CLIL modules and their affective impact on students with high English anxiety and low self-efficacy

Abstract

Many studies in recent years focused on the efficiency of bilingual education in different school settings. If a school pursues a regular implementation of CLIL modules instead of the establishment of proper CLIL streams, the student group that is affected by this teaching approach is much more diverse when compared to the preselected CLIL stream groups. In this regard, also students with high English anxiety and low self-efficacy will have to participate in the modules and it is particularly interesting to see how these student types deal with teaching units held in a foreign language. The study at hand presents results from an intervention at German schools with two biology units taught in English. Students aged 15 to 16 rated the affective effects of these modules by filling in a pre-post-follow up questionnaire. Results show that English anxiety can indeed be lowered, while students’ self-efficacy increases due to this intervention. Obviously, more research has to confirm whether this is the case for other age groups and subjects as well. Nonetheless, it is a good start to recommend employing CLIL modules on a greater scale since the effects are substantial even if students do not willingly choose to take part in CLIL.