CLIL in the Context of Foreign Language Teaching

2. CLIL, Bilingualism and Immersion

2.1. Bilingualism vs. CLIL

Bilingualism refers to the ability of an individual to proficiently speak and understand two languages. Bilingual individuals have varying degrees of fluency in both languages, ranging from being fully proficient in both to having a higher proficiency in one language over the other. Bilingualism is valued for its cognitive, social, and cultural benefits, allowing individuals to navigate different linguistic and cultural contexts effectively.

Bilingualism can be acquired through various means, such as

growing up in a multilingual environment,
formal language education, or
immersion programs.

Skutnabb-Kangas (1984) characterises the bilingual user of the language in terms of origin, identification, competence, and function. Our education system favours the premise of bilingualism, which is characterised by competence and a general definition of function.

*criterion*	*definition*
origin	from the beginning, one learns two languages from their native users in the family; from the beginning one uses two languages in parallel as means of communication
identification a. internal b. external	one is identified as bilingual with two cultures; s identified by others as a bilingual user competence
competence	completely master two languages speak two languages as native languages; speak two languages; can produce complete meaningful statements in a second language; can produce complete meaningful statements in a second language; contact with another language
function	the function uses / can use two languages in most situations according to their own needs, wishes and community requirements

source: adapted from Skutnabb_Kangas, T. (1984). Bilingualism or Not – the Education of Minorities. Clevedon: Multiligual Matters 7.

McCarthy (2012) defines bilingual education as bilingualism at the school level. He further explains that bilingual education should involve using more than one language as the medium of instruction within regular school subjects. The classification of bilingual education was provided by Baker (2007), who formulated ten types ranging from weak forms, such as submersion or transitional form, to stable versions of bilingual education, for example, immersion or two-way bilingual education.