DAVID MARSH

«Shaping Future CLIL Horizons»

During the launch of CLIL predictions were made on likely reactions and how it might develop in the immediate and longer term.  We understood the potentially transformational nature of this approach for systems and schools.  We assumed that there would be an initial negative backlash from certain entities, organizations and educational sectors.  We thought that attempts would be made to take ownership of the term which leading to new variants being fielded.  We predicted that the phenomenon would continue to grow, even with ‘different clothing’, because of surrounding major global trends.

What we did not see was that 25 years later CLIL would become so deeply relevant to the teaching and learning needs of the digitally astute young people now in education.  Nor did we understand the depth of the positive impact of frequently activating more than one language on the mind and brain.

This presentation looks at why and how past developments are now powering the CLIL trajectory as we manage the fast-changing present and attempt to shape the future.

CRISTINA PÉREZ GUILLOT

«Present and future of Linguistic Competence Accreditation»

The integration, following the signing of the Bologna Declaration in June 1999, in the European Higher Education Area, the growing mobility of students and, of course, the standardization of CEFR levels has meant that the Accreditation of Linguistic competence has become a key element in the career not only of the faculty but also for all the university graduate.

Nowadays, the accreditation of linguistic competence is required to graduate in many universities of the national territory and one of the requirements for access to most masters as well.

The evaluation of linguistic competence has been subjected, due to the great demand, to a great political, institutional and social pressure. All the organisms related to the language teaching have had to consider the options and have looked for diverse routes of homogenization.

From the very beginning, we’ve been trying to compile and establish comparable certifications that meet the basic principles of evaluation and that are well anchored at a CEFR level and are recognized in educational and work environments.

We will talk about the role of ACLES (National Association of Language Centres in Higher Education) and its contribution to organize the Accreditation system, not only by creating its own CertAcles certificate of competence but having so many certificates from many different institutions, try to help the different groups, creating a table of certificates in the different languages, all nationally and internationally recognized.