In the last two decades, several studies have reported on the benefits of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) on students' affective and cognitive gains. These studies, however, have mainly concentrated on the implementation of CLIL within the formal (school) context, with very little research on its impact in non-formal (out-of-school) contexts. Thus, the present article addresses this gap by describing an action research project aimed at understanding secondary school students' attitudes towards the integration of CLIL and museum-based pedagogies. The project involved 284 students (14-16 years old) in northern Italy, who participated in a CLIL museum visit on Animal Classification through English at the Natural History Museum in Venice. A mixed method research design was implemented and data was collected through students' questionnaires and focus groups. Results reveal that students showed very positive attitudes towards taking part in a CLIL museum visit based on the interaction among the following dimensions: engagement with museum objects, use of English beyond the classroom, methodology and students' interests, self-concept and career plans.

One of the most interesting effects of internationalisation is certainly the increase, in Italy, of museum educational programmes delivered through the means of a foreign language and based on the CLIL methodology. The aim of these programmes is for visitors to practise their foreign language skills in an authentic and stimulating context, while at same time developing their knowledge of science, art or other discipline related contents. Their target is mainly school-students, which is in line with current European policies that encourage member states to bridge the gap between in- and out-of-school language learning. This article will first offer a broad overview of how internationalisation has affected museum educational programmes in Italy. Thus, it will give an overview of museum and CLIL-based pedagogies, discussing the challenges encountered to integrate them through summarising Fazzi’s evaluation of a CLIL museum programme. It will then outline a research project carried out in collaboration with the Civic Museum of Venice, through discussing (i) the steps taken in developing a CLIL museum programme at the Natural History Museum of Venice, (ii) the programme structure and (iii) the challenges encountered. The project, which is currently in its second year, adopts a participatory approach and involves the museum educational staff, the museum educator/researcher, and secondary school teachers and students.

With their rich multimodal and multisensory inputs, museums offer learners with a migrant background an invaluable opportunity to develop their linguistic competence and positive attitudes towards learning a L2. The aim of this article is to describe the impact on a group of migrants of an Italian L2 learning workshop held in an art museum in Venice. Qualitative data was collected through students’ focus group discussion, the museum educator’s diary and the teacher’s observation sheet. The results show that participating in such an experience can have a positive impact on students’ linguistic, affective, and intercultural spheres.

Research has long shown that the CLIL methodology can have a positive impact on students' linguistic, emotional and cognitive development. However, very few studies have explored the effects of implementing CLIL outside the classroom. In this chapter, we will discuss the potential of museum experiences for CLIL teaching and describe the pedagogical model that can be applied to build bridges between CLIL in the classroom and at the museum. In doing so, we will draw on the research and training experience of the MILE (Museums and Innovation of Language Education) project which, under the supervision of Prof. Coonan, has opened the doors to fruitful partnerships between the university and the cultural and educational community at both national and international level with the aim of bridging the gap between language learning inside and outside the classroom.

There is now wide recognition that for language students to be able to communicate in today’s globalised world, they need to be engaged in a variety of multiliteracy and multimodal practices that transform them in creators of meaning. Digital storytelling is one of such practices. It combines the power of narration with that of technology and allows students to expand their language and digital literacy skills while also helping them develop their own voices. In our study, two groups of elementary and intermediate university students of Italian as a second language were involved in a two-part project aimed at the composition of a digital story on the city of Venice. In the first part, students participated in both classroom and museum activities, which encouraged them to practice their skills in Italian as well as to learn about the Venetian cultural heritage. In the second part, students were guided to craft their own digital tours of the city of Venice using the izi.TRAVEL platform. The multimodal analysis of the two tours shows that creating digital stories based on students’ understanding and interpretation of cultural heritage promoted both their narration and mediation skills in the second language and their role as global citizens.