Content-based teaching and plurilingual approach: how deep & how far? (virtual paper)

Prof. Zuzana Straková, University of Prešov, Slovakia;       Abstract: Content-based approach aims at connecting learning languages and meaningful context. Experience from integrating content and language from the Catalan and Basque educational context provides an interesting example how bridging language and content does not necessarily end with including one additional language. The idea of building plurilingual experience within CLIL approach seems to be beneficial for the learners, however, the readiness of teacher to include more than one additional language seems to be questionable in other than plurilingual social environment. This paper presents the results of a questionnaire survey focused on the attitudes of teacher trainees in their final year of training, which demonstrate that trainees´ vision of how far they can go in implementation of more than one additional language in their teaching is rather blur. The results raise quite a few questions and imperatives for the content of teacher training programmes as well as for the organisation of language education in general.