Using the CLIL method for increasing students’ motivation to study foreign languages

Kirilka Stankova

SU “Hristo Botev”, Gorna Malina, English teacher.

E-mail: gcsp@abv.bg

Abstract: Our world is a dynamic, rapidly evolving and changing one. This poses more and more challenges to all spheres of public life and to the educational process, in particular. Teachers find that today a major problem of education at school is studentsweak and diminishing motivation to learn. Teachers are looking for ways to raise students interest in the subject they teach. One of the major developments in foreign language teaching over the last 30 years has been the introduction of information and computer technologies in education. In this regard, the CLIL method can also be said to be a powerful means of eliminating stagnation in foreign language teaching and enhancing students’ interest in both the content subject and the language in which it is taught. The article provides a brief overview of the history of the method, its theoretical foundations and applications. The legislative support of the method is mentioned both in view of the educational policy of the European Union and of the foreign language curricula in Bulgaria. The main features of the method, which make it an effective method for developing the 21st century skills, are also discussed. А brief description of a sample CLIL lesson is also included.

Keywords: CLIL, motivation, foreign language teaching.

Read the original of the text (in Bulgarian)