Special Issue for "Learning and Instruction" - The Role of Multilingualism in Content and Language Integrated Learning Classroom Context

[Tai, Kevin Wai Hin]

Dear Members of the Special Interest Group for Translanguaging and Inclusive Education,

l am pleased to introduce the special issue that was edited by myself, Professor Kevin W. H. Tai (Executive Guest Editor), Professor Li Wei (Co-Guest Editor) and Professor Elizabeth Ka Yee Loh (Co-Guest Editor). This special issue is published in Learning and Instruction (SSCI; 2023 Impact Factor 4.7), a highly reputable journal in the field of Education. It aims to study how teachers and students utilise their diverse multilingual and multimodal resources to facilitate the teaching and learning of content and linguistic knowledge in CLIL classrooms. It seeks empirical papers that conceptualise multilingualism as the norm in CLIL classrooms and investigate pedagogical practices that develop students' content knowledge and thinking skills. 

The full special issue can be found via the link here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/special-issue/10T389LVHTX

We are thankful to have the expertise of three prominent scholars, Professor Do Coyle, Professor Amy B. M. Tsui, and Dr. Tom Morton, in the areas of CLIL and translanguaging, who offered their valuable insights in commentaries for this special issue.

Commentaries:

Coyle, D., and Tsui, A. B.M. (2025). Holistic perspectives on complexities and implications of translanguaging in multilingual contexts: A commentary. Learning and Instruction, 98, 102133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102133 [Open Access] 

Morton, T. (2025). Multilingualism in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) classroom contexts: Commentary on the special issue. Learning and Instruction, 98, 102112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102112

Introduction Paper of the Special Issue, written by the Guest Editors:

Tai, K. W. H., Li, Wei., and Loh, E. K. Y. (2025). Enhancing Students’ Content and Language Development: Implications for Researching Multilingualism in CLIL Classroom Context. Learning and Instruction, 96, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102083 [Open Access]

8 Research Papers for the Special Issue:

Ding, A.-C. E., & Cha, E. E. (2024). The integration of virtual reality-enhanced multimodal meaning-making improves knowledge acquisition and disciplinary literacy development in science classrooms. Learning and Instruction, 94, 101999.

Grapin, S. E., & Ascenzi-Moreno, L. (2024). Expansive assessment of expansive abilities: Teachers’ perspectives and practices with multimodal and translanguaged content assessments. Learning and Instruction, 92, 101925.

Jiang, L., Li, Z., & Leung, J. S. C. (2024). Digital multimodal composing as translanguaging assessment in CLIL classrooms. Learning and Instruction, 92, 101900. [Open Access]

Nguyen, H. T. M., Nguyen, H. T. T., Gilanyi, L., Hoang, T. H., & Gao, X. A. (2025). Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL): Teachers’ metacognitive understandings of pedagogical translanguaging. Learning and Instruction, 97, 102085. [Open Access]

Nikula, T., Jakonen, T., & Kääntä, L. (2024). Multimodal practices of unpacking and repacking subject-specific knowledge in CLIL physics and chemistry lessons. Learning and Instruction, 92, 101932. [Open Access]

Sah, P. K., & Li, G. (2024). Toward linguistic justice and inclusion for multilingual learners: Implications of selective translanguaging in English-medium instruction classrooms. Learning and Instruction, 92, 101904.

Tai, K. W. H. (2024). Classroom interactional competence in an English medium instruction mathematics classroom: A creation of a technology-mediated translanguaging space. Learning and Instruction, 90, 101849. [Open Access]

Wong, C. Y. C., & Tian, Z. (2025). Maximizing students’ content and language development: The pedagogical potential of translanguaging in a Chinese immersion setting. Learning and Instruction, 95, 102023.

You can download the Open Access papers via the website for free. Many thanks for all of your support. 

Best wishes, 

Kevin Tai 

Professor Kevin W. H. Tai

PhD (UCL), FHEA, FRSA 

Assistant Professor of Language and Literacy Education

Co-Director, Centre for Advancement in Inclusive and Special Education

Faculty of Education 

The University of Hong Kong

Honorary Research Fellow, IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, University College London

Editor, The Language Learning Journal (Routledge) 

Assistant Editor, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (Routledge) 

Executive Guest Editor, Learning and Instruction (Elsevier) 

Executive Guest Editor, International Journal of Applied Linguistics (Wiley) 

The World’s Top 2% Most-Cited Scientist (Languages and Linguistics), Stanford University 2024 (Elsevier)

Email (HKU): kevi...@hku.hk  

Email (UCL): kevi...@ucl.ac.uk   

Telephone: (852) 3917 6107 

Website: https://web.edu.hku.hk/faculty-academics/kwhtai