3.5 Differentiation in CLIL

3.5 Differentiation in CLIL

Differentiation means adjusting the level of challenge in a task for individual learners or groups within the same lesson. In a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) classroom, learners in the same class typically vary in both prior subject knowledge and English proficiency, so the same task and the same lesson objective often need to be delivered at more than one level of demand. The TKT: CLIL syllabus frames differentiation in two directions: providing less challenge for learners who need more support, and providing more challenge for learners who are ready to extend their learning.

Providing less challenge

Providing less challenge can act on three different parts of a task: the input learners receive, the output they are asked to produce, and the outcome or product they end up with.

Imagine a technology-in-English CLIL lesson in which the whole class is designing a bridge. Learners who need more support might receive a modified input — a simplified text describing bridge types with extra diagrams, a glossary of key terms in both the L1 and English, and a sentence frame such as 'My bridge is strong because ___.' The same learners might also be given a modified output — answering fewer comprehension questions about bridge design, or writing a three-sentence description rather than a full paragraph — and might work towards a modified outcome, such as sketching a simple beam bridge, while other learners design a more complex suspension or truss bridge. Input, output, and outcome can each be modified independently, so a teacher does not need to reduce all three at once; a learner might need a simplified text but still be capable of a full-length written response, for example.

Providing more challenge

Differentiation is not only about reducing demand — it also stretches learners who are ready to go further, without changing the underlying lesson objective. The syllabus lists four ways of providing more challenge:

• Checking own work — learners compare their own answers or calculations against a model answer or success criteria themselves, rather than waiting for the teacher to mark it.
• Helping peers — learners who have completed or understood the task explain it to, or work alongside, a learner who is still struggling.
• Doing extension activities — an additional task that goes beyond the core requirement, such as comparing the load-bearing capacity of two different bridge designs.
• Designing activities for others — learners write a question, task, or short quiz of their own for classmates to complete, which requires a deeper grasp of the content than simply answering a question written by someone else.

In the same bridge-design lesson, a learner who finishes early and has met the core objective might check their own calculations against a model answer, then help a partner who has not yet finished, then complete an extension activity comparing two bridge designs' strength, and finally write a short quiz question of their own about bridge structures for the rest of the class to answer. None of these four techniques requires new subject content from the teacher — they extend the same lesson material to a greater depth or a wider application.

Why differentiation matters for CLIL lesson delivery

Because a CLIL lesson pursues a single subject objective for the whole class, differentiation lets every learner work towards that same objective by a route that matches their own readiness — in subject knowledge, in English, or in both — rather than either holding back learners who are ready to extend, or leaving behind learners who need more support to access the same content.

Combining less and more challenge in one class

Providing less challenge and providing more challenge are not two separate lessons — they usually happen side by side, within the same room, on the same task. In a science lesson where the whole class is writing up a practical result, one group might work from a modified input (a simplified text with a glossary in the L1 and English, plus a sentence frame) and produce a modified output (answering three questions instead of six), while another group, having finished the core task, moves on to checking their own work against a model answer, helping a learner in the first group who is stuck on a term, and then completing an extension activity that asks them to compare their result with a different data set. Both groups are working towards the same subject objective for that lesson; only the level of support and the level of stretch differ. Planning differentiation this way — deciding in advance which learners will need modified input, output, or outcome, and what extension or peer-support role other learners can take on — lets a single CLIL lesson plan serve a genuinely mixed-ability class without writing a separate lesson for each group.