. The present study reports a CLIL implementation at primary level in EFL setting. For the purposes of this study, we explored the teachers’ perceptions of their own L2 competence in language classes in young learners’ CLIL classrooms to better understand Pérez Cañado’s (2018) suggested teacher competences (i.e. linguistic, pedagogical, organizational, interpersonal and collaborative competence) We investigated whether teaching content has changed teachers’ perceptions about their own L2 competence and L2 teaching competence in a four-year CLIL experience.
Language teachers in CLIL classes might adopt different strategies to refine their pedagogical competence and organizational competence (Vazquez et al., 2014) preferably in order to address the necessities of ‘interactive- explaining’ inherent in CLIL classes (Smit, 2010). As explaining content brings additional challenges, language teachers strive to find better ways of making “content” accessible to their learners. The present study reports a CLIL implementation at primary level in EFL setting. For the purposes of this study, we explored the teachers’ perceptions of their own L2 competence in language classes in young learners’ CLIL classrooms to better understand Pérez Cañado’s (2018) suggested teacher competences (i.e. linguistic, pedagogical, organizational, interpersonal and collaborative competence) We investigated whether teaching content has changed teachers’ perceptions about their own L2 competence and L2 teaching competence in a four-year CLIL experience. We administered a questionnaire to 32 English language teachers who have been actively involved in teaching in a CLIL program at a primary school in Turkey. Participating teachers had at least five years of EFL teaching experience and had been teaching at the same institution at least for 4 years at the time of the study. The questionnaire included 25 likert-scale items about content-, and language integrated teaching and six questions about their CLIL experience, three questions about learner engagement and confidence in language use, and five questions about teacher confidence about language use. The findings showed that Perez- Canado’s argument for changing teacher competences are compatible with teachers’ experiences in Turkey. The challenges of CLIL teaching-specifically making the content accessible for EFL learners, has enabled English language teachers to conceptualize themselves as “competent L2 users” instead of non-native English language teachers and they have become active learners in relation to scientific knowledge as suggested.
