Learning Outcomes in CLIL Programmes: a Comparison of Results between Urban and Rural Environments

Abstract

After approximately two decades of implementing CLIL programmes in Spain, there is still a lack of solid grounding on the effects of this kind of approach in areas other than the development of the foreign language being used as the vehicle of instruction. This study combines an analysis of the learning outcomes of the language classes of both the foreign language and the mother tongue, of science subjects, of the relationship between psycho-affective factors such as verbal reasoning, motivation, anxiety, indifference and self -demand, and of the role of extramural exposure, in two distinct contexts, rural vs. urban schools. 295 students from two different grades (in Primary Education and in Compulsory Secondary Education) have been investigated in order to examine the relative influence of all these dimensions on the success rate of the CLIL programme under implementation, with the idea that students from rural and urban schools may perform differently. Results show that even though urban students seem to perform better in some of the above dimensions, there are not many apparent differences between students in rural and urban schools and, when existing, differences are not significant in the majority of the dimensions evaluated. Data suggests that the dissimilarity of results between schools is caused by a mixture of factors in the teaching and learning process but cannot be solely accredited to the characteristics of the two distinct school settings.