Challenges Teaching Content through English: Language Abilities and Strategic Competences

Italian subject teachers who set out to teach their subject in English within the CLIL framework have a dual focus to their teaching: to explain their content subject and to focus on the students’ foreign language skills. As subject specialists they are familiar with the disciplinary contents of their courses. Problems may arise, however, when they turn to the issue of supporting their students’ English language needs. This chapter sets out to examine those features of the English language that may create particular problems for Italian learners so that teachers can focus on aspects specifically useful for Italian teachers teaching a content subject in English to Italian students.