Abstract:

This paper focuses on teachers' application of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) in biology lessons in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The main objective of the study was to compare the extent of teachers' application of CLIL in biology at secondary schools (ISCED 3) in these two countries. We focused on teaching forms and concrete topics of teaching units in which CLIL is applied and also on the detection of the main obstacles which may limit teachers' application of CLIL. The research of the paper consists of an analysis and comparison of the results of teachers' responses (108 Czechs, 63 Slovaks) to particular items in the on-line questionnaire. 32 % of Czech teachers said they applied CLIL, whereas only 13 % in Slovakia. English (85 %) was the main CLIL language used by Czech teachers, some teachers also used German, French and Russian. In addition, the CLIL language used by Slovak teachers was only English. In terms of integrating CLIL into various teaching forms the situation is very similar in both countries. It is applied mostly in the lesson of basic type, then in projects and also in laboratory lessons. Moreover the obstacles limiting the application of CLIL in both countries are very comparable too. In other words the main obstacles were teachers' worries about their insufficient knowledge of CLIL language, methodology of CLIL and lack of teaching materials.

Keywords:

Biology teaching, CLIL, secondary school, biology teacher.