Effects of the CLIL approach in oral production of english students in the second year of the United General Baccalaureate at a high school in Cuenca, Ecuador

Abstract

The necessity to foster second language oral production has created the imperative need to analyze and explore new teaching methods and techniques in order to develop oral communication skills in the target language. This study investigated the effect of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in foreign language oral production of Ecuadorian English language learners of United General Baccalaureate (BGU). This study was carried out using one class of second of baccalaureate. A total of 22 study participants took part in this research. In order to gather data, a quantitative method was employed, which allowed the researcher to perform statistical tests and determine the impact of the treatment. The study participants took part of a pre-test to determine their level of proficiency in their speaking skills. After three months of the CLIL intervention they took a post-test and the results were compared to measure the effect of CLIL approach. In addition, every single CLIL lesson was documented, and with the aim of to investigate the students‟ opinions to the CLIL approach a survey was applied, one at the beginning of the study and another at the end. The findings of this research reveal the effectiveness of CLIL in students‟ oral production compared with the traditional learning instruction, where the basic principles of CLIL are not presented. At the same time the learners expressed positive opinions towards the new approach.