Development of an English for Academic Purposes course using content and language integrated learning approach to enhance reading and writing skills of undergraduate students

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to develop an English for Academic Purposes course (EAP) using CLIL approach. The participants were 37 undergraduate students studying at Udon Thani Rajabhat University and enrolled in English for Academic Purposes as a required course in semester 2, academic year 2011. The instruments used in this research were the achievement test, a unit/lesson plan, observation form, and learning log. The data were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative statistics using arithmetic means scores, standard deviation, t-test, frequency, and percentage. The findings of the study revealed that: (1) The developed course of EAP using CLIL approach enhanced the students’ reading and writing skills as evidenced by the average scores on the post-test of the Achievement test being significantly higher than the pre-test of the Achievement test scores at the significant level of 0.05, and (2) The developed course of EAP using CLIL approach enhanced students’ engagement in classroom activities as evidenced by the observable checklists of each stage which showed the students’ engagement in classroom activities significantly increased according to the frequency of time on level 3 (students engaged in the classroom activities most of the time). Additionally, learning log found that students had positive attitude towards EAP course using CLIL approach. These findings confirm that the developed course using CLIL approach helped improve students’ reading and writing skills, and also increasingly enhanced the students’ engagement in classroom activities.