THE RECEPTIVE VOCABULARY SIZE OF SPANISH 5TH GRADE PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN CLIL AND NON-CLIL INSTRUCTION

Abstract

One of the key factors at early stages of L2 learning is the number of words learners know. However, there is a paucity of research regarding the receptive vocabulary size of learners involved in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programmes. In light of this lack of research, the 2,000 word frequency band of the Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) was administered to explore the receptive vocabulary knowledge of 5th grade primary Spanish students learning English in two different types of instruction i.e. CLIL and non-CLIL. Sex-based differences among the participants will also be explored. Our findings show that there are statistically significant differences in favour of CLIL learners. Regarding sex and regardless of the type of instruction, the differences among boys and girls are not statistically significant. However, our results reveal that CLIL boys attain the highest scores in the VLT, being them significantly higher than the outcomes achieved by non-CLIL boys and girls. These data evince that CLIL programmes may have a positive impact for vocabulary learning.