*1.1. Background*

Despite significant investments in foreign language teaching, student competencies continue to fall short of expected levels (students' foreign language proficiency in Russia is worse than in Europe) [1]. With an obvious decrease in the problems associated with the availability of learning a foreign language within educational institutions, the effectiveness of language education is still unsatisfactory. Despite the fact that there are a lot of learning hours dedicated to learning a foreign language at university, the level of proficiency is still not satisfactory. Currently, it is necessary to take a fresh look at the quality of teaching foreign languages. The implementation of changes in modern higher education in the context of a modernizing society presupposes the need to implement not only a competence-based approach, but also the introduction of interdisciplinarity and meta-discipline in the learning process at a higher educational institution [1]. To achieve interdisciplinarity in education, a contemporary approach is used: content and language integrated learning. This approach allows the study of two subjects within the same discipline, namely, professional and linguistic, which forms both linguistic competencies and professional competencies [2,3]. Content and language integrated learning is already used in a number of educational institutions in Europe [4], but most teachers and methodologists in Russia still do not fully

**Citation:** Baranova, T.; Mokhorov, D.; Kobicheva, A.; Tokareva, E. Assessment of the Application of Content and Language Integrated Learning in a Multilingual Classroom. *Educ. Sci.* **2021**, *11*, 808. https:// doi.org/10.3390/educsci11120808

Academic Editors: Orhan Agirdag, Sandra Raquel Gonçalves Fernandes, Marta Abelha and Ana Teresa Ferreira-Oliveira

Received: 15 September 2021 Accepted: 10 December 2021 Published: 14 December 2021

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**Copyright:** © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

understand the mechanism of this approach and its implementation in the curricula of schools and non-linguistic universities. This is due to the low level of foreign language competence among engineering professors in Russia. In the Russian education system, the method of integrating foreign languages into the general outline of the educational process is practically not used. Undoubtedly, the development of language competence in the universities of the Russian Federation could move to a qualitatively new level if this approach was thoroughly studied and the mechanisms of its implementation in the learning process were mastered.

However, the development of the educational system focuses not only on interdisciplinarity. One of the modern requirements for future specialists is a knowledge of several languages [5,6]. Thus, future university graduates will have to be multilingual. Such a requirement imposes a great burden on students, and also requires from the educational system innovative educational models that allow students to learn several foreign languages, as well as to be able to use these languages in the field of professional communication.

Thus, we have developed an educational model that allows us to introduce content and language integrated learning into classes with a multilingual approach, which will allow students to use several foreign languages in the process of professional communication.

To test our proposed educational model, we conducted an experiment among students of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. The experiment was attended by 3rd year students of the international educational program "International Business". The choice is due to the following facts:


The objective of the research is to assess the application of the developed educational model, which includes content and language integrated learning and a multilingual approach.

### *1.2. Literature Review*

1.2.1. Content and Language Integrated Learning and Its Forms

In many countries (including Russia), universities are adapting their educational programs in accordance with the growing demand for specialists with high knowledge of the English language by developing and applying in practice various bilingual educational programs. One of the most visible and most common approaches to these programs is Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) [7]. There has been a large body of research on the efficacy of CLIL classes in terms of their impact on learners' language and subject knowledge [8].

CLIL is an approach that involves studying the content of a non-linguistic subject (e.g., history or geography) taught in a foreign language, and therefore learning that foreign language by studying the content of that subject [7,9]. According to the European Commission, CLIL "seeks to develop knowledge in both a non-linguistic subject and the language in which it is taught, giving the same meaning to each of them" [10] (p. 7). This means that a distinctive feature of this approach is the setting of a double goal, namely, improving the level of competency in a foreign language as well as knowledge in a nonlinguistic discipline.

Many CLIL studies have found beneficial effects on English proficiency [4,5,8,11–17]. However, they should be interpreted with caution, as most CLIL studies do not sufficiently control selection effects and pre-existing differences between CLIL students and other students [18].

There is a rather contradictory picture of the efficacy of bilingual education in the development of subject knowledge. While some studies found no difference in knowledge of content and subject matter [19,20], others found benefits for bilingual students [21–23] or for monolingual students [24–27].

Piesche et al. [28] studied the influence of a bilingual and monolingual approach on the assimilation of the content of a professional discipline. The results of this study showed that monolingual students were better than bilingual ones by about a fifth of the standard deviation. This was the first time that bilingual learners had taken part in bilingual education, and Piesche et al. [28] suggested that this was the main reason for their result. In turn, studies by Dallinger et al. [14,29] found no difference between CLIL and non-CLIL students, using a history course as an example. It is worth noting, however, that the bilingual course taught history for 3 h, not 2 h (monolingual course) per week. Dallinger et al. [30] also found positive effects from a more frequent use of English, as well as a more frequent use of a second foreign language to introduce new terms (to improve knowledge of the professional discipline), which supported the idea of the deliberate use of multiple languages.

#### 1.2.2. Multilingualism

In this study, we define multilingualism at the individual level as a person's ability to use two or more languages and "easily switch from one language to another" [31] (p. 158). From the point of view of multilingualism, languages are considered as separate language systems, and not dialects, styles or registers within one language system [32]. Teachers may not always be multilingual, as some native speaker teachers speak only one language, especially those who teach English [33]. In contrast, non-native speakers are always multilingual because they teach a language that is not their first language. Thus, they are equally proficient in several languages in the sense that they have advanced abilities in at least two languages (i.e., in their first language and the language they teach), which is not always the case with native teachers [33].

In teaching foreign languages, it has often been assumed that one teacher teaches only one foreign language, which was the norm in schools in most countries. It was relatively rare to find people teaching two or more foreign languages in Russia [34]. Research on foreign language teachers has also focused on the identity, beliefs and practices of those who teach primarily one foreign language, usually English [33,34]. Recently, researchers have begun to pay increasing attention to the benefits of introducing teaching methods in language classrooms that use multilingualism as a resource, that is, multilingual teaching methods (MTP) [35–38].

The growing level of superdiversity [39] has prompted some countries to change their language teaching programs in schools and universities to promote multilingualism among the younger generation and prepare them to succeed in a globalized world in which multilingualism is considered an asset [30,40]. As part of these changes, there have also been attempts at the political level [41] to encourage teachers to implement MTP.

Multilingual teaching is an educational approach that teachers can use to raise their students' awareness and understanding of linguistic diversity and encourage them to use their knowledge of other languages and language experience when learning a new language [33,35,42]. Through this type of learning, teachers increase the motivation of students by helping them realize that they are not entirely novices, and that they already have a set of tools that they can use to learn new languages more effectively. MTPs have also been shown to improve student literacy and pragmatic knowledge, as well as overall language performance [43–45]. Examples of MTPs include translation, awakening to language action, cross-language comparisons, multilingual storytellings and language diaries [23,46,47].

This study defines multilingualism in multilingual classrooms as the process in which multilingual teachers and students engage in complex, multiple discursive practices, including translation, to communicate in and navigate multilingual classrooms [35]. Multilingual

practices can be used in a targeted and systematic way to overcome language boundaries and to improve and maintain the language skills and multilingual competence of learners [48]. In addition, this deliberate use of multilingualism enhances students' ability to analyze and compare different language systems, which contributes to their learning [49]. According to García and Silvan [35] (p. 389), multilingualism is also "part of the discursive regimes that students must perform in the 21st century," as it not only reflects the interactions of multilingual people in their daily lives, but also how an opportunity to develop their multilingual skills through translation allows students to improve their knowledge of each of their languages.

The available research on multilingualism offers educational institutions seeking to promote multilingual practices among students a limited opportunity, since the types of multilingualism studied cannot be offered to all students. Adopting the concept of multilingualism as a pedagogical resource enabling everyone to achieve multilingualism will more accurately reflect the profiles of all teachers and students in a language class. The number of studies that have used multilingualism as an educational approach is currently very limited [50]. It is also worth noting that many studies have used a small number of participants, which affects the generalizability of the results when the goal is to understand broader trends in teacher acceptance of the MTP language in a given context [34].

At the same time, research on multilingualism as a pedagogical resource is practically absent in some countries. One such country is Russia, where the government is just beginning to introduce multilingual educational practices through initiatives to learn several foreign languages in schools and universities [51,52]. In Europe, some countries also receive much less attention than others when it comes to research on pedagogical multilingualism. For example, research in Norway has focused on teachers' beliefs and practices regarding multilingualism in schools [53], which provides only a partial indication of their use of MTP. What is interesting for our study is that in Norway, a new national curriculum for English entered into force in 2019, which promotes multilingualism in language teaching and learning [54]. The updated curriculum now emphasizes the relevance and value of multilingualism [54]. The learning outcomes of the new curriculum likewise highlight the development of an awareness of different languages and the use of the languages spoken by students to find similarities at different linguistic levels, from vocabulary and expressions to more complex language similarities and differences [54].

In addition, since multilingual users are expected to use different languages in different situations for different purposes, they may need to use all components of the communication competence; however, there is often an asymmetric development of these components, that is, they do not necessarily develop all competencies in each of these languages at the same level [55]. Consequently, the successful study of a foreign language presupposes the ability to correctly choose and use communication strategies from a linguistic repertoire [34]. Appropriate language learning strategies are tools that are believed to encourage learners to take responsibility for their own learning and lead to increased language proficiency and greater self-confidence [34].

Analysis of the literature showed that the use of subject language integrated learning for a multilingual group of students has not been studied enough. Several studies [56,57] are examining the use of CLIL in multilingual groups for the study of professional disciplines (e.g., business English) and English. However, no studies were found examining multilingual courses combining Spanish and English. Thus, the purpose of this study is to assess the efficiency of the content language integrated learning in a multilingual class.

#### **2. Materials and Methods**

Our research involved 3rd year undergraduate students (*N* = 47) studying the program "International business (international educational program)" at the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. To implement the experiment, the discipline "Spanish language", which is taught in English, was used. Within the framework of this research, a multilingual approach to the study of the Spanish language and the basics of international

business in Spanish was implemented in the context of content and language integrated learning, as content and language integrated learning involves dual goal-setting, namely the study of two disciplines within one subject.

The multilingual approach is supposed to use English and Spanish in teaching materials, given that these languages are not the native languages of the students. Thus, students used only languages foreign to them.

Figure 1 shows a model of teaching undergraduate students in the department of "International Business" in the discipline "Spanish language", taught in English. The work on the presented model is suitable for students with a level of Spanish knowledge A2-B1 and a minimum level of English knowledge B2. The experiment lasted 1 semester (February 2021–June 2021). During the semester, students studied 5 topics. For each topic, work was carried out in a specific teaching method.

**Figure 1.** Learning model for the discipline "Spanish language".

The first stage of the work consists in the independent work of students with new vocabulary on a certain topic. The new vocabulary is presented in the form of a dictionary with an English-Spanish translation. Students need to familiarize themselves with the vocabulary (e.g., vocabulary for such topics as places of employment, professions, office equipment, H.R., international trade, negotiations) and, if necessary, translate it into their native language before the classroom session ("flipped classroom"). The electronic educational platform Moodle is also used, where exercises for learning vocabulary are presented (for example, exercises based on matching a term in Spanish with a definition in English), as well as the opportunity to hear the pronunciation of words in both languages.

In a classroom lesson (2nd stage), students are offered various tasks (e.g., "Read the texts and complete the gaps with the words from the list" or "Choose the verb to complete the phrases") to practice the previously studied vocabulary. During the lesson, students discuss all vocabulary, including professional terminology, in English (possibly using Spanish) that is incomprehensible to them during independent study (face-to-face classroom), making up definitions for basic economic terms on the topic. Also, during the class, the grammatical material proposed for study within the framework of the Spanish language discipline is discussed.

The basis of the 3rd stage is teamwork. Students are encouraged to independently study the theoretical material of professional content in Spanish. It is necessary to divide the group into 3–4 small subgroups of students, each of which studies the proposed section using theoretical material. Then, during the classroom session, students talk to other groups about the material they have learned in English, providing key phrases, concepts, and terms in Spanish. At the end of each block of theoretical material, questions for thought and analysis are presented (e.g., "Twenty years from now we will have seen a

huge global market emerge for standardized consumer products. Do you agree with this statement? Justify your answer."). The whole group is invited to collectively answer the questions posed (teamwork). The Moodle contains video and audio materials in Spanish with English subtitles on the topics studied, which make it possible to better understand the theoretical material.

The 4th and final stage consists of project work. Each topic of the manual ends with a final task (case study). Students are offered a task in the format of a case with questions (e.g., a case about the hiring policy applied by Lenovo). The assignment is presented as a text in Spanish describing a problematic situation in business. Questions are attached to the text to provide a solution to the problem. After studying the case, students prepare a presentation in Spanish, either in their teams or individually, about their proposed solution to the problem, answering questions in Spanish (project-based classroom).

According to this model, students studied all 5 topics during the semester.

In order to obtain a detailed analysis of the results of the experiment, preliminary testing of all 3rd year students (5 groups of 23–25 people) for knowledge of English, Spanish and the theoretical foundations of the discipline of International Business was carried out. The tests of Spanish and English proficiency consisted of 4 parts: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. The tests were conducted partly through the online platform Moodle—being developed for the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (Listening, Reading, Writing)—and partly via seminars (Speaking). The theoretical test was conducted through Moodle and consisted of 20 questions, presented in English.

Based on the most similar results in preliminary tests, we chose a section of the participants and created 2 groups. In one group, Spanish classes were held in a traditional form in English, without content and language integrated learning and a multilingual approach (*N* = 23). In the second group, classes were held according to our proposed educational model (*N* = 24). The native languages of the students of the experimental group were Chinese (7 students), Arabic (8 students), Urdu (2 students), French (2 students) and Kazakh (5 students). The native languages of the control group students were Chinese (5 students), Arabic (7 students), Urdu (4 students), French (1 student), Kazakh (5 students) and Azerbaijani (1 student).

At the end of the course, students from the two groups were re-tested in Spanish to determine the impact of the proposed educational model on the learning of Spanish.

The students in the experimental group also underwent testing on the theoretical foundations of International Business to determine the effectiveness of the use of the CLIL method in order to study a professional discipline along with the study of a foreign language. Testing in a professional discipline was carried out in English.

In addition, students from the experimental group completed a survey and a short interview, where they expressed their opinion about the course studied and the educational model applied.

This paper is based on the following research questions:


The hypothesis of the study is that the proposed educational model positively influences students' Spanish proficiency and professional discipline knowledge.

To obtain the results we used both quantitative and qualitative data (Table 1).


**Table 1.** Data collection.

For the analysis, descriptive statistics and pair-samples of students' *t*-tests were conducted.

#### **3. Results**

#### *3.1. Learning Results*

### 3.1.1. Spanish Testing

Testing on Spanish proficiency was conducted twice: once before the course and once after it, for two groups (experimental and control). Before the experiment, we asked the groups of students to identify the level of their Spanish proficiency. The test included the assessment of 4 categories: listening, reading, writing and speaking. When the course finished, students were tested again.

In general, the overall quality of students' Spanish knowledge in four categories improved (Figures 2 and 3).

**Figure 2.** Descriptive results of the pre-test and the post-test on Spanish proficiency (Experimental group).

The *t*-value test allowed us to discover whether the difference between the pre-test and post-test was significant in both groups, and thus whether it was possible to make a conclusion on the positive, neutral or negative effect of the proposed educational model.

A comparison of the results of the two tests (before and after the course) taken by the participants (experimental group) in the experiment indicates that the improvements in listening, reading and speaking were significant at the *p* < 0.001 level. In the writing category, students in the experimental group showed fewer progressive achievements, but due to Student's *t*-test they were also significant at the *p* < 0.05 level (Table 2). This difference in the development of writing skills is explained by the fact that in the CLIL group, more attention was paid to the development of communicative oral skills and group interaction. In the traditional teaching model, more emphasis was placed on writing. Taking into account the results of control group, here students showed fewer progressive achievements

in reading. Generally, however, both groups indicated a high level of improvement. Hence, we can firstly confirm the efficiency of such an integrated learning model for the purposes of learning Spanish.

**Figure 3.** Descriptive results of the pre-test and the post-test on Spanish proficiency (Control group).


**Table 2.** Descriptive results of pre-test and the post-test on Spanish proficiency.

\* *p* < 0.05; \*\* *p* < 0.01; \*\*\* *p* < 0.001.

#### 3.1.2. Professional Discipline Testing

Assessment in the professional discipline (the International Business course) took the form of final testing that consisted of 25 closed questions in English (e.g., "What is the absolute advantage theory?" or "According to the theory of comparative advantage, how does opening a country to free trade affect its economic growth?"). This test was only done at the end of the course for both groups. The test was performed through Moodle with learners in both groups (experimental and control groups). The average test results are presented below (Table 3).


**Table 3.** Descriptive results of testing for professional discipline proficiency.

\* *p* < 0.05; \*\* *p* < 0.01; \*\*\* *p* < 0.001.

According to the results of the professional discipline testing, both groups achieved approximately equal scores. Control group students passed the test better, but the difference in the results is not significant, so we can confirm a neutral effect on professional discipline outcomes (the proposed educational model has the same efficiency as a traditional one). Thus, it can be concluded that the proposed learning model can be used for professional discipline learning purposes as well.
