Making art in CLIL: a cognitive perspective

As one component of the four C’s Framework, educators employing Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) methodologies are encouraged to design classroom tasks that enable students to engage in higher-order thinking processes. This paper aims to break down the cognitive processes required in art making through observations of a CLIL art/art history course taught at a Japanese university. The observations indicate that art-making encourages a broad range of thinking processes, both higher- and lower-order, and therefore supports the inclusion of artistic activities as a component of CLIL education. Additionally, art-making may provide an alternative to the challenges of assessment raised in CLIL methodologies by allowing students to display content learning through a non-language- dependent medium, namely visual art. While these observations are promising, further research is required to ascertain the true role that art-making can play in the CLIL classroom.