The Views of Advanced Learners of English on Content and Language Integrated Learning

As a language learning methodology, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has become increasingly prevalent at Japanese universities and is viewed by many educators as a positive step toward improving the English proficiency skills of Japanese university students. This educational trend is reflected in Japan’s Ministry of Education Global 30 Project that seeks to expand and enhance the number of degree programs conducted in English and to hopefully lead to an increase in the number of international students studying at its institutions of higher learning. In this article, I provide transcriptions of interviews I carried out with four Japanese university students who are highly proficient learners of English and have taken content courses in English and Japanese. The aim of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of CLIL as seen from the perspectives of students who have actually experienced the methodology firsthand. Although the interviewees expressed positive points about learning various subjects through English, they also stated specific reservations in regard to the implementation of English as the medium of instruction in content courses