Effective CLIL Materials Design: A Focus on Sustainability Education and the Holistic Learner in Spain

This chapter focuses on effective Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) materials development and assessment regarding the content area of sustainability education. Currently, CLIL sustainability education is surprisingly underdeveloped, especially considering the mutually reinforcing relationship between language education and sustainability education. Sustainability, for example, is incredibly interdisciplinary with its focus on promoting intergenerational responsibility for the environment, economy, and ethics (society); CLIL education supports these goals in its aim to produce multilingual, culturally sensitive students who are able to apply their content knowledge to shaping societies for future generations. Sustainability education, in turn, supports CLIL education by bringing awareness to community interactions within natural and built environments, the benefits of multilingualism in supporting local economies, and sociocultural problems around the world (such as minority language representation). Reflecting on the success of CLIL programmes in the Basque Country over the past decades, it appears that developing effective CLIL materials related to sustainability could contribute to student success in both language and sustainability education. The development of these CLIL materials could support the transition away from traditional compartmentalized learning to a more holistic model of learning centred around the modern learner. We propose a three-step guide to help materials developers to create good CLIL sustainability materials that take into account different assessment strategies (assessment for learning and assessment as learning). Focusing on effective CLIL materials development and assessment of the content area of sustainability can unite the fronts of language education and sustainability education with the hope of better preparing students for an increasingly interdisciplinary society.