Application of listening comprehension strategies in a CLIL classroom
Teachers must be aware of the fact that listening in a CLILenvironment is different from listening in a content lesson conducted in the mother-tongue and from listening comprehension tasks in language lessons. Several factors contribute to the difficulty of the listening task.
From a linguistic perspective the following factors can hinder comprehension in the foreign language: speech rate, complexity of language structures and lexis, phonological features (e.g. dialects or foreign accents, different speakers) lack of visuals, background noise and occasional lapses of concentration or hearing. From a subject (content) perspective 91 the background knowledge of the topic is very important. If the listener is not familiar with the subject it may hinder the process of understanding - the cognitive load the material presents may be too high.