2. CLIL, Bilingualism and Immersion

2.2. Immersion vs. CLIL

immerA method of teaching called language immersion involves immersing learners in the target language from beginning through completion. This means that instruction, communication, and interaction in the classroom occur predominantly or exclusively in the target language, with minimal to no use of the students' native language.

Language immersion programmes come in a variety of forms:

  • Full Immersion - all instruction is given in the target language.
  • Partial Immersion -  instruction is progressively increased to include more of the target language during the school day or week.
  • Dual Immersion - to foster bilingualism and biliteracy, the programme enrols native speakers of the target language and native speakers of a different language. Instruction is given in both languages.

Through exposure to authentic language use in various circumstances, language immersion programmes seek to provide students with a thorough understanding of the target language. As a result of their continual exposure to the language and encouragement to use it meaningfully, students who follow this technique are thought to gain competency in the target language quite quickly. Furthermore, immersion programmes frequently incorporate cultural elements to improve language acquisition and foster intercultural understanding.

French immersion in Canada is probably the best-known example of bilingual education on the American continent. However, in Canadian immersion, the language of instruction is the other official language of the country, and immersion teachers are native speakers of this language (Dalton-Puffer, 2008). Bilingual education has a long tradition in countries where more official language occurs. Immersion teaching programs depend on conditions such as the availability of materials and teachers' qualifications. Some provide teaching of all subjects in a foreign language; others offer only some subjects. Programs with embedded teaching appear in many forms throughout the history of the educational process, e.g. teaching through Greek and Latin in the Middle Ages, or French as the language of nobility in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries (Baker, 2011). The Canadian immersion program has had a significant impact on European bilingual education.

Since the European Commission introduced the acronym CLIL (Eurydice, 2006) as an approach that integrates content and language, it is necessary to distinguish it from immersion. Misunderstanding the terms immersion and CLIL may lead to confusion such as unrealistic aims set in CLIL programmes; students may be required to achieve objectives beyond their current cognition, or teachers may be under too much pressure. While in immersion programmes, instructions are in the language spoken locally, and students are familiar with it, in CLIL programmes, students face a foreign language. Furthermore, language is also crucial for teaching because, in immersion programmes, most teachers are native speakers giving instructions in their mother tongue.