¿Los juntamos? A study of L1 use in interactional strategies in CLIL vs. NON-CLIL primary school learners

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.