Assessing the influence of socio-economic status on students' performance in Content and Language Integrated Learning

Abstract

This paper investigates the influence of social, cultural and economic background on students' performance in content-subjects in the framework of CLIL programmes in Spain. So far, CLIL investigation has focused primarily on language attainment in the L2 and the L1, but students' socio-economic status (SES) has been largely ignored, and its influence on performance in content-subjects remains unexplored. Competence in Science in the L1 (Spanish) is analysed by comparing pupils enrolled in mainstream schools with students in the so-called bilingual streams offering CLIL-based approaches. The paper analyses a sample of 709 6th grade Primary Education students from diverse social backgrounds and enrolled in public schools in the Principality of Asturias (Spain). A test to assess students' knowledge in Science and a context questionnaire (measuring participants' social, economic, and cultural background) were designed and validated. Inferential statistics were applied with one-way ANOVAs and inter-subject analyses. The main finding is that students from less favoured socio-economic backgrounds obtain significant lower scores than those coming from more privileged settings. Results suggest students’ context influences the teaching-learning process in bilingual education. The determining factors for these findings are discussed in the paper together with prospective research lines.