From early selective experimental to generalised CLIL: code-switching challenges in the Spanish secondary schools

Over the last decades, research has placed CLIL as one of the most acknowledged FL learning approaches worldwide. However, many of these early CLIL programmes may have targeted above average and highly motivated learners. The need to understand the implications of the presence of low-language proficient students, as well as teachers’ use of pedagogical code-switching functions in generalised CLIL instruction motivated this study. The mix-method approach adopted included ten face-to-face interviews in nine Valencian public secondary schools in Spain, while 31 CLIL teachers also responded to two online surveys. The results show that despite the language-based selection criteria used, the presence of a substantial number of low-language proficient students implied overreliance on L1 codeswitching, which in turn prevented more than half of the participants from attaining their lesson objectives. Therein, the urgent need not only for more efficient pedagogical code-switching use, but also for greater emphasis on language support structures as essential factors in CLIL instructions involving low-language proficient learners.