CLIL: Greetings, Teacher. I am Content and Language Integrated Learning, but you can call me CLIL. My colleague here is—
TBLT: Task-Based Language Teaching! TBLT for short. We understand you're looking for a method that truly blends language with content across all skills. Well, you've found the two best candidates.
Tell us a little more about yourselves.
CLIL: I’m elegant and efficient. You just teach your subject but ... through the target language. Why me? Because I make language learning purposeful. Students aren't learning foreign grammar; they're using language to grasp fascinating concepts.
TBLT: And I’m all action! Everyone loves doing stuff, be it city planning, creating a travel itinerary, or solving a mystery. The language is the tool they use to get the job done. Why use me? Because I prepare students for the real world.
How would you help learn academic and social language?
CLIL: I am the undisputed champion of academic language—Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). In my classroom, students constantly work with subject-specific vocabulary, complex sentence structures, and genre forms like lab reports or historical analyses. They also develop social language through group work and discussions, but my specialty is building the language for school success.
TBLT: I naturally excel at building social and pragmatic language (BICS)—the skills of asking for clarification, agreeing, disagreeing, and persuading peers during a task. But don't sell me short! As the task complexity increases, students have to use higher-level thinking and, hence, the academic language.
What about teaching online?
CLIL: I would adapt beautifully! I can thrive online with multimodal content: short videos, virtual simulations, and interactive readings. We can use hyperlinks for instant vocabulary support and collaborative digital boards.
TBLT: I’m a natural for the digital space! Breakout rooms are perfect for small group tasks. Students can collaborate on a shared doc to plan their work or use a forum to negotiate a decision.
How would you monitor students' language acquisition?
CLIL: I’ll use a dual-focused assessment. A project rubric with separate criteria for content (e.g., "Accurately explains the water cycle") and language (e.g., "Uses terminology correctly and employs cause-effect connectors").
TBLT: I prefer a holistic approach. First, check the task completeness—was the problem solved? Was the plan created? Then, analyze the language, perhaps by reviewing a recording of their discussion and noting their fluency, complexity, and accuracy (the CAF framework, you know).
What about teaching reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills across content areas? Are you ready for the challenge?
CLIL: Without a doubt. I seamlessly integrate all four skills. A history unit, for example, will involve reading primary sources, listening to a lecture, speaking in a debate, and writing an analytical essay. See, all boxes are checked. I provide the most direct path to academic literacy across the entire curriculum.
TBLT: One hundred percent. My very essence is skills integration. A task requires students to read instructions, listen to each other's ideas, speak to negotiate, and write down their plan or final product. Not only will the student learn the skills, but also how to use them effectively in any situation. So, Teacher, who will it be?
Both CLIL and TBLT are quiet now, waiting for the verdict.
Hmmm, perhaps the best choice isn't "or" but "and." Imagine a CLIL unit with a TBLT-style project as the culminating assessment. Sounds good?
TBLT and CLIL together: Now we're talking! A content-rich task with calibrated complexity? Together, we'd be unstoppable.