From EFL to CLIL: Teaching and Learning Vocabulary in the Primary Classroom

Abstract

The focus on foreign language learning in primary education in Spain Is currently going through many changes. Until recently, English as a foreign language (EFL) was relegated to one subject taught throughout the curriculum between two to three hours a week depending on the grade. Language learning at this level has traditionally been based on the development of the four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing with the use of textbooks in the classroom. According to Nation (2001) a minimum of 2000 words would be necessary to be able to communicate at a basic level in a foreign language. At the end of six years of classroom instruction, students were expected to have acquired sufficient receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary knowledge in English. Receptive vocabulary corresponds to the words a student can understand in contrast to productive vocabulary which are the words that a student can produce. This vocabulary can also be grouped into structural vocabulary (prepositions, auxiliary verbs, etc.) and lexical vocabulary, (less frequent words) which have more weight of meaning.