A CLIL METHODOLOGY FOCUSED ON THE TEACHING OF ORAL ENGLISH AT A CHILEAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe the design process of a learning unit and an academic course based on the CLIL approach in a university located within a predominantly monolingual context. This approach articulates the functional linguistic development of an L2 with disciplinary content specific to students’ professional training within a single curricular activity. The team responsible for the project adopted a soft CLIL approach, focusing on strengthening English proficiency through a learning unit in the course Fluid Mechanics in the Mechanical Engineering program and an elective course entitled Developing Oral Communication in English for Medical Presentations in the Medicine program. In both cases, the selected discourse genre was the oral presentation. The methodology corresponds to a systematization, understood as a process of conceptual reconstruction of a pedagogical project aimed at identifying lessons learned and challenges that may be shared with other teams interested in implementing CLIL. The results are presented in three sections: program selection criteria, team preparation and training, and the curriculum design of both courses, illustrating the planning and lesson-design process. The study concludes that, as a pilot experience, it is necessary to adopt a flexible approach that considers three essential aspects. First, programs’ needs and possibilities must be examined so that language and content teachers can negotiate and agree on a feasible implementation format. Second, a threshold level of English should be established as an entry requirement for communicative development in the L2. Finally, the configuration of a CLIL-based learning sequence must be structured around a clearly defined and bounded discourse genre, which serves as the basis for designing scaffolding tools that support students’ progress in both disciplinary content and L2 development —in this case, English.