This presentation examines former pupils’ (n=24) perceptions of the effect of CLIL on their life courses. Most participants still used English actively and emphasized the role of CLIL in contributing to their positive English self-concept. The results imply that CLIL can work as one factor in guiding individuals’ life courses.
Studying the long-term effects of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is a fairly unexplored terrain. This doctoral dissertation aims to fill this important research gap by investigating the significance of CLIL education in individuals' lives. More specifically, this presentation will address the findings of a sub-study that examined the participants' life courses in relation to their English self-concept formed by CLIL. The participants of the study are 24 former CLIL pupils who received English-medium CLIL education in comprehensive school in Finland in the 1990s. Individual interviews were conducted with each participant in 2016-2017. The data were analyzed using both analysis of narratives and narrative analysis. The analysis resulted in four collective types that summarized the participants' life courses as English users. The types were labelled 'confident users' (n=9), 'steady users' (n=7), 'fluctuating users' (n=6) and 'reluctant users' (n=2). The results showed that CLIL had created a very strong English self-concept to the confident users and they still used English actively in their lives. The steady users had similarly robust English self-concept although their post-CLIL lives had not contained that much English use. The fluctuating users' English self-concept seemed to have been more ambivalent and situational as their lives had contained both periods of high and low self-concept whereas the reluctant users were characterized by a relatively negative English self-concept and minor use of English. Most participants emphasized the early start of CLIL and perceived it as an important factor in contributing to their positive and strong English self-concept. In general, the results of this study imply that CLIL can create the foundation of strong target language self-concept and work as a stepping stone to further learning of the CLIL target language. Moreover, the results prompt the implication of adopting CLIL methodology also to mainstream language education.
