Speaker
Description
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has become a widely adopted approach to bilingual education, expanding from its European origins into Asia. Despite this growth, the relationship between official policies and actual classroom practices remains unevenly documented across regions. This study uses a comparative qualitative document analysis to examine how CLIL is implemented in school systems in seven European countries (Luxembourg, Malta, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Finland) and eight Asian countries, including Vietnam (Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and China). Each country is analyzed using four criteria: participation, educational levels, subjects taught in a second language and programme maturity, then systems are classified into four categories: universal, mainstream, selective, and emerging. Findings show that Europe demonstrates more developed and structured CLIL systems. Luxembourg and Malta have fully bilingual models, while Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands integrate CLIL at a mainstream level. Italy uniquely mandates CLIL in the final year of upper secondary education, whereas Finland and Belgium maintain more selective approaches. In contrast, CLIL in Asia is newer and more uneven. Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Thailand operate long-established selective programmes, while Vietnam, Taiwan, and Japan are expanding CLIL through national initiatives. China limits CLIL mainly to elite and pilot schools, and South Korea restricts its use to higher education and elite contexts, with additional language policy constraints in primary schools. Overall, the study offers a comparative framework to track CLIL development and identify pathways from pilot initiatives to wider implementation.
