This study explores issues of potential (in)equity in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programs in bilingual secondary schools in the Madrid region (Spain). Based on their general L2 proficiency, students in grades 7 to 10 are streamed into either High Exposure (HE) or Low Exposure (LE) strands, with different degrees of exposure to CLIL. Although this system ensures that all students in a bilingual secondary school receive CLIL to a certain degree, recent voices have signaled the potential risk of fostering inequality among students by streaming within the program (Fernández-Agüero & Hidalgo-McCabe, 2020; Hidalgo-McCabe, 2020). In this study, we explore classroom interactional practices by one science teacher teaching the same content in both groups (grade 7 HE and LE strands), and the effect of such interactional practices on enhancing (or not) students’ higher order thinking skills and the expression of academic content in the L2 or L1. For the analysis, we developed a multi-layered analytical model which incorporates the construct of cognitive discourse functions (CDFs) (Dalton-Puffer, 2013) and the semantic dimension of Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) (Maton, 2013, 2020). We find significant differences across the two groups in the use of CDFs and ‘semantic codes’ for knowledge construction and meaning making. More specifically, the results show a more frequent use of the CDF evaluate and a higher rate of semantic density (abstractions) in classroom discourse in the HE strand.
After almost three decades of the implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programs in Europe and all over the world, the celebratory tone of the early years has been followed by the emergence of critical voices. The arrival and growth of CLIL programs in some European countries, for example Spain, was an initial step forward in guaranteeing equal access to bilingual education and opportunities for ‘immersion-like’ foreign language development, which were previously only available to students whose families could afford sending their children to expensive private (elite) schools. However, there are concerns about the potential role of CLIL in enhancing equity or inequity in education (see, e.g., Nikula, Skinnari, & Mård-Miettinen, 2022; Siepmann, Rumlich, Matz, & Römhild, 2021). Against this backdrop, it may be worth distinguishing between CLIL as a methodological approach and CLIL as a type of educational program or context for learning (Dalton-Puffer, Hüttner, & Llinares, 2022; Llinares, 2015).
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