Conclusion
In conclusion it should be said that listening competence is
a complex skill that needs to be developed by practice.
Teachers should provide their learners with opportunities
to reflect on their listening processes and practices. The
role of the teacher is very important, as the teacher not only
guides the students through the process of listening, but
also motivates them and puts them in control of their learning.
The success of CLIL methodology in developing listening
skills is evident. In the language lesson listening materials
aim at developing language knowledge and skills and less
attention is devoted to developing cognitive skills, whereas
the material in a content lesson addresses thinking processes.
In a language lesson learners usually listen to different recorded
situations, which demonstrate how the foreign language is
used. Listening materials in the content lesson concentrate
on academic contexts, the focus is on the information. In a
CLIL environment both cognitive skills and language skills
are integrated and developed simultaneously. Studying the
subject, the learners improve their language proficiency.
Developing good listening skills is an inherent part of the
whole learning process. It cannot be taken apart and analyzed
as a separate skill without the general context of CLIL or
any other educational methodology. But as previous research
indicates (Liubinienė, 2008), from the language point of
view, CLIL students develop better oral communication skills,
they improve listening skills, they also develop reading
skills and academic writing, as well as acquire the skills of
presentation and develop ability to answer spontaneously
to questions. Thus they definitely improve both subject and
foreign language competence.
From the subject point of view, they gain better access to
subject-specific foreign language terminology, which leads
to easier comprehension of texts in the target language.
They acquire the skills of understanding the content with
the help of context or extra-linguistic information. This fact
increases learner motivation and prepares for future studies
and work.
If learners learn about the processes of listening they are
likely to become more autonomous in their attitudes and
behavior when presented with listening material. It is also
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likely that they will seek listening opportunities more
readily, beyond the classroom, as they will view listening
as a process as opposed to a product. In this light, the
contribution of CLIL cannot be overestimated since learners
explore languages in a variety of cognitive and communicative
contexts.