FOREIGN LANGUAGE TRAINING OF EASTERN EUROPEAN HUMANITARIAN COLLEGES STUDENTS USING CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING (CLIL) METHOD

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of using the method of content and
language integrated learning (CLIL) in the process of foreign language training of humanitarian colleges
students in several Eastern European countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia). Based on the
analysis of scientific and methodological literature, the authors found out that during the last decade the
CLIL method has been rapidly spreading in the European educational space in three main forms: so called
«hard», «soft» and «partial immersion». In Eastern Europe, the «hard» form of CLIL is the most
widespread, because, according to educators, it is better able to implement the idea of integrating learning
in a certain discipline and a foreign language. At the same time, practical teachers are aware that only a
balanced combination of foreign language and non-philological content can give the best educational
effect. In pedagogical practice, the CLIL method is often used by teachers of special (non-philological)
disciplines who possess high level of foreign language training. However, the latter often subconsciously
pursue only one goal of learning - language, evaluating the overall success of students mostly from the
perspective of success in a foreign language. Therefore, it is more logical to train a subject teacher who
will have a high level of competence in the foreign language field than a foreign language philologist who
has additional subject specializations. The authors found out that as of today, in contrast to most EU
countries, there are not many accredited programs in humanitarian colleges in Eastern Europe that are
fully focused on the training of CLIL teachers. Humanitarian colleges offer only select courses, which are often elective ones. Although practicing and prospective teachers (who are interested in developing their
professional competences in CLIL) have access to courses offered by national and international postgraduate teacher education institutions, but this is clearly not enough. Thus, the authors come to the
conclusion that the strategy of adequate systematic training of CLIL teachers does not yet have a clear
definition in humanitarian colleges of the studied countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia).
Under such conditions, the authors recommend starting with an assessment of existing competencies and
clarifying the needs of a teacher interested in systematic work using CLIL method. This assessment can
be based on the requirements described in the Recommendations of the European Commission on the
training of such specialists, the Table of Competencies of the CLIL teachers, reflections of the teachers
themselves, feedback from students, educational institutions administrations, other interested parties.