Learners’ Attitude towards the Adaptation of CLIL in Undergraduate English Literature Courses in a Private University Context in Bangladesh

Abstract

For a lack of competence in the English language, students of BA English programs in private universities in Bangladesh appear to struggle to understand the lessons involving literary content (Alam, 2018). To help students with adequate skills in English, adapting Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), with equal emphasis on subject teaching and language teaching for enhancing both the skills of communicating and transferring content knowledge, appears to be more effective than just lecture-based content teaching of literature. Then again, the success of CLIL in literature classes depends on learners’ positive attitude towards it (Dörneyi, 1990; Dörneyi, 2001; Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Heckhausen, 1991). Therefore, this research intends to explore learners’ perceptions about integrating task-oriented literary materials with both content and language teaching to develop students’ comprehension level of literary contents as well as enhance their English language skills. This paper, a fraction of a larger research, will focus on the findings of a questionnaire and interviews to address learners’ perspectives regarding the strengths of using CLIL in undergraduate English literature classes in Bangladesh. A group of first year undergraduate students of English literature courses in a private university participated in this research. The quantitative data from the questionnaire was analyzed using an Excel spreadsheet and the qualitative interview data was analyzed thematically. Based on the analysis of the findings, the research identified that the learners expressed a mixed attitude towards CLIL in literature classes regarding its strengths and weaknesses. The majority of the learners with weaker language skills enjoyed CLIL whereas learners with better language skills preferred lecture-based lessons instead of CLIL.