ABSTRACT
CLIL field. The voices speak for themselves: ‘Being listened to and heard helps us to
go for it more’ [P72]. Whilst the learners in this study were clearly working in collaboration with their
teachers, the potential for teacher development and further learner-teacher class-
based inquiry stimulated by both ‘respectful discussions’ and LOCIT processes are
summarised in one’s teacher comments:
In conclusion, this study revealed how learners perceive the need for changes to
pedagogic practice through CLIL experiences. They detail the overwhelming need to
communicate, to develop ways of using language and to engage in the learning
process. They identify how literacy practices need to change and how expectations of
achievement need to develop in order to sustain motivation. This is study is not,
however, about finding the ‘best approach’ for CLIL, nor about claiming that CLIL
practices will lead to successful learning. Instead it experiments an approach to
classroom research where the data generated through listening to learners are
‘owned’ by them and their teachers. Selecting and combining data-gathering
procedures from this repertoire and in particular the LOCIT process when used reflectively and collaboratively can provide a trigger to bring about changes to
classroom practices, and those within their professional community. Arguably it is
the process of data gathering and reflection which will influence classroom practice
in any context where strategies for ‘successful learning’ emerge from what learners
say and do, but at the same time listening to learners provides a frame of reference
about how situated professional practice needs to change if successful content and
language integrated learning is to be sustained across very different contexts.
