1. The use of CLIL methodology in Sweden
CLIL is fairly new concept in Swedish schools, but the interest is steadily growing. There is
however a language teaching method called SPRINT, which is a predecessor to CLIL, that
has been used successfully within teaching of German. The abbreviation stands for SPR as in
“ språk “ ( language ) in Swedish and INT (integrated) The SPRINT method has been
evaluated scientifically and the results are very promising. The dissertation proves that the
pupils increase their vocabulary and their idiomatic qualities much faster than a control group
of students who are taught German in the traditional way
In a Finish study by Tarja Nukula of the difference between traditional teaching of English
and English taught the CLIL way it is proved that in the CLIL- classroom English is used as a
tool for learning other subject whereas in the traditional classroom English is not a tool but
just another subject to be learnt.
In Sweden CLIL teaching takes place both in schools run by the municipalities and in private
schools even if it hitherto is in a small scale. There are even teachers’ training courses run by
EFL ( English as a foreign language) schools, where teachers are trained to teach the CLIL
way.
In CLIL teaching the use of a foreign language is strongly emphasized in contrast to
traditional language teaching where you focus learning the language according to the EFL
schools.
CLIL teaching is well known concept in central Europe as a consequence of the language
teaching policy launched by the European Union. Sweden, being a fairly new member of the
Union, has just lately acknowledged the advantages of modernizing its language teaching
methods.
Links to information on CLIL teaching in Sweden:
karmen.johansson@sprak.gu.se
http://www.clilconsortium.jyu.fi/
www.essays.se/essay/087b8fc751/