¿Los juntamos? A study of L1 use in interactional strategies in CLIL vs. NON-CLIL primary school learners
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 58(1) : 1-27 (2020)
Abstract
Research on the use of the first language (L1) in interactional strategies
by young Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is still in its infancy.
Here we compare CLIL and NON-CLIL primary school children in terms of L1 use
in interactional strategies. The oral production of 44 age- and proficiencymatched
dyads (21 CLIL, 22 NON-CLIL) is analyzed in terms of use of the L1 in
appeals, clarification requests and metacomments. The results indicate that
NON-CLIL learners produce more instances of L1 use in interactional strategies
and that greater differences emerge as grade increases. This is consistent with
previous research in CLIL contexts as well as investigations that have compared
CLIL and NON-CLIL contexts. A qualitative inspection of the results has also
revealed that there are differences between groups in their preference for either
the L1 or the target language (TL) in the case of appeals and clarification
requests. However, metacomments are always produced in the L1 in both
groups, which appears to support previous classroom observation data.