The importance of attitudes of Slovenian elementary school management towards the teaching of the first foreign language in the second grade according to CLIL

Tilen Smajla in dr. Eva Podovšovnik Axelsson

Summary:   This paper presents results of a research into the importance of attitude of Slovenian public elementary school management toward the learning and teaching of English as the first foreign language in the first triad. The first foreign language (FL 1) was introduced into the second grade of some elementary schools in the beginning of the school year 2014/2015. This was done on a trial basis as part of a three-year project that has been prolonged for another two years in June 2015. FL 1 teaching ought to be carried out in the target language which is in accordance with the CLIL approach that integrates content and language learning (CLIL). The purpose of the research was to carry out a survey into the attitude of the school management towards the introduction of FL 1 into the second grade, since it shares a certain attitude towards the introduction of FL 1. A letter has been sent to the elementary schools which have introduced FL 1 at the beginning of school year 2014/2015, accompanied by an 18 item survey in form of a 5-point Likert scale. Statistically significant differences in attitudes were proven as regards the age, years in service and education of the respondents, especially among those with completed postgraduate education.