Evaluating CLIL Programmes: Instrument Design and Validation

 María Luisa Pérez Cañado
Department of English Philology, University of Jaén, Spain

Abstract

This article presents the three sets of question-naires which have been originally designed and validated within a broader governmentally-funded research project to determine how CLIL schemes are playing out across a broad array of contexts (Primary and Secondary Education; urban and rural settings; public and private schools; with tea-chers, students, and parents). They are the first qualitative instruments whose design has been based on recent research outcomes and which have undergone a carefully controlled double-fold pilot process for their validation (external ratings approach and pilot phase with a representative sample of nearly 300 subjects). After characterizing the questions included in the surveys, along with their format and chief categories, the article goes on to describe the steps undertaken for their research-based design and the double-fold pilot process followed for their validation. The actual questionnaires are then presented (for language teachers, non-linguistic area teachers, teaching assistants, students, and parents) in a format which can directly be applied in any CLIL classroom in order to gauge how bilingual pro-grammes are playing out at present.Keywords: CLIL, survey, validity, reliability, stakeholder perspectives.

ResumenEste artículo presenta los tres cuestionarios que se han diseñado y validado en el seno de un Proyecto de I+D para determinar cómo están funcionando los programas AICLE en una amplia gama de contextos (Educación Primaria y Se-cundaria; contextos urbanos y rurales; centros públicos y privados; con profesorado, alumnado y padres y madres). Se trata de los primeros instru-mentos cualitativos cuyo diseño se ha basado en los hallazgos de las más recientes investigaciones y que han sido sometidos a un riguroso proceso de doble pilotaje para su validación (sistema de jueces y pilotaje con una muestra representativa de casi 300 sujetos). Tras caracterizar las preguntas incluidas en los cuestionarios, junto con su formato y principales categorías, el artículo describe los pasos acometidos para su diseño y el proceso de pilotaje seguido para su validación. Los cuestionarios en sí (para profesorado, alumnado y padres y madres) se presentan en un formato directamente aplicable en cualquier aula AICLE para determinar el funcionamiento de los programas bilingües.Palabras clave:AICLE, cuestionario, validez, fiabilidad, perspectivas de los participantes

Evaluating CLIL Programmes: Instrument Design and Validation (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312583170_Evaluating_CLIL_Programmes_Instrument_Design_and_Validation  [accessed Mar 24, 2017].

Stopping the “pendulum effect” in CLIL research: Finding the balance between Pollyanna and Scrooge

María Luisa Pérez Cañado
Department of English Philology, University of Jaén, Spain

Abstract:

This article examines the appearance of the “pendulum effect” in the CLIL research arena and makes a case for a balanced, disinterested, and methodologically sound approach to continue driving the CLIL agenda forward. It is written as a response to the steady stream of criticism to which CLIL research has recently been subjected and which is primarily embodied by Bruton (Is CLIL so beneficial, or just selective? Re-evaluating some of the Research. System 39.523–532 (2011b), CLIL: Some of the reasons why... and why not. System 41.587–597 (2013), CLIL: Detail matters in the whole picture. More than a reply to J. Hüttner and U. Smit (2014). System 53. 119–128 (2015)) and Paran (Content and language integrated learning: Panacea or policy borrowing myth? Applied Linguistics Review 4(2). 317–342 (2013), on whose articles it focuses in order to redress the balance on the chief three fronts which these authors explore: CLIL characterization, implementation, and investigation. Within each one, it counters incorrect data and biased interpretations, updates obsolete information which renders certain arguments invalid, and identifies and provides solutions to the main caveats in the CLIL research hitherto conducted. The ultimate aim is to illustrate how we should neither harbor an excessively optimistic view on the way CLIL is playing out nor maintain an overly dismal outlook on the feasibility of its implementation, and to carve out a future research agenda in order to bring the pendulum to a standstill through solid, unskewed, and unbiased CLIL research.

Keywords: CLIL, pendulum effect, characterization, implementation, research

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304607695_Stopping_the_pendulum_effect_in_CLIL_research_Finding_the_balance_between_Pollyanna_and_Scrooge

From the CLIL craze to the CLIL conundrum: Addressing the current CLIL controversy

María Luisa Pérez Cañado

Department of English Philology, University of Jaén, Spain

Abstract