Are CLIL learners simply faster or also different? Evidence from L1 use in the repair sequences and discourse markers of CLIL and EFL learners

Abstract

This study compares the linguistic abilities of CLIL and EFL learners regarding their need for repair sequences, their ability to avoid L1 use and their production of discourse markers while narrating stories in English. Data were collected from a CLIL and an EFL group (n. 15 and 11) of (Spanish/Basque) adolescents narrating a story twice over a two year period (ages 13 and 15). The analyses of the learners' production revealed differences between groups as well as changes in both groups over time. Repairs in the CLIL group were often generated in English and dropped over time unlike in the EFL group. Also, the CLIL learners incorporated the repairs gradually less often in their subsequent speech while the EFL learners did so more and more frequently suggesting two different attitudes towards the language. Finally, discourse markers were used in the L1 in both groups but the EFL group underutilized them.