The impact of CLIL on the development of writing skills in senior students a comparative analysis

Abstract

Abstract: This study examines the impact of CLIL on senior students' writing skills and their perceptions of its effectiveness. The main objective was to determine if CLIL indeed has a positive effect on the development of such skills. This is a mixed methods study with a descriptive design, which involved 120 students from a bilingual institution in the city of Cuenca, divided between those who had CLIL exposure and those who did not. The instruments used were, the B2 first writing rubric, and a survey regarding the students perceptions of CLIL. The results reveal that CLIL has a positive impact on certain aspects of writing. Students exposed to CLIL demonstrated improved proficiency in effectively organizing their ideas and utilizing complex language structures. Moreover, the study found that students had positive perceptions of their CLIL classes, highlighting the benefits of this approach in language and content integration. Overall, the findings support the notion that CLIL can enhance students' writing skills. Furthermore, it contributes valuable insights to the ongoing discussion on the effectiveness of CLIL in language education, providing recommendations for future research.