Prolegomena to the epistemology of languages for non-specialists: the example of CLIL

Abstract

CLIL has attracted the attention of LSP teachers worldwide and generated much literature. As a teaching and learning tool, it is frequently referred to in pedagogy, but a lot less in the epistemology of didactics. The present contribution aims to show how CLIL is an interface between conceptual research and practical implementation but that it cannot serve as a conceptual tool in the shaping of didactics as a field of research. Instead, concepts should be understood as context-dependent; they also vary with the subject matter to which language is connected (English for law differs from English for science) and therefore need the contribution of human sciences to emerge in their own rights.

Keywords

• lsp
• clil
• concepts
• epistemology
• interdisciplinarity