Implementing CLIL in tertiary setting: Research on learner's attitudes and perceptions

Content Language and Integrated Learning (CLIL) has become major educational policy promoted by the EU in reference to language learning. This paper presents the findings of a research into the attitudes and perceptions of students in a formal tertiary education setting towards CLIL implementation. For the scope of the paper, based on the data of a pilot study, a revised questionnaire was created and distributed to sixty undergraduate students in the Speech and Language Therapy Department of Epirus Institute of Technology in Greece. The participants attended an ESP course mainly based on CLIL strategies, yet all content courses are taught in the first language and there is no integration of contents and foreign language. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first to gain insight into students’ attitudes and perceptions regarding certain CLIL instructional strategies the teacher has already implemented in the ESP course and second to explore their reactions and perceptions regarding possible full CLIL implementation across the curriculum. In this respect this paper discusses ways to implement CLIL in tertiary settings, taking simultaneously into account several factors: the teaching situation, students’ level of English proficiency, materials and aids, formal syllabus and curriculum. Finally it hopes to provide diagnostic feedback that will aid in the improvement of ESP course design, as well as useful data to underpin further development of the existing foreign language syllabi and curricula in higher education.