CLIL Teaching at Primary School Level and the Academia/Practice Interface: Some Preliminary Considerations

The study focuses on some key aspects of and enabling conditions for the introduction of CLIL – Content and Language Integrated Learning – in primary schools in Italy. Having been the object of highly successful pilot projects in the past, CLIL at primary school level is at the moment neither mandatory nor regulated, but debate around its potential benefits has been rife for some years, and has recently been given momentum in the wake of the launch of the latest school reform (La buona scuola, or “the good school”) in 2014. Among the pledges made when presenting the reform, the improvement of foreign language (mostly English) competences of Italian students has been given particular emphasis, with CLIL being mentioned as a suitable methodology to achieve this aim. It may therefore be expected that in the next few years the demand for CLIL teaching in early education will increase substantially. For it to be met, it essential that suitably competent and trained teachers be available. As a result, an overview of existing and desirable teacher language competences (and of the means whereby such competences can be taught/acquired) is needed, particularly in view of the introduction of policy measures that involve a widespread introduction of CLIL at primary school level. In light of tis, the study reports on the content and focus of English language courses offered within the framework of MA courses preparing for primary language teaching, with special attention paid to expected outcomes in view of further English teaching and possibly EMI specialisation. The findings are then compared with the results of interviews carried out with teachers involved in a CLIL project implemented in a primary school, with a view to identifying gaps in the academy-practice interface and put forward tentative proposals to fill them.