THE EFFECT OF CLIL METHOD ON TEACHING READING COMPREHENSIONTO JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

This study investigated the effect of CLIL (i. e., content and language integrated learning) on Iranian EFL learners' reading comprehension. 60 students of junior high school in the age of 12 to 14 years who attended language institutions were selected non-randomly. They took part in Oxford Quick Placement Test(OQPT) test to determine their level of proficiency. Based on their scores in the placement test, the students were divided into two groups: High and low achievers. Then they took a pre-test of reading comprehension. Depending on their scores in the pretest, the high level and the low level groups were divided into two subgroups of experimental and control. The experimental groups of high and low achievers were taught through CLIL and the control groups of high and low achievers were taught through intensive reading. After ten sessions of treatment, they took a post-test of reading comprehension. Data were analyzed to compare the high and low achievers with each other to examine the effectiveness of CLIL methodthrough Independent Samples t-test. The findings showed a significant difference between the pre and post-test of high and low achievers. Implications of CLIL method could be influential for both high and low achievers in reading comprehension courses.