Multilingualism in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) classroom contexts: Commentary on the special issue

IF 4.7 1区教育学 Q1 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Learning and Instruction Pub Date : 2025-03-25 DOI:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102112

Tom Morton

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a growing research area, yet tensions persist between monolingual ideologies and multilingual classroom realities. This Special Issue addresses these tensions by exploring CLIL through diverse epistemological lenses, with translanguaging as a central theme.

Aims

This commentary critically engages with the Special Issue, organizing cross-cutting themes using Pennycook’s (2024) concept of “practical assemblage.” It examines how the studies conceptualize multilingualism in CLIL as a language matter of concern, how translanguaging functions as a practical theory of language, and how ethical and critical issues emerge in restrictive language policy contexts.

Scope

The Special Issue includes eight studies spanning diverse global contexts, from EMI settings to bilingual and immersion programmes, highlighting CLIL’s role as an umbrella term and its evolving, context-dependent nature.

Analytical approach

The commentary synthesizes insights from the studies, categorizing them into three dimensions: (a) conceptualizing CLIL and its terminological plurality, (b) translanguaging and multimodality in knowledge construction, and (c) critical perspectives on linguistic justice and equity.

Key insights

The findings demonstrate how activating learners’ multilingual and multimodal repertoires through translanguaging facilitates epistemic access. However, while CLIL is increasingly framed as multilingual and multimodal, monolingual ideologies persist, especially in contexts with restrictive language policies.

Conclusions

This Special Issue shifts CLIL towards a dynamic, multilingual assemblage rather than a rigid content-language model. Future research should further integrate translanguaging, multimodality, and critical perspectives to ensure CLIL fosters rather than restricts linguistic diversity.

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来源期刊

Learning and Instruction Multiple-

CiteScore

11.30

自引率

4.80%

发文量

109

期刊介绍： As an international, multi-disciplinary, peer-refereed journal, Learning and Instruction provides a platform for the publication of the most advanced scientific research in the areas of learning, development, instruction and teaching. The journal welcomes original empirical investigations. The papers may represent a variety of theoretical perspectives and different methodological approaches. They may refer to any age level, from infants to adults and to a diversity of learning and instructional settings, from laboratory experiments to field studies. The major criteria in the review and the selection process concern the significance of the contribution to the area of learning and instruction, and the rigor of the study.