Teaching CLIL With Digital Literacies

Abstract

Despite the growing interest in digital literacy within educational policy, guidance for educators in terms of how digital literacy translates into the CLIL classroom is lacking. As a result, many teachers feel ill-prepared to support and engage their Net Generation learners in using technology effectively in a CLIL context. Following earlier research aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of digital competence through a review of literature related to digital content, new technology, virtual tools in education and CLIL frameworks, this paper focuses on the illustration of different digital literacy strategies carried out at Centro Universitario Cardenal Cisneros that are considered necessary for effective and pedagogical learning in emerging CLIL environments. To date, the discourse on both of these important issues (CLIL and digital literacies) has beenpractice-oriented, and lacks integrative strategies or theoretical foundation. This lacuna in the current discourse on linking content and language integrated learning and teaching with digital literacies, calls for a clear and theoretically-grounded viewof the digital literacies and principles required for effective learning in CLIL situations. The purpose of this article is to propose some strategies to enable motivating and effective content and language integrated learning using digital literacies.