La adquisición de las destrezas productivas en contextos AICLE y no AICLE en Educación Primaria en Cantabria: a learner corpus-based study
- Autores: Ana González Martínez
- Directores de la Tesis: Francisco Gallardo del Puerto (codir. tes.), Evelyn Gandón-Chapela (codir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universidad de Cantabria ( España ) en 2025
- Idioma: español
- Títulos paralelos:
- The acquisition of productive skills in CLIL and non-CLIL programmes in Primary Education in Cantabria: a learner corpus-based study
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: David Marsh (presid.), Lucila María Pérez Fernández (secret.), María Martínez Adrián (voc.)
- Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Geografía e Historia por la Universidad de Cantabria
- Materias:
- Enlaces
- Tesis en acceso abierto en: UCrea
- Resumen
- español
Esta tesis se centra en tres variables esenciales de la producción oral y escrita de jóvenes aprendices de inglés como L2: el contexto de instrucción (AICLE vs. EFL), la intensidad del programa AICLE, y el género. A través del corpus PELEC, se exploraron los datos de 93 estudiantes de Ed. Primaria de la región de Cantabria mediante análisis holísticos, CAF, de errores y de alternancia de código. Los hallazgos sugieren que el enfoque AICLE contribuye al desarrollo de la competencia oral, especialmente en programas más intensivos. Asimismo, AICLE parece disminuir las diferencias de género, mientras que los contextos tradicionales tienden a mantener una ligera ventaja en el rendimiento de las mujeres, especialmente en tareas escritas. Estos resultados contribuyen a comprender la eficacia de AICLE para promover una adquisición lingüística equilibrada entre los grupos analizados.
- español
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), which involves the use of a second language (L2) to teach non-language subjects, has become a prominent concern in European education (Dalton-Puffer, 2008). The Spanish educational system has been responsive to these European initiatives (Martínez-Adrián, 2011). Consequently, in the last decades, CLIL has developed rapidly in the country (Ruiz-de-Zarobe & Lasagabaster, 2010). Notwithstanding the rapid implementation of this approach, the available research into its effectiveness still lags behind (Pérez-Cañado, 2012). Adding to the complexity of this phenomenon is the fact that CLIL implementation can vary greatly and take many different forms (Dalton-Puffer et al., 2014), which are often determined by the context of the environment and the learners involved (Marsh, 2006). In Spain, the decentralisation of the educational policies and the diversity among the different autonomous communities have contributed to this high level of variability (Ruiz de Zarobe & Lasagabaster, 2010). Thus, the characteristics and the results of these programmes may vary from one region to another and, while progress has been made, there are key areas within this field that require more focused study to address existing gaps in knowledge. Research to date has highlighted the advantages of the CLIL approach in areas such as oral fluency or lexical richness, but other domains yield minimal or inconclusive results, such as pronunciation or writing (Dalton-Puffer, 2008), and remain to be thoroughly explored. Beyond that, some differences in the effects of CLIL may be also ascribed to aspects such as programme duration and intensity (Merino & Lasagabaster, 2018). Current evidence suggests that more intensive CLIL programmes tend to offer greater benefits for L2 proficiency, but the effects of additional exposure in less intensive CLIL programmes remain unclear. Another aspect that has not been ascertained yet is the impact of gender differences within CLIL and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts in terms of linguistic outcomes. Research has shown that bilingual contexts seem to erase gender differences in content acquisition or motivation (Nieto-Moreno-de-Diezmas & Hill, 2019; Gallardo-del-Puerto & Blanco-Suárez, 2021), but it is necessary to elucidate whether this levelling effect is transferred to language learning.
This study aims to add to prior research by exploring the oral and written productions of young learners enrolled in CLIL programmes and those in traditional EFL approaches. Furthermore, this study explores the effect of CLIL programme intensity on language proficiency and examines the role of gender, gauging whether CLIL conditions facilitate equal proficiency outcomes for both male and female learners. To achieve these aims, this dissertation employs a cross-sectional, multidimensional approach drawing on data obtained from the Primary Education Learners' English Corpus (PELEC) (Blanco-Suárez, Gallardo-del-Puerto & Gandón-Chapela, 2020). The sample includes data from 93 students in 4th and 6th grades across five state primary schools in the region of Cantabria, and the data analysis encompasses i) a holistic analysis based on the evaluations of two independent judges, ii) a Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency (CAF) measures analysis that assesses the levels of linguistic complexity, accuracy and fluency, iii) an error analysis that identifies the language structures with which learners may struggle, and iv) an analysis of code-switching instances. In addition, a comparative analysis in the foreign language (English) versus the mother tongue (Spanish) is offered, in order to obtain further information about the language development process. The data obtained were statistically analysed in R Studio.
Although few significant differences emerged in the analyses, underlying trends suggest that the CLIL approach offers positive advantages in developing oral communication, whereas the EFL approach appears to be more effective for enhancing writing skills, particularly in terms of formal language accuracy. In response to the CLIL intensity variable, while higher L2 exposure through CLIL appears to promote oral lexical development and written accuracy, its benefits in particular linguistic areas, such as syntactic structures, remains unclear. These findings suggest that certain language domains may require longer exposure to show significant improvement, particularly among younger learners. Lastly, the results indicate that the CLIL programme contributes to reducing gender differences in the oral and written tasks. In turn, the traditional EFL context appears to favour the slight advantage exhibited by girls, particularly in writing. While further empirical studies are needed to confirm the impact of CLIL across all linguistic areas, current evidence suggests that CLIL in Cantabria has a strong potential for shaping future educational strategies to foster language proficiency. The outcomes obtained in this study may guide future investigations with respect to young learners in CLIL programmes and offer relevant insights for all educational stakeholders.
- español
