The Arts as the content-subject for content and language integrated learning (CLIL): how the signature pedagogies of arts education align to CLIL aims

Abstract

ABSTRACT Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) involves teaching an additional language through the study of a subject, and teaching the subject through the medium of the new language. CLIL approaches to additional language acquisition are widely adopted and broadly successful, though some content-subjects may be better suited than others. The acknowledged success of a program where the content-subject was The Arts is the basis for this illustrative case study. The setting is the middle-years of a school in China that prepares students aged 11–14 for future studies in English-speaking countries. The conceptual frame for this study is the signature pedagogies of arts education. Signature pedagogies are the distinctive, characteristic and widely adopted pedagogical practices associated with the specific discipline. The signature pedagogies framework serves to identify qualities of the learning and teaching in this study that are broadly and systematically practised, and therefore have relevance beyond the specific case. It was found that the teacher’s skilful implementation of the signature pedagogies of arts education played a primary role in the success of the program. This finding supports the broader adoption of The Arts as a suitable content-subject for CLIL.