INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION AND BILINGUALISM, 2017

BOOK REVIEW

Applied linguistics perspectives on CLIL, edited by Ana Llinares and Tom Morton,
Amsterdam and Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing, 2017, 317 pp., £30 (paperback),
ISBN 978-90-272-1337-2

With the expansion of English-medium education, multilingual contexts and a need to integrate
the curriculum with learning other languages to promote XXI century skills, content and language
integrated learning (CLIL) is becoming an attractive and well-established educational approach in
varied settings across continents. While publications on CLIL usually communicate benefits and
gains with different learners based on both qualitative and quantitative research frameworks,
there exists a constant call to strengthen CLIL expansion with further theoretical underpinnings
and more research on a number of areas. It is this call which the volume carefully edited by
Ana Llinares and Tom Morton answers. The editors condense the main spirit underlying the
book when they say that
in this book we examine how, from interdisciplinary perspectives within applied linguistics, the practical problems
of language, communication, content and learning in the context of CLIL can be identified, analysed and poten-
tially solved by applying theories, methods, and findings of linguistics (3).

The volume is divided into an introduction, four parts which constitute the body of the collection, and
an afterword chapter. In the Introduction, Llinares and Morton pose the question whether CLIL is a
type of programme or pedagogical model and discuss that labels vary across settings, thus stating
that CLIL can be found as a programme or a model depending on interests, needs, and focus on
language and/or content. The authors compare CLIL with CBI (Content Based Instruction), normally
associated with Canada, and acknowledge that although CLIL stands for the integration of content
and language, CLIL implementation usually refers to content classes taught in an additional language
‘where little integration of content and language actually happens’ (2). However, they state that in
terms of language learning, CLIL is expected to promote academic language learning for the encod-
ing of academic content. It is suggested that CLIL can be viewed through applied linguistics lenses by
concentrating on four broad areas or perspectives: second language acquisition (SLA), systemic func-
tional linguistics (SFL), discourse analysis (DA), and sociolinguistics. Each part in the volume rep-
resents one perspective and it includes an introductory chapter written by well-known academics
followed by review- or research-based chapters.
Part 1 deals with second language acquisition perspectives. As an introductory chapter, Roy
Lyster adopts a reader-friendly and personal tone to share his first encounters with language learn-
ing and teaching, from which he develops basic ideas about SLA. Lyster concentrates on the
benefits, challenges, contributions from cognitive psychology to understand skill acquisition and
metalinguistic awareness, to name a few, and the types of intervention which can structure
approaches to integrate content and language. As a way to introduce the three chapters in this
part, the author suggests that concerted efforts to study interaction, motivation, and pragmatics
in CLIL may help us understand how CLIL can be exploited more fully for language learning.
Despite his positive attitude towards the integration of content and language, Lyster observes
that ‘there is only minimal coalescence of content and language in CLIL’ (29). Therefore he
urges CLIL researchers to investigate this area not only with English but also with other languages.
While two chapters in this part are reviews of studies on classroom interaction and motivation,
respectively, the third chapter is a study supported by a complex research design which offers
insights in pragmatics by investigating requests among students in different CLIL classrooms.
What these three chapters share is a finer lens through which data gathered in published
studies can be examined through SLA, and general call for CLIL research which should be
2 BOOK REVIEW

characterised by teachers’ active involvement, ecological validity, and the interplay of environ-
mental and internal factors from a relational in-context view of those, e.g. teachers and learners,
who actualise CLIL in the classroom. In other words, it is hoped that bottom-up classroom research
can shed light on the possibilities behind an SLA-CLIL partnership.
Part 2 draws readers’ attention to the possibilities SFL can offer to enhance CLIL provision. Caroline
Coffin, in her introduction to this part, reminds us that ‘a central feature in applying SFL theory to
educational contexts is to see language, content (meaning) and learning as inextricably intertwined’
(91). The author believes that if SFL informs CLIL pedagogies more systematically, we will move from
a focus on L2 proficiency to wider aspects of language learning such as meaning making and social
semiotics within cross-cultural and translanguaging practices. The first chapter examines genre and
appraisal in CLIL history texts produced by secondary school students by drawing on aspects of atti-
tude and engagement to understand how the historian’s voice is represented. The second chapter
analyses secondary school students’ interview- and roleplay-based exchanges in history lessons in
Spain and concentrates on their speech functions depending on the length of their moves in inter-
action. With caution and some reservations, the authors in both chapters suggest that CLIL students
can engage in different representations of textual positioning. It is believed that through proper scaf-
folding and carefully designed tasks students can strengthen their critical voice and develop different
linguistic resources to show attitude, engagement, and meaning through a whole array of lexico-
grammatical options. In the third chapter in this part, the authors examine how multi-semiotic
resources (e.g. pictures, teachers’ body language, cut-outs) may provide secondary school students
with maximal input in the science classroom. The three chapters in this part utilise sophisticated fra-
meworks for data analysis and provide teachers and teacher-researchers with a refined focus on how
language is operationalised not only in spoken and written interaction but also as an aid to visual and
non-verbal communication.
Part 3 shifts readers’ attention to the study of CLIL from a DA perspective. In the reflective and
informative chapter that opens this part, Christiane Dalton-Puffer observes that through DA we
can study the interactions and roles enacted in educational settings within a CLIL environment. In
her view, the foci should be: ‘1. Processes of knowledge construction in and through L2, and
2. Language use and social-interactional aspects of L2 language use’ (168). Because the author
emphasises that we need to examine discourse in CLIL in action, she discusses how the literature
has reflected the dimensions of communicative competence and their realisation in CLIL classroom
discourse. Drawing on a corpus recorded in Catalonia with teenage learners, the authors of the first
chapter examine classroom interactional competence through analysis of teacher-class as well as
learner-learner interactions. The second chapter looks at CLIL classroom interaction through a multi-
modal conversation analysis lens. Although the chapter is mainly a review of studies pertinent to CLIL
and conversation analysis, the authors illustrate their approach through examination of data from a
biology class to put forward that multimodality can be inscribed in linguistics-based studies on CLIL
interaction. Last, the third chapter in this part examines assessment for learning in primary CLIL ana-
lysing data from two primary schools. Following a classification of academic questions, the authors
look at metacognitive questions, i.e. those questions which can help learners reflect and think
about their own as well as others’ learning process when engaged in self or peer assessment. A
running theme in this part is the authors’ concern with how CLIL provision can be enhanced
through microscopic examination of interaction in CLIL classrooms. The authors in this part share
two central beliefs: (1) professional development opportunities should provide teachers with insights
into how CLIL discourse can be maximised, and (2) DA can provide researchers with a solid framework
to study interaction and texts not only at classroom level but also at curriculum level, i.e. with longer
and complex stretches of discourse.
Part 4 focuses on the sociolinguistic perspectives underpinning CLIL programmes. To this effect,
Jasone Cenoz discusses the sociolinguistic context of CLIL programmes in Europe by reflecting on
the wider landscape of language policy, language status and language contact. She analyses CLIL
in education by looking at the factors that influence the learning situations in which CLIL
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION AND BILINGUALISM 3

programmes are inscribed. Such factors are: the characteristics of the target language such as its
status or contact with other languages, the sociolinguistic context, and the educational context.
Cenoz is the only author in the volume who reminds us that CLIL provision ‘will be successful if
better results are obtained in the target language while the level of curricular content and the
L1 are the same as when the content is taught in the L1’ (247). The first chapter addresses a
burning issue: the use of L1/L2 in CLIL. Through a small-scale study which included the partici-
pation of eight teachers in the Basque Country, it was found that translanguaging was common
among teachers and students in the CLIL classroom, and teachers favoured the L1 for classroom
management and scaffolding comprehension. The second chapter takes a closer look at teacher
identity in CLIL through examination of data from a corpus consisting of interviews with
content teachers. Results show that teachers’ explicit and implicit content and pedagogical knowl-
edge together with issues around autonomy, collaboration, and accountability challenge their iden-
tities. The last chapter in this part deals with CLIL in multilingual university settings. The authors
illustrate a recent conceptual framework which examines English-medium education in multilingual
university settings from interrelated dimensions. In this chapter, the authors focus on the roles of
English and conclude that this dimension is multifaceted in higher education and call for further
examination of its implications and dynamics.
The afterword chapter highlights a commonality across the chapters: the centrality of interaction
in CLIL settings. Tarja Nikula asserts that ‘it is in interaction that the processes of teaching and
learning take place and it is through studying interaction that a more fine-grained understanding
of content and language integration and processes of learning and teaching can be gained’ (308).
Such an assertion should lead readers to reflect on two issues that some of the authors point out
and that the chapters reveal with clarity. First, this solid collection of literature reviews and studies,
some of which are based on the UAM-CLIL corpus, shows that CLIL research draws on a wide
variety of linguistics branches to examine language learning and use with a clear focus on class-
room-based verbal exchanges (also see Llinares, Morton, and Whittaker 2012). Second, the chapters
and some of the contributors remark that there is little research around the so-called integration
between content and language learning. This is an area which still needs attention. So far, research
shows that CLIL learners improve their L2 repertoire on a number of areas, and that their motiv-
ation is enhanced, but are they learning content with the same depth and complexity as they
would in their L1? Are they learning so much academic language that it can actually help them
understand, analyse and evaluate content?
While the general spirit of the volume is for CLIL research which starts at the grassroots of CLIL
classrooms and teacher-research, the primary audience seems to be teacher educators and
researchers. This remark should not be seen as a shortcoming, but as a possibility to take the
lessons learnt so far to design teaching materials and professional development opportunities
through which the knowledge generated in this volume can be cascaded to reach teachers and
administrators. The organisation in parts with introductory chapters for each perspective is
helpful as readers are provided with a critical account of what we know so far about CLIL and
how applied linguistics may strengthen such capital. Overall, this is a much-needed volume on
the synergistic opportunities between applied linguistics and CLIL specifically centred in Europe,
with the exception of experiences in Hong Kong and Australia. It is also refreshing to see the
typical names associated with CLIL, e.g. Dalton-Puffer, Lasagabaster, Llinares, or Nikula, together
with less familiar names such as Sobhy or Pascual, to name a few. This edited volume succeeds
in illustrating CLIL research in primary, secondary, and higher education based on convincing argu-
ments and strongly reliable research methods. I hope readers can enjoy a second volume in the
near future with more international contributions.

Reference
Llinares, A., T. Morton, and R. Whittaker. 2012. The Roles of Language in CLIL. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4 BOOK REVIEW

Darío Luis Banegas

University of Warwick, UK
D.Banegas@warwick.ac.uk http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0225-0866
© 2017 Darío Luis Banegas
https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2017.1350269