Teaching and Learning Content through Two Languages : The Biology and History Teacher Perspective

Abstract

The present qualitative study focuses content teachers’ reflections on language practices in CLIL biology and history. Building on theory from teacher cognition and bilingual education, the study aims to document and interpret the teachers’ descriptions of, and motivations to, bilingual practices in the CLIL strand at their school. The study encompasses semi-structured interviews with eight teachers at three different upper secondary schools, four biology and four history teachers, and the data were collected over a two-year period. The analyses were thematic and adopted a constant comparative approach. Overall, findings show that English and Swedish co-exist as resources for teaching and learning in CLIL biology and history. More specifically, teachers’ motivations to language use could be related to two themes: access to study material and adaptation to student group. Following a discussion of the results, the study concludes with recommendations for teaching and implications for further research.