, undergraduate students, which incorporates an element of CLIL.