Abstract. Listening, like reading, writing, and speaking, is a complex process best developed by consistent
practice. Listening is the vital skill providing the basis for the successful communication and successful professional
career. Effective listening skills enhance the ability to learn and adapt new information, knowledge, and skills.
Listening comprehension is more than extracting meaning from incoming speech. It is a process of matching
speech with the background knowledge, i.e. what the listeners already know about the subject.
Listening in a CLIL environment is different from listening in a content class conducted in the mother-tongue
and from listening comprehension tasks in the language class. The aim of this paper is to analyse how CLIL
methodology could be useful in developing listening comprehension in both content and language classes. It is
very important to teach students how to listen. In this light, listening emerges first and foremost as a process
and second as a product. Consequently learners become responsible for their own learning and gain control over
the listening process. Listening skills can be developed by the instruction of general learning strategies. The CLIL
approach could be of great help in reaching this goal and is going to be discussed in a greater detail in this paper.
Key words: Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL); Language In Content Instruction (LICI); listening
skills; cognitive skills; learning strategies.
Introduction
Listening is a language skill, thus it can be developed through
practice. In Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
it is important that students are provided with the suitable
materials to listen to. These materials come in a variety of
forms, first as a teacher‟s input, as well as peer input and
interaction and as information source (recorded lectures,
films, tutorials, etc). In language classes an audio-lingual
method was considered to be very important for students to
develop a better pronunciation, to train comprehension skills.
Vandergrift (2002) points out that in the early 70‟s, work
by Asher, Postovsky, Winitz and, later, Krashen, emphasized
the role of listening as a tool for understanding and central
to the process of language learning.
The aim of this paper is to analyse how CLIL methodology
could be useful in developing listening comprehension in
both content and language classes. Research findings are
based on the materials produced by the international team
of a Socrates Lingua 2 project - “Language in Content
Instruction” (LICI) which was carried out during 2006-
2009 and has involved 8 partners coming from 7 European
countries. The focus of the LICI project and its products
was the language of learning and instruction in a CLIL
environment. The Language In Content Instruction (LICI)
model emphasizes the role of language resources in encoding
content-specific meaning. Language and meaning are
integrated, and by extending language, meaning resources
extend accordingly. The language focus consists of the
training of language skills (listening, speaking, reading and
writing), vocabulary and grammar. For linking content with
language, general and content-specific thinking skills and
strategies are analysed. This paper focuses on the analysis
of theoretical issues as well as practical examples illustrating
how it might be possible to select and use different strategies
in order to develop listening skills in a CLIL environment.
Overview