ICT in CLIL in India: Building a Case for Nativization

Eeshani Kochhar & Amrutha Bellur Yathish, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India: In the field of foreign language acquisition, technology has reshaped the processes of knowledge production and transfer, resulting in Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-based teaching and learning in classrooms. The Content and Language Integrated learning (CLIL) approach tried and tested in different countries is seen to use a multitude of ICT tools for successful outputs. CLIL@India is a three-year EU funded project piloting the CLIL approach in India, which being a developing nation is often characterized by insufficient access to and uneven distribution of technology-based infrastructure. During its tenure the project has carried out interventions in four states with four different Indian languages. By exploring the adaptation of the CLIL approach reliant on ICT tools to the Indian education space, the authors highlight the need for nativizing foreign approaches to host contexts. Furthermore, challenges that emerged through the course of the project are discussed with insights and recommendations for the development of a context-specific approach, tailored to suit native requirements bearing in mind the availability of technological resources and capabilities.

Key words: ICT, CLIL, Foreign Language Acquisition, Nativization, Education, India