This report presents findings and implications from a trial and evaluation of the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach to teaching Languages in Victorian schools.To that end, this study sought to address the following three key questions:
• How can schools and teachers be better prepared to use the CLIL approach to support Languages education in Victorian schools?
• What factors support or inhibit the implementation of Languages education using a CLIL approach in Victorian schools?
• Does the CLIL approach to languages learning improve student engagement and motivation in learning a language amongst Victorian students?
The study established that CLIL has definite viability within the Victorian education system. In six very different Victorian school settings—government and non-government, primary and secondary, with different languages, and different areas of content—teachers were able to apply the CLIL pedagogical framework to successfully plan, implement, and deliver an integrated approach to content and language instruction. However, two important caveats were noted. First, the need to establish and maintain strong and open lines of communication with parents and the wider school community. Second, the importance of engaging the support of the wider school context, although this needs to be distinguished from having to secure whole school commitment. That is, CLIL can be successful without having to impose significant demands or impositions on whole school structures (e.g. flexibility for Languages teachers to work either fairly independently, or else in small-scale partnerships with other interested specialists or primary generalists).