Teacher perceptions of teaching CLIL courses

After various definitions and discussions about what CLIL / ICLHE is, there is a need to take a critical stance on the actual teaching practices teachers employ in (adjunct) CLIL classrooms in a higher education setting. We aim to contribute to a better understanding of teacher perceptions of teaching CLIL courses, which can lead to a better ability in identifying staff training needs. Based on a questionnaire and small-scale interview, we give the voice to the teachers to describe their current teaching from the ICLHE point of view. Through thematic analysis we focus on the areas the interviews show as in need of development. These are identified based on how the teachers describe their own teaching. The results report similarities, but also differences, between the responses to questionnaire items and interview answers on the same topics. There is a need for a deeper understanding of the pedagogical and didactic differences between CLIL teaching and subject-specific language teaching. The results show that these teachers would benefit from training focusing on the basic didactic practices of CLIL, and especially on the cognitive dimension in CLIL teaching. The results provide information from an adjunct CLIL context to researchers and serve as guide for future teacher development.