A Comparative Study of the Influence of the Mother Tongue in LSP and CLIL

In this paper we analyse the motivation of students when they are taught a foreign language using different methodologies. We took into account that motivation may be defined as the various purposes that are part of the goals to learn a second language. Motivation is not the same as needs analysis as students could consider that written communication is vital for them but if they are not motivated and feel part of what they are learning; language learning strategies could not be effective. The objectives of this paper are, on the one hand, to compare the two methodologies used to acquire a foreign language and, on the other hand, to analyse the influence of the mother tongue and motivation in second language acquisition in a specific environment. In order to study and answer the objectives set, fifty students were involved in this research. Twenty-five of them were enrolled in a language for specific purposes class and the rest attended a class of content and language integrated learning. The teachers collected several assignments from those students and analysed their output, taking into account mother tongue influence.