The Cambridge International Examinations bilingual research agenda
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Research Division, Cambridge University Press & Assessment
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The context within which students prepare for Cambridge Assessment International Education (Cambridge International) assessments are often linguistically and educationally diverse. Whatever the country, the common denominator of Cambridge International schools is that students are being tutored and assessed through the medium of English. Some schools use bilingual instruction, delivering certain subjects through English as an additional language and other subjects through the first language, often trying to meet standards in both an international curriculum and a national curriculum. The opportunity to learn an additional language through a content subject has led to the practice of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) programmes. Other schools use monolingual instruction and deliver all subjects through English, either as a first or as an additional language. This article describes a Cambridge International research agenda designed to address four key questions: What is the impact of different teaching environments?; What impact does bilingual education have on the teaching and learning process?; What is the impact of bilingual education on learner outcomes?; What are the key assessment issues?