Content and Language Integrated Learning: Strategic Interventions to Minimize L1 Dependency Among Moroccan High School Students

The paper tackles the challenge of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ reliance on their first language (L1) in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classrooms. It argues that achieving Bachman’s language competence, particularly discourse knowledge, is hindered when L1 dominates classroom interaction. The study has two aims: to provide learners with strategies that reduce L1 dependency and to improve teacher assessment by focusing on learners’ target language use rather than L1 responses. A quantitative intervention was conducted in three stages: pre-intervention (measuring L1 vs. EFL use), intervention (introducing five strategies: categorize, explain, give an example, act, contextualize), and post-intervention (reassessing talking time). Results highlight the effectiveness of these strategies in minimizing L1 reliance and fostering more accurate evaluations of learners’ linguistic competence.