The Power of Meaning: How Professor Anna Llinares is Transforming Language Learning through CLIL

What if learning a language wasn’t just about grammar and vocabulary, but about using it to connect and understand the world?

That question has shaped Professor Anna Llinares’ career. Asa full professor at the University of Madrid and Vice Chair of CLILNetLE, she explores how Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) can make language learning more meaningful.

Her early work focused on how young children in Spain could use English functionally—even in preschool—by expressing real needs and ideas. This “meaning-making” approach became central to her philosophy: language isn’t just something to learn, but a tool for learning.

Later, she expanded her research to older students learning academic subjects like science or history through a second language. She sees CLIL not as a fixed method, but as a flexible, adaptable approach across languages and systems.

CLIL takes many forms globally. In Spain, regional governments often lead its implementation, while in multilingual areas like Catalonia, adding a foreign language presents added complexity. In Finland, CLIL grows from local initiatives, and in Japan, “soft CLIL” brings content into language classes.

Across these contexts, the goal is the same: using language to think, learn, and engage. For Llinares, it’s not just about fluency - it’s about making meaning through language.

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Professor Llinares leads a research group focused on how content and language learning intersect in bilingual education—particularly in Spain. One of their long-running projects examined the transition from primary to secondary school in Madrid’s bilingual program. They explored not just students’ oral and written production in English, but also their perceptions, beliefs, and performance in both English and Spanish.

Interestingly, the group found that students who struggled to define or explain concepts in English often faced similar challenges in Spanish. This suggests that difficulties were more about conceptual understanding than language itself—and that functional language skills (like defining or explaining) can transfer between languages.

They’ve used Christian Dalton-Puffer’s cognitive discourse functions model extensively, examining how students use language to perform tasks like describing, explaining, or hypothesizing—especially across subjects like science and history.

Currently, their research is focusing on a different bilingual program, a collaboration between the British Council and Spain’s Ministry of Education. Here, they’re analyzing how socioeconomic factors affect students’ written performance, and how this correlates with teacher evaluations. They compare how students express complex ideas in writing with what both English and content teachers consider strong or weak responses—offering a nuanced look at teacher expectations and assessment.

As for written production in CLIL, Llinares’ work challenges the assumption that CLIL only benefits speaking skills. Her findings point toward clear gains in writing, especially when students are supported in expressing academic functions—such as defining terms or exploring historical causes—with clarity and depth.

Speaking vs. Writing: What CLIL Reveals About How Students Express Knowledge

In her research, Professor Llinares has explored not just the what of language learning, but also the how—specifically, how students perform when using language across different modes: speaking vs. writing.

One key finding from her team’s studies: when students respond to the same question in writing, their answers tend to be more structured and formal, closely mirroring textbook language or what teachers typically expect. In contrast, spoken responses—while often less academic—allow students to expand more freely and showcase a deeper understanding of content through natural dialogue and teacher prompts.

This duality points to the importance of encouraging both written and oral expression in bilingual classrooms. Writing reveals students’ grasp of academic conventions, but speaking often shows a richer, more personal connection to the material.

To analyze these differences, Llinares’ team draws on systemic functional linguistics, focusing less on grammar accuracy and more on how students use language functionally—for example, how they define terms, clarify ideas, or add examples. They examine not just what students say or write, but how they organize and expand their responses, and how lexical-grammatical choices support those goals.

Ultimately, the research challenges the idea that content teachers aren't language teachers. As Llinares puts it, even if they’re not teaching grammar explicitly, they are supporting language development—because language is inseparable from learning.

The Role of CLILNetLE in Advancing CLIL and Disciplinary Literacies

Professor Llinares sees the CLILNetLE initiative as crucial for the future of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)research, especially in the realm of disciplinary literacies. Initially, research focused on whether students in CLIL settings gained more general language proficiency compared to those who studied language as a separate subject. However, the focus has now shifted to understanding how languages are learned through content—specifically, how students perform and learn when studying subjects like history or science in a second language.

CLILNetLE’s interdisciplinary approach, spanning multiple countries and contexts, plays a key role in exploring these questions. It offers an opportunity to compare and contrast different educational contexts to draw meaningful insights about how students acquire literacy across disciplines in multiple languages.

The main challenge of this initiative is balancing general insights with local contexts - finding frameworks that can be applied globally while respecting the specificities of each educational system. Despite the complexity, Professor Llinares believes CLILNetLE’s ability to explore disciplinary literacies in diverse contexts makes it an innovative and necessary step forward in CLIL research.

Key Topics in CLIL Research Today

Professor Llinares highlights several key areas in current CLIL research. One major topic is the transition from secondary to tertiary education. While some research has begun exploring how tertiary instructors view students' disciplinary literacy preparation, more work is needed on this transition.

Another critical issue is equity in CLIL programs. Research shows mixed results, with some studies suggesting that CLIL can reduce socioeconomic disparities, while others indicate it benefits only those from supportive, language-focused families. Professor Llinares advocates for expanding successful programs that help reduce inequity, especially for migrant populations, by providing a shared second-language learning environment for all students.

Lastly, she emphasizes the importance of teacher collaboration in CLIL. This includes fostering teamwork between content and language teachers, as well as involving teachers in research. Professor Llinares believes engaging teachers directly in research is vital for improving CLIL practices and aligns with the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, which stress the importance of teamwork in education.

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