CLIL in Primary Education: a qualitative analysis of lesson materials

The present dissertation aims to investigate the extent to which CLIL materials used by Italian primary school teachers are adherent to CLIL theoretical principles and are age-appropriate for forth-grade students. This objective was pursued through the analysis and comparison of teaching materials from a single subject area designed for young learners. A qualitative approach was adopted to examine learning lessons taken from commercial CLIL textbooks alongside online self-authored materials produced by CLIL teachers. After providing an overview of the CLIL approach—its theoretical foundations and its advantages in fostering second language proficiency—the study will focus specifically on the Italian context in primary education. The relevant legislative framework will be presented, together with a description of the Italian primary CLIL teacher profile. Moreover, the profile of young learners will be taken into account, highlighting the relevant elements that need to be considered during the implementation of CLIL in primary education. Finally, a set of informative data was collected from the lesson materials to determine whether the different lessons responded to the research questions and whether any significant difference was detectable between ready-made materials form commercial textbooks and self-authored materials.