Is top-down CLIL justified? A grounded theory exploration of secondary school Science teachers’ experiences

The research reported in this paper explored secondary Science teachers’ experiences in a large-scale and top-down CLIL initiative where schools and teachers had little agency in implementing educational change. Through a grounded theory approach, analysis of data suggests that teachers’ insufficient English language proficiency and the lack of agency were major challenges for participating teachers. Findings indicate that teachers were not aware of CLIL pedagogy, and did not believe that under the existing conditions, a subject can be taught through English. Struggling to save face in the obscure situation, teachers sought support from students. Although they were not ready to lose authority and control over the teaching process, they had to relinquish some of their power to students due to their superior English language skills.