ICLHE/CLIL at the Tertiary Level of Education. State-of-the-Art

This paper aims at introducing a forthcoming Doctorate in Education (Open University) research and a state-of-the-art literature review on CLIL at the tertiary level. Studies on CLIL have continued to increase in terms of its outcomes in primary and secondary schools, but there is still a lack of research at the tertiary level. In this context it is often referred to as: Adjunct Model, CBI (Content-based Instruction), Internationalisation. CLIL at the tertiary level has some peculiarities, which involve the type of study itself. Academic subjects nowadays are changing very rapidly and knowledge of disciplines is in one sense constructed but in another sense unchallenged by the members of the community. Students are faced with many teachers and a lot of different sources of knowledge many of which are in English (Wilkinson, 2004, 2006, 2007). There has also been an emerging population of students who are opting to study abroad rather than at home (Crandall, Kaufman, 2002). This forthcoming qualitative research aims at providing data on, 1. the state of the art of CLIL at the tertiary level in Italy by means of a survey and 2. input presentation strategies of lecturers of scientific faculties teaching through English.