Poor Speakers Left Behind – A Case Study on Difference Amplification in a CLIL Programme

Abstract

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a term widely used in today’s European discourse on linguistic plurality. CLIL refers to any kind of teaching, in which a non-language subject is taught through a language different from students’ mother tongue. This type of education has been available in Hungary since 1987 at both primary and secondary levels. This paper presents a qualitative (multiple) case study on four graduates of the Pécs CLIL Programme. The study explores their ideas about their language learning and examines how the graduates perceive the influence of CLIL on their communicative competencies. The participants of the study included four Hungarian females who graduated from the Pécs CLIL Programme in 2003.