Bilingualism and interculture: what are teachers doing? ( Bilingüismo e intercultura: ¿qué están haciendo los docentes? )

Abstract

One of the main aims of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is to develop intercultural awareness and understanding among students. The objective of this study is to analyse whether CLIL primary education teachers implement the intercultural axis of CLIL in the strategies and resources they plan and use in their daily lessons, and which factors may influence this. An open-question questionnaire was used to carry out an in-depth analysis of the opinions of 59 CLIL primary education teachers working at schools in Córdoba (Spain). The results show that communicative and cooperative activities, along with those activities in which interaction is the focus, are those most frequently employed by CLIL teachers to enhance the intercultural axis. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) resources are those most frequently applied in order to promote intercultural awareness. Independent variables such as gender, subject taught, years of experience and the textbook used had a significant influence on how teachers plan and put their strategies and didactic resources into practice. The outcomes indicate the need to reinforce CLIL teacher training in this regard.