THE USE OF TRANSLATION IN A CLIL CLASS

Abstract

This article aims at exploring the role translation can play within a CLIL environment. Although the practice of translation has increasingly acquired importance in our societies, it has often been excluded from the language class and identified with an obsolete methodology. Yet, in our multicultural societies, translation – understood as a fundamental form of cultural mediation – has become an essential tool in all professional and non-professional contexts. Consequently, as this article argues, translation can certainly become a valuable tool and, in consideration of its fundamental aims, be effectively (and beneficially) included in a CLIL course. Indeed, as this article demonstrates, a Learning Unit where translation works in synergy with CLIL methodology is likely to be perceived as stimulating and motiving by students, thereby facilitating the development of various skills.