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de la Universidad Latina de México
49
approach for the future in our context for the reason that
even though we, teachers, are aware of its benefits, we are
also conscious that the decision to adopt a certain approach
is a political one; to be more specific, educational policies
that will enforce one language – in this case English – over
others will mean introducing changes in the training of
teachers.
But we believe that some of the positive aspects of CLIL
merit the attempt, such as the emphasis on fluency rather
than on accuracy, focussing on communication. Besides,
this approach strengthens critical thinking and collaboration
skills, both equally relevant for anybody learning L2
because they promote real-world skills, and enhance
not only motivation but also self-confidence. All these
characteristics make CLIL a positive alternative and, while
teachers are always searching to construct an easier and
enjoyable language learning context, we should encourage
CLIL inclusion in any of its forms into our context syllabus.
(Mackenzie, n.d.)
On his part, David Graddol emphasizes that, at present,
people do not learn English with the sole purpose of
communicating with native speakers or getting to know
their culture; their main aim is to converse among non-
native speakers around the world. This is one of the reasons
why the focus, nowadays, is towards bilingual and even
multilingual education (Graddol, D., IATEFL 2009, CLIL
Debate).
To highlight the idea that we should attempt to promote
change in our contexts, we have incorporated some relevant
issues presented in a panel at the IATEFL CLIL debate in