are research articles primary sources

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Primary Sources: A Research Guide

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Primary Sources

Texts of laws and other original documents.

Newspaper reports, by reporters who witnessed an event or who quote people who did.

Speeches, diaries, letters and interviews - what the people involved said or wrote.

Original research.

Datasets, survey data, such as census or economic statistics.

Photographs, video, or audio that capture an event.

Secondary Sources

Secondary Sources are one step removed from primary sources, though they often quote or otherwise use primary sources. They can cover the same topic, but add a layer of interpretation and analysis. Secondary sources can include:

Most books about a topic.

Analysis or interpretation of data.

Scholarly or other articles about a topic, especially by people not directly involved.

Documentaries (though they often include photos or video portions that can be considered primary sources).

When is a Primary Source a Secondary Source?

Whether something is a primary or secondary source often depends upon the topic and its use.

A biology textbook would be considered a secondary source if in the field of biology, since it describes and interprets the science but makes no original contribution to it.

On the other hand, if the topic is science education and the history of textbooks, textbooks could be used a primary sources to look at how they have changed over time.

Examples of Primary and Secondary Sources

Adapted from Bowling Green State University, Library User Education, Primary vs. Secondary Sources .

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Guide to Articles: Peer Reviewed, Reference, Popular Issues, & Primary Resources

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Primary Sources

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Primary Resource Databases

Primary sources examined.

• Finding Primary Sources
• Types of Sources
• By Discipline
• Searching Tips

Step 1. What are you looking for?

Identify what would be considered a primary resource in the subject you are searching for..

By Discipline, Each field of study has its own sources, conventions, and vocabularies.  This list will help you to identify primary sources in your own discipline. 

In general, personal correspondence and diaries or journals are considered to be primary sources by all disciplines. If you are unsure that a source is considered primary by your discipline, ask your professor or a reference librarian for assistance.

• Archeology/Anthropology : an artifact or object that provides evidence of a society, such as clothing, farming tools, household items, and buildings.
• Arts and Literature : the original artistic or literary work that forms the basis for a criticism or review, such as feature films, musical compositions, sound recordings, paintings, novels, plays, and poems.
• Biology : research or lab notes, genetic evidence, plant specimens, technical reports, and other reports of original research or discoveries (e.g., conference papers and proceedings, dissertations, scholarly articles).
• Business : market research or surveys, anything that documents a corporation's activities, such as annual reports, meeting minutes, legal documents, marketing materials, and financial records.
• Communication : websites, blogs, broadcast recordings and transcripts, advertisements and commercials, public opinion polls, and magazines (e.g., Rolling Stone).
• Engineering : design notes, patents, conference proceedings, technical reports, and field surveys.
• Geography : field notes, census data, maps, satellite images, and aerial photographs.
• History : government documents (e.g., treaty, birth certificate), photographs, store account books, artifacts (such as those listed for archeology/anthropology), maps, legal and financial documents, and census records.
• Law : court decisions, trial transcripts, and law codes.

Step 2. Where do you search?

Choose a database, archive, public library, or repository to search..

On the left side of this page, scroll through the list of "Primary Resource Databases". Try searching for your time period, location, or topic within these databases. 

Search Tip: Start Broad then Narrow

Alternatively, use one of the databases below to search by topic. You can browse by collections, time periods, or geographic location.

"Disciplines" Source: David Kupas's "Finding Primary Sources" libguide:  http://pitt.libguides.com/primarysources

• Digital Public Library of America This online database includes image, text, and audiovisual content aggregated from digital collections across the United States. There are over 21 million resources in this database.
• HathiTrust Digital Library HathiTrust is a partnership of academic and research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
• Library of Congress: Digital Collections The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections.

• World Digital Library The materials collected by the WDL make it possible to discover, study, and enjoy cultural treasures and significant historical documents including books, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, journals, prints and photographs, sound recordings, and films.
• Original materials that provide direct evidence or first-hand testimony concerning a topic or event.
• Contemporary sources created at the time when the event occurred (e.g., letters and newspaper articles--as long as the writer is a first-hand witness) or later (e.g., memoirs and oral history interviews).
• Primary sources may be published or unpublished.  Unpublished sources are unique materials (e.g., family papers) often referred to as archives and manuscripts.
• Primary sources vary by discipline. How the researcher uses the source generally determines whether it is a primary source or not.

Secondary Sources

• Works that interpret, analyze, and discuss the evidence provided by primary sources (e.g., scholarly books and articles).
• Secondary sources are generally a second-hand account or observation at least one step removed from the event.
• Secondary sources can be considered to be primary sources depending on the context of their use. For example, Ken Burns' documentary of the Civil War is a secondary source for Civil War researchers, but a primary source for those studying documentary filmmaking.

Tertiary Sources

• Books or articles that synthesize or distill primary and secondary sources--for example dictionaries, encyclopedias, indexes, and textbooks.  (Sometimes these are lumped in with the secondary sources category.) 
• Keep in mind that a secondary or tertiary source can lead you to a primary source by either referencing it, including it in a footnote or reproducing it in its entirety.  For example, at first glance, a source like “World War I: Encyclopedia” would not seem to be a primary source but if you look at the contents, volume five of this encyclopedia is entirely devoted to transcripts of documents of the war. Many subject encyclopedias like this one will turn out to be a rich source of primary source materials.

The Historian researching World War I might utilize:           

• Primary Sources : Newspaper articles, weekly/monthly news magazines, diaries, correspondence, and diplomatic records from the time period.
• Secondary Sources : Articles in scholarly journals analyzing the war, possibly footnoting primary documents; books analyzing the war.

The Literary Critic researching literature written during World War I might utilize:

• Primary Sources : Novels, poems, plays, diaries, and correspondence of the time period.
• Secondary Sources : Published articles in scholarly journals providing analysis and criticism of the literature; books analyzing the literature; formal biographies of writers from the era.

The Psychologist researching trench warfare and post-traumatic stress disorder in World War I veterans might utilize:

• Primary Sources : Original research reports on the topic or research notes taken by a clinical psychologist working with World War I veterans.           
• Secondary Sources : Articles in scholarly publications synthesizing results of original research; books analyzing results of original research.

The Scientist researching long term medical effects of chemical warfare on exposed veterans might utilize:      

• Primary Sources : Published articles in scholarly journals reporting on a medical research study and its methodology.    
• Secondary Sources : Published articles in scholarly journals analyzing results of an original research study; books doing the same.

Source:  David Kupas's "Finding  Primary Sources" libguide:  http://pitt.libguides.com/primarysources

Each field of study has its own sources, conventions, and vocabularies.  This list will help you to identify primary sources in your own discipline. 

Source: 

David Kupas's "Finding Primary Sources" libguide: http://pitt.libguides.com/primarysources

Library Catalogs

• Search FIU Catalog to find primary source materials at the FIU libraries.
• Search WorldCat to find collections at thousands of libraries worldwide. Use the Advanced Search feature to limit by format or publication date.

Finding Aids

Use finding aids to locate processed archival collections in archives, libraries, and museums. Finding aids are increasingly available online and freely accessible.

• Repositories of Primary Sources - An online listing of over 5,000 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources.
• ArchiveGrid - Finding aids/collection descriptions from thousands of libraries, museums, and archives. Researchers searching ArchiveGrid can learn about the many items in each of these collections, contact archives to arrange a visit to examine materials, and order copies.

Reference & Other Print Sources

Make use of the many excellent print resources that are available to find primary source materials.  These include:

• Bibliographies
• Film, Literature, and Periodical Indexes
• Biographical Resources
• Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Handbooks
• Secondary Sources (search the text, footnotes, and bibliographies for references to primary sources used)

Internet Search Engines

• Use the Internet to find primary source materials by adding primary source specific terms to a Search Engine search. For example, "Civil War +soldiers + diaries."

Keyword/Subject Searching

Adding keywords to a catalog search will help you to locate primary source materials. For example, if you need primary sources about the French Revolution, perform a keyword search by entering the terms "france revolution correspondence"

You may also pair an appropriate heading with additional subject terms that identify materials as primary sources. Some of these terms are

• correspondence
• personal narratives
• pictorial works
• songs and music
• manuscripts
• letters (use as keyword)
• self-portraits
• fiction (written during the historical time period you are researching.)

Note: these subject terms will not retrieve all possible primary sources but they are a good way to start.

Restricting by Date of Publication or Format

• You may also narrow a search by limiting the results by date of publication or format.
• Limiting sources to a particular date of publication will help you to locate contemporary sources published at the time of an event. For example, if you are studying British Literature during WWII, refine your search results by using the publication date limiters to retrieve novels published only during the years 1939 to 1945.
• To limit a search by format, go to the Advanced Search mode and select from the format list as appropriate to your needs.

Collections

Hathi Trust

Digital Public Library of America

Library of Congress Digital Collections

Internet Archive

Smithsonian Libraries Digital Libraries

NYPL Digital Collections

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Primary Source Research and Discovery

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What are Primary Sources?

Primary sources.

A primary source provides direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art. Primary sources include historical and legal documents, eyewitness accounts, results of experiments, statistical data, pieces of creative writing, audio and video recordings, speeches, and art objects. Interviews, surveys, fieldwork, and Internet communications via email, blogs, listservs, and newsgroups are also primary sources. In the natural and social sciences, primary sources are often empirical studies—research where an experiment was performed or a direct observation was made. The results of empirical studies are typically found in scholarly articles or papers delivered at conferences.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources describe, discuss, interpret, comment upon, analyze, evaluate, summarize, and process primary sources. Secondary source materials can be articles in newspapers or popular magazines, book or movie reviews, or articles found in scholarly journals that discuss or evaluate someone else's original research. 

Definition courtesy of  Ithaca College Library Research Guide , Primary vs Secondary section.

Clues for Identifying Primary Sources

Clues for identifying primary source characteristics.

Characteristics of Primary Sources

• Primary sources can either be first-hand observation/analysis or accounts contemporary with the events described.
• Primary sources document events, people, viewpoints of the time.
• When research is more era, rather than event-driven, the scope of possible primary sources broadens considerably.
• Primary sources represent one person's perspective; frequently will be used with  secondary/tertiary  sources to broaden the lens through which a researcher is looking at an event, era, or phenomenon.
• It is important when using anything as a primary source that the researcher be cognizant of and sensitive to the bias of the observer/analyzer that created the primary source, and also to the broader cultural biases of the era in which the primary source was created.
• The researcher's perspective, or the arguments or points for which a researcher plans to use a primary source as evidence, is significant in determining what sources will be primary.
• Reproductions of primary sources remain primary for many research purposes.
• Some attributes are based more on the perspective represented in the source and context in which the source is being used by researcher.

Bullet points courtesy of The University of California at Irvine Libraries .

Primary, Secondary, Tertiary Examples

Primary, secondary, tertiary sources.

The infographic below gives the definition, characteristics, and examples of primary, secondary and tertiary sources. Notice, journal articles are listed for the sciences as a primary source and a secondary source for non-scientific disciplines. At the top of the graphic is the publishing timeline . As you can see primary sources are generally published first, then secondary sources. In the research timeline , secondary sources are generally consulted first to provide needed context for primary source research.

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Understanding scientific literature, primary sources, secondary sources, tertiary sources.

• Identifying a Research Article
• Scholarly vs. Popular Literature

What are primary sources?

In the sciences primary sources are original research or data. Primary sources can include any of the following publications 

• Journal Articles -- Journal articles can be primary sources if they contain original research, but keep in mind that not all journal articles are primary sources.
• Reports -- Reports are publications on research that are published independently of a journal. They are often published by governments or companies.
• Theses and Dissertations -- Theses and Dissertations are the original research of an academic working on a degree. 
• Conference Proceedings -- Conference Proceedings are a collection of papers that have been presented at a conference. 
• Published Data -- Data can be considered a primary source, as it is the product of original research.

Why use primary sources?

  Primary sources are a researchers firsthand account of their research. They provide an in depth view into how the research was conducted, and may contain supplemental materials like questionnaires used. A summary of a study or experiment in a book or review paper may not discuss all the findings, and you can gain more insight into a particular topic or issue by looking at the primary sources. 

How to find primary sources:

Resources for finding primary sources include: 

• Databases and Indexes -- The exact database or index you choose to search will depend on the discipline you are searching in. 
• Review Papers -- Review papers are often synthesized from other researchers to give an in-depth understanding of the current state of knowledge on a topic. If you have found a review paper when you are looking for a research paper don't fear! If the review paper is on the write topic it will cite plenty of research papers on your topic of interest. 

What are secondary sources?

In the sciences secondary sources analyze, interpret, summarize, or evaluate the findings of primary sources. Secondary sources can include any of the following publications: 

• Journal review articles -- A review article summarizes past research on a given topic. Review articles can range from highly intensive systematic or integrative reviews or less rigorous literature reviews.
• Textbooks -- The information in textbooks in the sciences is the product of past research.  
• Monographs -- A monograph is a book-length scholarly publication dedicated to a single topic. 

Secondary sources can save you time by providing information on the current state of knowledge on a given topic, and also as a way to find primary resources. If you are interested to know what are important, seminal papers in on a topic look at what papers are cited in a textbook on that topic. Review papers can give you in-depth information on a particular research area. Secondary resources are also often less technical than primary resources. 

How to find secondary sources:

Resources for finding secondary sources 

• Databases and Indexes -- Databases and indexes are particularly useful for finding review articles.  
• The Library Catalog or Ram Search -- The library catalog or Ram Search will help you locate books on the topic you are interested in. 

What are tertiary sources?

In the sciences tertiary resources are synthesized from primary and secondary resources. They usually provide summaries on the current state of knowledge. Tertiary sources can include the following publications: 

• Encyclopedias
• Dictionaries 
• Factbooks 
• Almanacs 

Why use tertiary sources?

Tertiary sources can be viewed as a jumping off point for your own research. They provide succinct  summaries on topics, and can be a good way to familiarize yourself with the terminology on a topic before you begin searching the databases.

How to find tertiary sources:

Resources for finding tertiary sources include: 

• The Library Catalog or Ram Search -- Keep in mind a majority of our encyclopedias are in the reference room. 
• LibGuides and the Library Website -- We have a number of digital encyclopedias. Check the LibGuide for your field to see what digital encyclopedias we might offer!
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Tutorial: Evaluating Information: Primary vs. Secondary Articles

• Evaluating Information
• Scholarly Literature Types
• Primary vs. Secondary Articles
• Peer Review
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Primary vs. Secondary Research Articles

In the sciences,  primary (or empirical) research articles :

• are original scientific reports of new research findings (Please note that an original scientific article does not include review articles, which summarize the research literature on a particular subject, or articles using meta-analyses, which analyze pre-published data.)
• usually include the following sections: Introduction , Methods , Results , Discussion, References
• are usually  peer-reviewed (examined by expert(s) in the field before publication). Please note that a peer-reviewed article is not the same as a review article, which summarizes the research literature on a particular subject

You may also choose to use some secondary sources (summaries or interpretations of original research) such as books (find these through the library catalog) or review articles (articles which organize and critically analyze the research of others on a topic). These secondary sources, particularly review articles, are often useful and easier-to-read summaries of research in an area. Additionally, you can use the listed references to find useful primary research articles.

Anatomy of a Scholarly Article

from NCSU Libraries' Anatomy of a Scholarly Article

Types of health studies

In the sciences, particularly the health sciences, there are a number of types of primary articles (the gold standard being randomized controlled trials ) and secondary articles (the gold standard being systematic reviews and meta-analysis ). The chart below summarizes their differences and the linked article gives more information.

Searching for Primary vs. Secondary Articles

Some scholarly databases will allow you to specific what kind of scholarly literature you're looking for.  However, be careful! Sometimes, depending on the database, the Review article type may mean book review instead of or as well as review article. You may also have to look under more or custom options to find these choices.

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What Is a Primary Source?

Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms - Definition and Examples

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In research and academics, a primary source refers to information collected from sources that witnessed or experienced an event firsthand. These can be historical documents , literary texts, artistic works, experiments, journal entries, surveys, and interviews. A primary source, which is very different from a secondary source , is also called primary data.

The Library of Congress defines primary sources as "the raw materials of history—original documents and objects which were created at the time under study," in contrast to secondary sources , which are "accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience," ("Using Primary Sources").

Secondary sources are often meant to describe or analyze a primary source and do not give firsthand accounts; primary sources tend to provide more accurate depictions of history but are much harder to come by.

Characteristics of Primary Sources

There are a couple of factors that can qualify an artifact as a primary source. The chief characteristics of a primary source, according to Natalie Sproull, are: "(1) [B]eing present during the experience, event or time and (2) consequently being close in time with the data. This does not mean that data from primary sources are always the best data."

Sproull then goes on to remind readers that primary sources are not always more reliable than secondary sources. "Data from human sources are subject to many types of distortion because of such factors as selective recall, selective perceptions, and purposeful or nonpurposeful omission or addition of information. Thus data from primary sources are not necessarily accurate data even though they come from firsthand sources," (Sproull 1988).

Original Sources

Primary sources are often called original sources, but this is not the most accurate description because you're not always going to be dealing with original copies of primary artifacts. For this reason, "primary sources" and "original sources" should be considered separate. Here's what the authors of "Undertaking Historical Research in Literacy," from Handbook of Reading Research , have to say about this:

"The distinction also needs to be made between primary and original sources . It is by no means always necessary, and all too often it is not possible, to deal only with original sources. Printed copies of original sources, provided they have been undertaken with scrupulous care (such as the published letters of the Founding Fathers), are usually an acceptable substitute for their handwritten originals." (E. J. Monaghan and D. K. Hartman, "Undertaking Historical Research in Literacy," in Handbook of Reading Research , ed. by P. D. Pearson et al. Erlbaum, 2000)

When to Use Primary Sources

Primary sources tend to be most useful toward the beginning of your research into a topic and at the end of a claim as evidence, as Wayne Booth et al. explain in the following passage. "[Primary sources] provide the 'raw data' that you use first to test the working hypothesis and then as evidence to support your claim . In history, for example, primary sources include documents from the period or person you are studying, objects, maps, even clothing; in literature or philosophy, your main primary source is usually the text you are studying, and your data are the words on the page. In such fields, you can rarely write a research paper  without using primary sources," (Booth et al. 2008).

When to Use Secondary Sources

There is certainly a time and place for secondary sources and many situations in which these point to relevant primary sources. Secondary sources are an excellent place to start. Alison Hoagland and Gray Fitzsimmons write: "By identifying basic facts, such as year of construction, secondary sources can point the researcher to the best primary sources , such as the right tax books. In addition, a careful reading of the bibliography in a secondary source can reveal important sources the researcher might otherwise have missed," (Hoagland and Fitzsimmons 2004).

Finding and Accessing Primary Sources

As you might expect, primary sources can prove difficult to find. To find the best ones, take advantage of resources such as libraries and historical societies. "This one is entirely dependent on the assignment given and your local resources; but when included, always emphasize quality. ... Keep in mind that there are many institutions such as the Library of Congress that make primary source material freely available on the Web," (Kitchens 2012).

Methods of Collecting Primary Data

Sometimes in your research, you'll run into the problem of not being able to track down primary sources at all. When this happens, you'll want to know how to collect your own primary data; Dan O'Hair et all tell you how: "If the information you need is unavailable or hasn't yet been gathered, you'll have to gather it yourself. Four basic methods of collecting primary data are field research, content analysis, survey research, and experiments. Other methods of gathering primary data include historical research, analysis of existing statistics, ... and various forms of direct observation," (O'Hair et al. 2001).

• Booth, Wayne C., et al. The Craft of Research . 3rd ed., University of Chicago Press, 2008.
• Hoagland, Alison, and Gray Fitzsimmons. "History."  Recording Historic Structures. 2nd. ed., John Wiley & Sons, 2004.
• Kitchens, Joel D. Librarians, Historians, and New Opportunities for Discourse: A Guide for Clio's Helpers . ABC-CLIO, 2012.
• Monaghan, E. Jennifer, and Douglas K. Hartman. "Undertaking Historical Research in Literacy." Handbook of Reading Research. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002.
• O'Hair, Dan, et al. Business Communication: A Framework for Success . South-Western College Pub., 2001.
• Sproull, Natalie L. Handbook of Research Methods: A Guide for Practitioners and Students in the Social Sciences. 2nd ed. Scarecrow Press, 1988.
• "Using Primary Sources." Library of Congress .
• Secondary Sources in Research
• Primary and Secondary Sources in History
• How to Prove Your Family Tree Connections
• Research in Essays and Reports
• Five Steps to Verifying Online Genealogy Sources
• Pros and Cons of Secondary Data Analysis
• Understanding Secondary Data and How to Use It in Research
• Documentation in Reports and Research Papers
• What Is a Research Paper?
• 6 Skills Students Need to Succeed in Social Studies Classes
• How to Use Libraries and Archives for Research
• How to Cite Genealogy Sources
• Glossary of Historical Terms
• Definition and Examples of Quotation in English Grammar
• How to Determine a Reliable Source on the Internet
• Fashion Throughout History

Library DIY: Finding Books and Articles

• Academic Books
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• Empirical/Primary Articles
• Significant Articles
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• The Library Doesn't Have What I Need
• WISE Link Problem

What is an empirical source or primary article?

In many of your classes, especially in the sciences, your professor may specify that you should use primary sources or empirical articles. It is important to understand what that means before you begin your search.

Sources come in three types: Primary, secondary, and tertiary.

• A primary source, in the sciences (sometimes called an empirical source), is the first writing of new research. It reports on a single experiment and is written by those who did the research. This is different than in History, where a primary source is a source from the time period you are studying, or English where a primary source may refer to a piece of literature you are analyzing.
• Secondary sources synthesize and compare primary sources. Secondary sources give an overview on ‘recent research’ on a topic. If you find a secondary source, you can use it to find primary sources, because it will probably cite a whole lot of primary sources.
• Tertiary sources are written for the public or people without in-depth knowledge of the topic. Most of the time, if we want to know something in our life, we use tertiary sources.

Peer-reviewed journals publish many things that are not primary sources, including:

• Literature reviews
• Meta-Analyses/Review articles (These are studies that arrive at conclusions based on research from many other studies.)
• Chapters in books
• Encyclopedia articles
• Speeches and interviews

Identifying Primary Sources Using the Parts of an Article

Identifying a primary or empirical article takes practice.  You have to carefully review each of the parts of the article.

Abstract: The abstract of an article is a short summary of the research. A primary source will have an abstract that includes a hypothesis and an active statement of research that the author(s) performed. Pay special attention to the way the abstract describes the type of research that was conducted.

Here is an abstract of a primary source . One of the big clues is the inclusion of participants in the study and the description of how the experiment was carried out.

Here is an abstract of a secondary source . The authors include an active statement of research, but the process they describe includes searching other people’s research and comparing multiple studies.

Methods: A Primary source should have a methods section. Secondary sources occasionally have a methods section, so be sure to read carefully to understand whether they did original research (lab work, clinical trial, interviews, surveys, analyzing historical records) or if they found and analyzed the research of others (the authors might discuss conducting a literature review or searching different databases).

Here is the methods section of a primary source , with excerpts from “participants” and “measures” sections. (Other primary articles might look different, but will include similar information)

Here is the methods section of a secondary article . Not all secondary articles will have a methods section, but if they do, it should outline the search process and qualities of studies that would indicate their inclusion in the research.

Results: A primary source should also have a results section, where the authors present the raw data that they collected. Some secondary sources will have a section labeled results that summarize their analysis of the primary sources they reviewed. Remember, if it is a primary source, there should be data collected from the study.

Here is an excerpt from the results section of a primary source.  It reports data and trends in data that were gathered by the author(s).

Here is an excerpt from the results section of a secondary source . It reports the summary of data and data trends found in other studies, not directly conducted by the author(s).

The results section of a primary source will usually include tables, charts, and graphs that help to make the data more understandable. Some secondary sources also contain graphs or tables that explain the process they used to select which primary articles to review. Be sure that you understand what the table, chart, or graph is trying to show.

Here is a data table from a primary source . This table shows the data gathered from different treatment groups in the study.

Here is a data table from a secondary source . This table shows the details of the articles they included in their study.

Discussion: In the discussion section, a primary source will analyze and explain the results to draw preliminary conclusions and discuss how their findings compare to existing research.

Here is an excerpt from the discussion section of a primary source (case study). It discusses the evidence and outcome of a specific study conducted by the author(s).

Here is an excerpt from the discussion section of a secondary source . Some keywords include "exploratory examination" of other studies and "systemic review".

If you aren't sure if an article you've found is a primary source - ask a librarian!  

Your professor is the final judge of whether an article is appropriate for a particular assignment, so be sure to discuss your source selection with them. 

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Peer Review and Primary Literature: An Introduction: Is it Primary Research? How Do I Know?

• Scholarly Journal vs. Magazine
• Peer Review: What is it?
• Finding Peer-Reviewed Articles
• Primary Journal Literature
• Is it Primary Research? How Do I Know?

Components of a Primary Research Study

As indicated on a previous page, Peer-Reviewed Journals also include non -primary content. Simply limiting your search results in a database to "peer-reviewed" will not retrieve a list of only primary research studies.

Learn to recognize the parts of a primary research study. Terminology will vary slightly from discipline to discipline and from journal to journal.  However, there are common components to most research studies.

When you run a search, find a promising article in your results list and then look at the record for that item (usually by clicking on the title). The full database record for an item usually includes an abstract or summary--sometimes prepared by the journal or database, but often written by the author(s) themselves. This will usually give a clear indication of whether the article is a primary study.  For example, here is a full database record from a search for family violence and support in SocINDEX with Full Text :

Although the abstract often tells the story, you will need to read the article to know for sure. Besides scanning the Abstract or Summary, look for the following components: (I am only capturing small article segments for illustration.)

Look for the words METHOD or METHODOLOGY . The authors should explain how they conducted their research.

NOTE: Different Journals and Disciplines will use different terms to mean similar things. If instead of " Method " or " Methodology " you see a heading that says " Research Design " or " Data Collection ," you have a similar indicator that the scholar-authors have done original research.

Look for the section called RESULTS . This details what the author(s) found out after conducting their research.

Charts , Tables , Graphs , Maps and other displays help to summarize and present the findings of the research.

A Discussion indicates the significance of findings, acknowledges limitations of the research study, and suggests further research.

References , a Bibliography or List of Works Cited indicates a literature review and shows other studies and works that were consulted. USE THIS PART OF THE STUDY! If you find one or two good recent studies, you can identify some important earlier studies simply by going through the bibliographies of those articles.

A FINAL NOTE:  If you are ever unclear about whether a particular article is appropriate to use in your paper, it is best to show that article to your professor and discuss it with them.  The professor is the final judge since they will be assigning your grade.

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Science Research: Primary Sources and Original Research vs. Review Articles

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Original Research vs. Review Articles. How can I tell the Difference?

Research vs review articles.

It's often difficult to tell the difference between original research articles and review articles. Here are some explanations and tips that may help: "Review articles are often as lengthy or even longer that original research articles. What the authors of review articles are doing in analysing and evaluating current research and investigations related to a specific topic, field, or problem. They are not primary sources since they review previously published material. They can be of great value for identifying potentially good primary sources, but they aren't primary themselves. Primary research articles can be identified by a commonly used format. If an article contains the following elements, you can count on it being a primary research article. Look for sections titled:

Methods (sometimes with variations, such as Materials and Methods) Results (usually followed with charts and statistical tables) Discussion

You can also read the abstract to get a good sense of the kind of article that is being presented.

If it is a review article instead of a research article, the abstract should make that pretty clear. If there is no abstract at all, that in itself may be a sign that it is not a primary resource. Short research articles, such as those found in Science and similar scientific publications that mix news, editorials, and forums with research reports, however, may not include any of those elements. In those cases look at the words the authors use, phrases such as "we tested"  and "in our study, we measured" will tell you that the article is reporting on original research."*

*Taken from Ithca College Libraries

Primary and Secondary Sources for Science

In the Sciences, primary sources are documents that provide full description of the original research. For example, a primary source would be a journal article where scientists describe their research on the human immune system. A secondary source would be an article commenting or analyzing the scientists' research on the human immune system.

  EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES

Source: The Evolution of Scientific Information (from  Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science , vol. 26).

Primary Vs. Secondary Vs. Tertiary Sources

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Primary Sources from DocsTeach Thousands of online primary source documents from the National Archives to bring the past to life as classroom teaching tools.

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Getting Started with Research How to start researching records at the National Archives. Finding your topic, identifying records, planning a visit, and more.

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Subcollections in primary source databases, digital collections, modern news sources, leni-lenape primary sources: colonial narratives, leni-lenape primary sources: oral histories.

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In humanities disciplines like history and literature, a primary source is an item produced from the time you are researching (e.g., photographs, a letters, newspaper articles, government documents).  Looking at actual sources from a specific time helps you get a firsthand account of what was happening then.

In the sciences and social sciences, research data and original research studies are also considered primary sources.

Secondary sources provide analysis of primary sources (e.g., scholarly articles and books).

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• History Vault: American Indians and the American West, 1809-1971) (Primary Sources - Proquest) Collections from the U.S. National Archives and the Chicago History Museum, as well as first-hand accounts on Indian Wars and westward migration
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• Empire Online This link opens in a new window Primary source materials in world history. more... less... This resource brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices and consequences. The materials span across the last five centuries and are accompanied by a host of secondary learning resources including scholarly essays, maps and an interactive chronology.
• Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window News, magazine, and journal articles from the ethnic, minority and native press. more... less... An interdisciplinary, bilingual (English and Spanish) comprehensive full text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. Coverage begins in 1990.
• HeinOnline This link opens in a new window Comprehensive coverage of more than 2,000 journals and the Congressional Record. more... less... Complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754, constitutions for every country in the world, classic books from the 18th & 19th centuries, all United States Treaties, the Federal Register and CFR from inception.
• American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection Photographs, documents, and maps about the Northwest Coast and Plateau Indian cultures and related essays by anthropologists, histories, and teachers. From the University of Washington.
• Archives Library Information Center: Native Americans (National Archives) Includes digital collections, genealogical resources, laws and treaties, and more.
• Association on American Indian Affairs Records, 1851-2016 (mostly 1922-1995) Physical and digitized materials available from Princeton University. Select "Only show materials containing online content" to limit to digitized materials.
• Chief George Manuel Memorial Indigenous Library Contains documents, reports, and publications from indigenous nations in North America and the world. Established in 1979 as a document repository, in response to a resolution of the Conference of Tribal Governments.
• Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers - Indians of North America A project of the National Endowmen for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
• Duke Collection of American Indian Oral History Typescripts of interviews from 1967-1972 with Native Americans in Oklahoma
• Early Americas Digital Archive Texts written in or about the Americas from 1492 to 1820
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• Images of North Americans Illustrations from rare books, magazines, newspapers, an ephemera; photographs; and other visual materials. Materials reflect European interpretations of Native Americans. From the University of California - Berkeley.
• Indigenous Studies Portal Research Tool (University of Saskatchewan) A database of full text primary and secondary sources focused primarily on Indigenous peoples of Canada and secondarily on North American materials.
• Library of Congress "American Indians" subject search
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• Native Voices: Native Peoples' Concepts of Health and Illness Includes exhibition materials, inteviews, and an historical timeline. From the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
• Oklahoma State University Library Digital Collections Many of OSU's digital collections concentrate on Native American history. Search the collections using terms like 'Native American.' (Note: Many of the Lenape people indigenous to New Jersey relocated to Oklahoma.)
• The Trail of Tears through Arkansas Eyewitness accounts, letters, removal claim documents, and background information about the Trail of Tears through Arkansas. From the University of Arkansas - Little Rock.
• Treaties between the United States and Native Americans (The Avalon Project) From Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.
• Tribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State Univeristy Libraries) Includes agreements between tribal nations and the United States (1778-1886). A project of Oklahoma State University Library, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Department of the Interior.
• Tribal Writers Digital Library (Sequoyah National Research Center) Features out-of-print literary works of American Indians, Alaska natives, and First Nations people of Canada
• Indian Country Today An independent news source and public media broadcast serving Indigenous communities
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• Geographia Americae : with an account of the Delaware Indians : based on surveys and notes made in 1654-1656 by Peter Lindestrom Call Number: Special Collections F167 .L73 Publication Date: 1925

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Dylan Ruediger

From Reading to Discovery

Scaffolding Student Engagement with Primary Sources

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/ From Reading to Discovery

Publication Date

June 14, 2021

Perspectives Section

Perspectives Daily

Asked to describe how they learned to teach with primary sources, one instructor recalled, “I was like a deer in headlights, had no idea what I was doing, so I had to figure it out.” This sentiment, reported in Ithaka S+R’s recent Teaching with Primary Sources project, resonated with my experience designing and teaching an introductory history course. I had minimal instruction and even less supervision while building my first courses as a doctoral student.

A new report from Ithaka S+R found that history instructors need to collaborate with librarians, archivists, and publishers to help students master the skills required to find and use primary sources.  Clay Banks/Unsplash

Few disciplines rely more heavily on primary sources as instructional tools than history, but many of us find that learning to teach effectively with them is difficult. Faculty can turn to a sizable and valuable literature exploring the pedagogy of teaching with primary sources, much of it focused on case studies of single courses or assignments. But part of teaching students to engage with primary sources depends on teaching them how to navigate libraries and archives and use resources like card catalogs, finding aids, and search engines. These skills are difficult to master across a major, let alone within a single course. As historians, we want our students to experience something of the joy we discover in the open exploration of primary sources. But what does it take to get them there?

In Teaching with Primary Sources, Ithaka S+R sought a broad perspective on how universities—particularly, university libraries—can support faculty who teach with primary sources. Working in partnership with ProQuest and 26 institutions, including liberal arts colleges, regional public and private universities, and research universities, the Teaching with Primary Sources project (not to be confused with the Library of Congress project of the same name) generated interviews with 335 faculty (roughly one-third of them historians) who detailed how they and their students discover, access, and use both physical and digital primary sources in upper- and lower-division courses. The resulting report highlights common challenges that instructors face regardless of academic field and offers examples of successful collaborative instructional practices between faculty and librarians. One of the project’s core findings is that primary source pedagogy benefits from collaboration between teachers, departments, librarians, and publishers, each of whom plays an important role in helping students gain experience discovering and interpreting primary sources.

Few disciplines rely more heavily on primary sources as instructional tools than history.

Despite almost unanimously reporting that they began their career as a “deer in the headlights,” most faculty said that they were now fairly comfortable teaching students to interpret primary sources. Typically, this involved assigning students carefully curated materials from readers, open-access or subscription digital collections, and sometimes physical objects held by university archives or special collections. Many instructors used primary sources to provide students with opportunities to understand how historical arguments are made. As one instructor noted, “It’s really [about] teaching students key historical skills to be able to assess evidence and develop arguments based on competing evidence.” To facilitate this learning, instructors invest considerable time creating packages of complementary sources that students used to stage debates.

However successful these practices were at teaching students to engage with primary sources, they fell short when it came to teaching students to find their own primary sources for analysis. This important skill—the ability to locate and sift through “raw” sources and make independent judgments about their value, perspective, and relevance—is at the core of historical research and information literacy. Instructors who had tried to integrate primary source discovery into their courses noted that students struggled to evaluate the quality and relevance of what they found, becoming discouraged or gravitating towards resources that popped up readily through Google searches. Faculty voicing these concerns were not accusing their students of laziness: they recognized that students were juggling many personal and intellectual demands on their time. Nevertheless, there was a palpable sense of frustration among instructors at their lack of success teaching students to conduct open-ended research and find their own primary sources. Faced with these challenges, many faculty, especially those teaching in lower-level courses, settled for providing sources rather than requiring or encouraging students to discover their own.

Evidence emerged of a common curricular gap: instructors felt that teaching research skills was too advanced for their lower-division courses, but also felt that it was something that students in upper-division courses ought to already know. Everyone recognized the importance of students, especially majors, learning these skills along the way, but exactly when they should be taught—and by whom—remained elusive.

Working with primary sources requires significant intellectual dexterity.

Individual faculty cannot bridge this gap alone. They will need to collaborate with librarians, archivists, and publishers. Many of the faculty who were most successful in having students find their own sources had developed long-term collaborative relationships with librarians and archivists with expertise in helping students navigate databases and special collections. Publishers—including digital content providers such as EBSCO and ProQuest—have a role to play as well. They might consider building “sandbox” style collections of primary sources, with enough curation to structure student exploration but sufficient depth and diversity to allow for an authentic discovery experience. Digital collections hosted by major research institutions or museums might consider similar ways of highlighting resources of the right length, genre, and language to be broadly useful for students at various levels.

As historians know, working with primary sources requires significant intellectual dexterity: doing it well demands information literacy, command of search and discovery, and the domain knowledge necessary to contextualize what you find. Perhaps the most significant implication of the Teaching with Primary Sources project is that it takes more than a single course for students to master this mix of skills. If we want students to be ready to practice historical research at the level of a capstone project at the end of their university careers, we should be thinking about how to provide students with incremental opportunities to move from reading a small number of preselected primary sources to finding and evaluating sources on their own. As AHA initiatives like Tuning and History Gateways have shown, history education benefits from approaches that think about individual courses in relation to the curricula as a whole and that emphasize disciplinary competencies that are developed over the course of a degree program. The Teaching with Primary Sources project underscores the importance of this holistic approach and suggests an ongoing need for more conversations about how to scaffold primary source discovery across courses, within the curriculum, and as a core learning outcome for the major.

Dylan Ruediger is a qualitative analyst with Ithaka S+R’s Libraries, Scholarly Communication, and Museums program. He tweets @dylan_ruediger.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Attribution must provide author name, article title, Perspectives on History, date of publication, and a link to this page. This license applies only to the article, not to text or images used here by permission.

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Concierge medicine means better access to doctors for patients who pay, but disrupts care for many

By John Rossheim

Updated on: June 21, 2024 / 3:12 PM EDT / KFF Health News

"You had to pay the fee, or the doctor wasn't going to see you anymore."

That was the takeaway for Terri Marroquin of Midland, Texas, when her longtime physician began charging a membership fee in 2019. She found out about the change when someone at the physician's front desk pointed to a posted notice.

At first, she stuck with the practice; in her area, she said, it is now tough to find a primary care doctor who doesn't charge an annual membership fee from $350 to $500.

But last year, Marroquin finally left to join a practice with no membership fee where she sees a physician assistant rather than a doctor. "I had had enough," she said. "The concierge fee kept going up, and the doctor's office kept getting nicer and nicer."

With the national shortage of primary care physicians reaching 17,637 in 2023 and projected to worsen, more Americans are paying for the privilege of seeing a doctor — on top of insurance premiums that cover most services a doctor might provide or order. Many people seeking a new doctor are calling a long list of primary care practices only to be told they're not taking new patients.

"Concierge medicine potentially leads to disproportionately richer people being able to pay for the scarce resource of physician time and crowding out people who have lower incomes and are sicker," said Adam Leive, lead author of a 2023 study on concierge medicine and researcher at University of California-Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy.

Leive's research showed no decrease in mortality for concierge patients compared with similar patients who saw non-concierge physicians, suggesting concierge care may not notably improve some health outcomes.

A 2005 study showed concierge physicians had smaller proportions of patients with diabetes than their non-concierge counterparts and provided care for fewer Black and Hispanic patients.

There's little reliable data available on the size of the concierge medicine market. But one market research firm projects that concierge medicine revenue will grow about 10.4% annually through 2030. About 5,000 to 7,000 physicians and practices provide concierge care in the United States, most of whom are primary care providers, according to Concierge Medicine Today . (Yes, the burgeoning field already has a trade publication.)

The concierge pitch is simple: More time with your doctor, in-person or remotely, promptly and at your convenience. With many primary care physicians caring for thousands of patients each in appointments of 15 minutes or less, some people who can afford the fee say they feel forced to pay it just to maintain adequate access to their doctor.

As primary care providers convert to concierge medicine, many patients could face the financial and health consequences of a potentially lengthy search for a new provider. With fewer physicians in non-concierge practices, the pool available to people who can't or won't pay is smaller. For them, it is harder to find a doctor.

Concierge care models vary widely, but all involve paying a periodic fee to be a patient of the practice.

These fees are generally not covered by insurance nor payable with a tax-advantaged flexible spending account or health savings account. Annual fees range from $199 for Amazon's One Medical (with a discount available for Prime members) to low four figures for companies like MDVIP and SignatureMD that partner with physicians, to $10,000 or more for top-branded practices like Massachusetts General Hospital's.

Many patients are exasperated with the prospect of pay-to-play primary care. For one thing, under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are required to cover a variety of preventive services without a patient paying out-of-pocket. "Your annual physical should be free," said Caitlin Donovan, a spokesperson for the National Patient Advocate Foundation. "Why are you paying $2,000 for it?"

Liz Glatzer felt her doctor in Providence, Rhode Island, was competent but didn't have time to absorb her full health history. "I had [a] double mastectomy 25 years ago," she said. "At my first physical, the doctor ran through my meds and whatever else, and she said, 'Oh, you haven't had a mammogram.' I said, 'I don't have breasts to have mammography.'"

In 2023, after repeating that same exchange during her next two physicals, Glatzer signed up to pay $1,900 a year for MDVIP, a concierge staffing service that contracts with her new doctor, who is also a friend's husband. In her first couple of visits, Glatzer's new physician took hours to get to know her, she said.

For the growing numbers of Americans who can't or won't pay when their doctor switches to concierge care, finding new primary care can mean frustration, delayed or missed tests or treatments, and fragmented health care.

"I've met so many patients who couldn't afford the concierge services and needed to look for a new primary care physician," said Yalda Jabbarpour, director of the Robert Graham Center and a practicing family physician. Separating from a doctor who's transitioning to concierge care "breaks the continuity with the provider that we know is so important for good health outcomes," she said.

That disruption has consequences. "People don't get the preventive services that they should, and they use more expensive and inefficient avenues for care that could have otherwise been provided by their doctor," said Abbie Leibowitz, chief medical officer at Health Advocate , a company that helps patients find care and resolve insurance issues.

What happens to patients who find themselves at loose ends when a physician transitions to concierge practice?

Patients who lose their doctors often give up on having an ongoing relationship with a primary care clinician. They may rely solely on a pharmacy-based clinic or urgent care center or even a hospital emergency department for primary care.

Some concierge providers say they are responding to concerns about access and equity by allowing patients to opt out of concierge care but stay with the practice group at a lower tier of service. This might entail longer waits for shorter appointments, fewer visits with a physician, and more visits with midlevel providers, for example.

Deb Gordon of Cambridge, Massachusetts, said she is searching for a new primary care doctor after hers switched to concierge medicine — a challenge that involves finding someone in her network who has admitting privileges at her preferred hospitals and is accepting new patients. 

Gordon, who is co-director of the Alliance of Professional Health Advocates , which provides support services to patient advocates, said the practice that her doctor left has not assigned her a new provider, and her health plan said it was OK if she went without one. "I was shocked that they literally said, 'You can go to urgent care,'" she said.

Some patients find themselves turning to physician assistants and other midlevel providers. But those clinicians have much less training than physicians with board certification in family medicine or internal medicine and so may not be fully qualified to treat patients with complex health problems. "The expertise of physician assistants and nurse practitioners can really vary widely," said Russell Phillips, director of the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care .

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.

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Endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondrial calcium handling dynamically shape slow afterhyperpolarizations in vasopressin magnocellular neurons

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Many neurons including vasopressin (VP) magnocellular neurosecretory cells (MNCs) of the hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus (SON) generate afterhyperpolarizations (AHPs) during spiking to slow firing, a phenomenon known as spike frequency adaptation. The AHP is underlain by Ca 2+ -activated K + currents, and while slow component (sAHP) features are well described, its mechanism remains poorly understood. Previous work demonstrated that Ca 2+ influx through N-type Ca 2+ channels is the primary source of sAHP activation in SON oxytocin neurons, but no obvious channel coupling was described for VP neurons. Given this, we tested the possibility of an intracellular source of sAHP activation, namely the Ca 2+ -handling organelles endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria in male and female wistar rats. We demonstrate that ER Ca 2+ depletion greatly inhibits sAHPs without a corresponding decrease in Ca 2+ signal. Caffeine sensitized AHP activation by Ca 2+ . In contrast to ER, disabling mitochondria with CCCP or blocking mitochondria Ca 2+ uniporter (MCU) enhanced sAHP amplitude and duration, implicating mitochondria as a vital buffer for sAHP-activating Ca 2+ . Block of mitochondria Na + -dependent Ca 2+ release via triphenylphosphonium (TPP + ) failed to affect sAHPs, indicating that mitochondria Ca 2+ doesn’t contribute to sAHP activation. Together, our results support that ER Ca 2+ -induced Ca 2+ release activates sAHPs and mitochondria shape the spatiotemporal trajectory of the sAHP via Ca 2+ buffering in VP neurons. Overall, this implicates organelle Ca 2+ , and specifically ER-mitochondria associated membrane contacts, as an important site of Ca 2+ microdomain activity that regulates sAHP signaling pathways. Thus, this site plays a major role in influencing VP firing activity and systemic hormonal release.

Significance Statement The slow afterhyperpolarization (sAHP) is mediated by a Ca 2+ -dependent K + current. Despite its critical role in regulating neuronal spiking, the Ca 2+ -dependent mechanisms leading to its activation and spatiotemporal shape remains poorly understood. Here we show that in vasopressin (VP) neurons, dynamic interactions in Ca 2+ handling between endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria play a significant role in sAHP initiation ( via ER Ca 2+ release) and its spatiotemporal waveform ( via mitochondrial Ca 2+ uptake). Our results suggest that contact sites between ER and mitochondria represent Ca 2+ microdomains critically involved in initiating the first steps of sAHP generation in VP neurons. Given that changes in the sAHP have been linked to abnormal firing activity in various diseases, our results have both wide-range physiological and pathological implications.

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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The Effects of CLIL and Sources of Individual Differences on Receptive and Productive EFL Skills at the Onset of Primary School

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Adriana Soto-Corominas, Helena Roquet, Marta Segura, The Effects of CLIL and Sources of Individual Differences on Receptive and Productive EFL Skills at the Onset of Primary School, Applied Linguistics , Volume 45, Issue 2, April 2024, Pages 364–382, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amad031

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Research on the implementation of CLIL at the onset of primary school is limited and has largely overlooked the role of other sources of individual differences. This study investigated the effects of the CLIL approach to English learning, together with the effects of out-of-school exposure to the language through media and other sources of individual differences, in a sample of Grade 1 students in Catalonia (Spain) using a longitudinal design. Participants ( N = 176) from 14 different schools completed a test battery at the beginning and end of Grade 1 that assessed receptive and productive English skills. Results revealed that abilities at the onset of Grade 1 were the best predictor of abilities at the end of the year, and that CLIL was not associated with additional advantages in the students that followed the approach. In addition, certain characteristics of the linguistic and family background of participants predicted additional gains during the academic year: participants who engaged in more English extracurricular activities and participants with more educated mothers performed better at the end of Grade 1.

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a teaching approach that aims to foster both Foreign Language (FL) and content learning in an integrated way ( Merino and Lasagabaster 2018 ). As a tool to promote multilingualism, CLIL has experienced a rapidly increasing implementation in schools within the latest decades ( Dalton-Puffer 2008 ). Parallel to the growing expansion of CLIL in schools, research in this field has also gained ground.

A number of studies have analyzed which linguistic skills may be enhanced by CLIL. However, most of those studies have focused on secondary education students (e.g. Merino and Lasagabaster 2018 ), whose literacy skills are fully developed. Research with primary education students is still rather limited and has reported contradictory results. In addition, this body of research has often failed to consider the sources of individual differences that may affect children’s FL development and that may thus act as a confounding factor when CLIL effects are analyzed.

Empirical research that considers CLIL effects together with sources of individual variation is needed to determine whether the economic/human investment that goes into the implementation of CLIL in earlier grades translates into comparable gains in FL development.

CLIL research in primary education in Spain

Since the implementation of CLIL may yield largely different results depending on the country where it is applied due to important contextual differences ( Sylvén 2013 ), we focus our discussion of CLIL outcomes on research conducted in Spain, where the current study took place. The limited number of studies on CLIL at the primary level have yielded contradictory results. On the one hand, certain studies have found CLIL students to outperform those who follow EFL only. For example, Jiménez-Catalán et al . (2006) examined vocabulary profiles measured through students’ reading and writing abilities, and reported higher results in CLIL students. One of the most ambitious studies to date, Pérez-Cañado’s (2018) , similarly found significant advantages for CLIL students in vocabulary, grammar, speaking, and listening abilities from a sample of six-graders from 53 schools.

Other studies, however, have found CLIL students performing on par with or worse than their non-CLIL counterparts. For speaking and listening skills, Serra (2007) showed no significant differences between CLIL and non-CLIL students in their growth between Grades 1–6, in line with Pladevall-Ballester and Vallbona (2016) , who found that non-CLIL students actually outperformed their CLIL counterparts in listening comprehension skills in their two-year longitudinal study. Agustín-Llach (2015) and Agustín-Llach and Canga Alonso (2014) , who investigated lexical development between Grades 4–6, found that students who had followed a CLIL approach since Grade 1 performed similarly to their non-CLIL counterparts and showed similar growth trends over time.

Finally, some studies have found CLIL advantages in some domains but not in others in the same group of students. In Nieto’s (2016) study using census data from schools in the province of Castilla-La Mancha, Grade 4 learners’ oral and written production and comprehension were examined. Students who had followed CLIL since Grade 1 outperformed their non-CLIL peers in oral production only, but not in the other abilities. In line with Nieto (2016) , Gayete (2022) compared CLIL and non-CLIL learners from the same school in the Valencian Community. Significantly better results were reported in Grade 2 CLIL students in oral production only, while in listening comprehension it was the non-CLIL group that outperformed the CLIL group.

In summary, the limited research on receptive and productive abilities in primary school shows conflicting results. However, extant research has two main caveats. First, most studies included samples from only one or two schools. This poses an important limitation, since these results are only relevant for the specific context where such studies were conducted. This makes results difficult to generalize, as characteristics intrinsic to the school, their teachers or their students could influence results. Secondly, none of these studies have directly addressed the effects of sources of individual differences on the development of the FL. Factors such as frequency of participation in extracurricular FL activities, FL input richness in the home or socioeconomic status, among others, have sometimes been used only as a measure to ensure homogeneity between groups (e.g. Pérez-Cañado 2018 ), while their association with primary students’ FL development in the CLIL context has yet to be studied.

Explaining conflicting results in CLIL

Contradictory results in previous studies may be explained by the following two hypotheses by Muñoz (2015) : first, a minimum number of hours may be required to reap the advantages of CLIL. This is shown in studies that compare children with the same age but different number of hours of English exposure (e.g. Xanthou 2011 ; Housen 2012 ). Secondly, CLIL approaches may be more advantageous in older children, as shown in studies that compare children with the same number of hours of CLIL instruction at different ages ( Lorenzo et al . 2010 ; Bret 2011 ; Canga Alonso 2015 ).

The studies related to the first hypothesis lead to the conclusion that increased exposure to the English language through CLIL leads to proficiency advantages, but the amount of exposure that is necessary remains unclear ( Muñoz 2015 ). However, results point towards advantages for CLIL students not being apparent from the early stages of CLIL implementation.

Regarding the second hypothesis, studies suggest that the acquisition rate of older students in CLIL is faster than that of younger students. The nature of this older age advantage could be based on maturational effects; older learners may be better able to benefit from the cognitive-academic skills developed in their L1(s) and use them in the CLIL subject to their advantage. Alternatively, proficiency thresholds may be at the root of the older age advantage. Hypothetically, a higher proficiency in the CLIL language at the onset of instruction may facilitate FL gains. Thus, benefits of CLIL instruction may emerge faster in older learners, whose starting level is typically higher than that of younger learners. However, studies that have investigated proficiency thresholds in CLIL implementation, albeit in university, do not lend support to this theory ( Aguilar and Muñoz 2014 ).

Outside-of-school English exposure

While the implementation of CLIL may play a prominent role in how a FL is learned at school, children have vastly different experiences engaging with the target language outside of school that could impact how the language is learned ( Peters 2018 ; De Wilde et al . 2022 ). However, because research on the effects of CLIL rarely considers such experiences, it is unclear the degree to which conflicting results could be explained through these experiential factors.

Most of the research on individual differences on second language (L2) development has been done on L2-community learners (i.e. children who acquire the community language as an L2; e.g. Paradis 2019 ), but growing research shows that variations in the FL input may lead to differential rates of development in learners in primary and secondary school.

Frequency of FL reading has been shown to be associated with abilities in the FL in primary- and secondary-school-age learners, including productive and receptive vocabulary ( Peters 2018 ; De Wilde et al . 2020 , 2022 ) and oral proficiency ( Sundqvist 2009 ). However, few studies have investigated the association between FL reading and FL skills due to the low frequency with which young children engage in reading (e.g. Lindgren and Muñoz 2013 ).

Technology, such as watching TV/videos online in the FL, also offers the potential for children to engage with the FL from home. Studies that have considered this type of input have found positive associations between engagement with these activities and FL outcomes, such as in listening comprehension ( Lindgren and Muñoz 2013 ) and vocabulary ( Sundqvist 2009 ; Kuppens 2010 ; Peters 2018 ) in primary and secondary school. Especially relevant for our study are the results from Muñoz et al. (2018) , who tested the receptive abilities in vocabulary and grammar in L2-English by Spanish/Catalan and Danish children at age 7 and 9 and found that exposure to movies in English only predicted performance in the older group.

As opposed to TV watching, playing videogames offers the possibility for learners to actively engage in interaction with fluent or native speakers of the L2 ( Ryu 2013 ), which could lead to gains in the development of the FL ( Mackey and Goo 2007 ). For example, De Wilde et al . (2020) found that the frequency of videogame playing in English was positively associated with several measures of L2-English, including vocabulary, in Dutch children aged 10–12. Similar results were reported for Danish and Swedish children learning L2-English in primary school in Hannibal Jensen (2017) and Sylvén and Sundqvist (2012) , respectively. Lindgren and Muñoz (2013) , who collected information on a variety of exposure factors, found that while playing videogames more frequently in the FL was associated with better outcomes in listening comprehension, other predictors (such as TV viewing) bore a stronger association.

Finally, an additional source of out-of-school FL exposure is extracurricular activities in English. These extracurriculars could be English language classes or other types of classes (e.g. crafts, sports, theater) conducted strictly in English. A survey conducted in 2021 found that 41.4 per cent of primary school students in Spain attended extracurricular FL classes, making them an additional, and frequent, source of FL input ( Franco Hidalgo-Chacón et al . 2022 ). Most of these classes have reduced class groups that allow them to be more interactive than English classes at school.

Importantly, not all studies find a positive association between out-of-school exposure to the FL and skills in that language. Unsworth et al .’s (2015) study on the L2-English development of Dutch children ages 4–6 found no such relation. In fact, studies investigating the contribution of out-of-school input on FL development have found that secondary school students may benefit from it more greatly than primary school students ( Van Mensel and Galand 2022 ).

Other potential sources of variation

FL development has been shown to be influenced by factors indirectly related to linguistic experience. For example, maternal education, used often as a proxy for family socioeconomic status, bears an association with the quantity and quality of linguistic input children receive ( Hoff 2006 ). Children with more educated mothers tend to have better linguistic outcomes, regardless of whether a language is used to communicate between the mother and child ( Paradis 2019 ). Indeed, maternal education has been shown to have a positive association with FL vocabulary outcomes in primary and secondary students ( Van Mensel and Galand 2022 ), though this has not been a consistent finding ( Lingdren and Muñoz 2013 ).

The role of gender has been investigated in terms of how it may modulate engagement with the FL outside of school, on the one hand, and FL development more broadly, on the other. Regarding the first line of research, some studies have noted gender differences in how learners engage with English materials outside of school, with male students generally engaging with more videogame playing than females ( Sundqvist and Sylvén 2014 ; Sundqvist and Wikström 2015 ) and female students watching more TV/movies than males ( Muñoz 2020 ). However, once other differences are accounted for, most studies have not found an advantage for either gender (e.g. De Wilde and Eyckmans 2017 ).

Age of onset of acquisition (AOA) of the FL has played a pivotal role in the field of L2 acquisition in the debate on maturational constraints and ultimate attainment. However, research on AOA effects in community-L2 learners has been unjustly generalized to the setting of FL instruction ( Muñoz 2011 ). While the former body of research has found that a younger AOA may be advantageous in the long run, studies on the development of FL skills have generally failed to find similar results (e.g. Muñoz 2011 ). In the present study, we control for English AOA given that the participants are at the very onset of formal instruction (Grade 1). As such, fluctuations in AOA could be expected to play a stronger role than in studies that have tested samples of older participants.

Present study

With the increasing popularity of CLIL, schools are implementing CLIL approaches earlier on to boost FL skills. However, such decisions are not always grounded on empirical research, which is limited in primary schools in general and practically non-existent at the onset of primary school. In addition, the existent body of research has yielded findings with conflicting results. Importantly, extant research has not considered sources of individual variation, and has often failed to include diverse samples of CLIL and non-CLIL participants. As such, we address these gaps by testing a sample of students coming from different primary schools in the region of Catalonia (Spain). We asked the following two questions:

(1) Does following a CLIL approach predict gains in English receptive/productive abilities between the beginning and end of Grade 1 once other sources of variation are accounted for?

We hypothesized that null results were likely given Muñoz’s (2015) double hypothesis that a minimum number of hours may be necessary for CLIL to show significant benefits and that older children may be more likely to benefit from CLIL than younger children.

(2) What are the best predictors of gains over this period of time?

The lack of studies investigating individual variation at the onset of primary schooling forced us to extrapolate from results with samples of older children. Given that previous studies had found that younger children were less likely to engage in English-rich activities (reading, TV/video watching, videogame playing, and formal extracurricular activities), we predicted that individual variation in these activities may not be enough to show associations with their English skills. Regarding maternal education, we expected it to play a role by being positively associated with English skills. Finally, even though English AOA and gender were controlled for, we did not expect either of these variables to play a significant role.

Background context: Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous province in northeast Spain where Spanish and Catalan have official status, and where bilingualism is historical and widespread. Obligatory schooling in Catalonia starts at age 6 (Grade 1), though over 94 per cent of children are schooled at age 3 ( IDESCAT 2020 ).

The schooling system implemented in Catalonia is often referred to as Catalan immersion , because Catalan is the primary language of instruction in public and charter schools. However, by the end of obligatory schooling (Grade 10), students must be able to use both Spanish and Catalan fluently in both oral and written communication. In addition, English is part of the curriculum ( Generalitat de Catalunya 2018 ), and by the end of obligatory schooling students must have attained a B1 level of English. Instruction of English may begin as early as kindergarten (prior to age 6) in many schools, or may be delayed until the onset of primary school ( Generalitat de Catalunya 2018 ). As such, the goal of the educational model implemented in Catalonia is to foster trilingual abilities in Catalan, Spanish, and English. Spain being one of the European countries with the lowest skills in English ( EF 2022 : 18), many Spanish and Catalan schools have embraced CLIL approaches to boost students’ skills in the language ( Codó 2022 ).

Whereas the development of Catalan and Spanish for the majority of students occurs in naturalistic contexts, for most, the development of English happens at school. The opportunities for English exposure outside of formal contexts are limited, as English is not present in the community and TV/movies are often dubbed into or are produced in Spanish or Catalan. Extracurricular activities provide opportunities for more hours of English exposure and thus are often chosen by parents who want to enhance their children’s early language learning. In addition, parents may also expose children to English in the home, even if their own skills are limited, by providing access to media in English ( Alexiou 2015 ).

Study design

This study presents the data of the first two times of English data collection of an ongoing longitudinal study that assesses the linguistic abilities in English, Catalan, and Spanish of the same sample of participants. The first data collection (Time 1) took place in October/November 2021, at the onset of primary schooling (Grade 1), with Time 2 taking place in May/June 2022.

Participants

At Time 1, 190 participants (97 males, 93 females) took part in the study from 14 schools within the province of Barcelona. Of this initial sample, we do not consider the data from eight participants whose parents reported speaking English in the home. Furthermore, we do not consider the data of three participants with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and of two additional participants who had had a diagnosis of a language delay earlier in life. We also do not consider the data from a participant whose home language was Spanish but lived in Switzerland until the age of 6, since he may have had some community exposure to English.

Our final sample thus comprises 176 participants (89 males, 87 females). All participants attended Grade 1 and had an average age of 6;4 (SD = 0;4) at Time 1. Of the 176 participants, nine had been born outside Catalonia. A total of 14 participants spoke a language in the home in addition to or instead of Catalan/Spanish. Of these, two spoke German, eight spoke a Romance language (e.g. French, Galician), and the rest spoke a language that was not Romance or Germanic (Arabic, Chinese, Punjabi, and Russian).

A total of 16 participants of the 176-participant sample were not tested in English at Time 1. Most of these participants were not tested due to their absence the day they were scheduled to be tested ( N = 14). The other two declined to participate. At Time 2, one of the 14 schools was not available for testing, which reduced the sample to 142 participants (69 males, 73 females).

The 14 participating schools were part of 75 randomly selected schools in the province of Barcelona (Catalonia). Many schools were contacted as it was anticipated that most would not be willing to participate in the study, given that the academic year of 2021–22 was the first year following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of the 14 schools, 7 were public and 7 chartered. Four public schools implemented a CLIL approach and 3 did not, whereas 3 of the 7 chartered schools implemented a CLIL approach, as opposed to 4 that did not. Importantly, when a school implemented a CLIL approach in Grade 1, all students (and hence all participants from that school) followed the same approach. All CLIL schools used only English for the CLIL subjects.

There were differences in terms of the hours of English instruction between the schools that implemented CLIL and those that did not, as shown in Figure 1 . While CLIL schools had more English instruction than non-CLIL schools overall (M CLIL = 5.36, SD CLIL = 4.09; M Non-CLIL = 3.36, SD Non-CLIL = 1.18), there was overlap between the two types of schools. This is properly accounted for in the statistical modeling.

Boxplot showing the number of hours of English instruction per week of the 14 schools according to whether they were public or chartered. Lines in the middle of the boxes indicate medians, not means.

Within the CLIL schools there was variation in terms of the CLIL subjects. Arts was taught in English in three schools. Music, Science, and Physical education were each taught in English in two schools, and Robotics, Drama, Dance, and Computer science were taught in English in one school (note that some schools offered more than one CLIL subject). Similarly, there was variation across schools in the number of CLIL hours: four schools offered 1 h of CLIL per week, two offered 2 h, and one offered 11.5 h. We chose not to eliminate the last school from our sample for three reasons: first, this type of school exists in Catalonia and happened to be sampled, therefore constituting a legitimate part of the studied population. Secondly, our statistical analysis controlled for any variability arising from individual schools (see Data Analysis section). As such, data from this school could not be argued to strongly bias results. Finally, we verified the previous claim by rerunning the analysis excluding data from this school and the interpretation of the results did not meaningfully change.

Instruments and reliability

Parents or primary caregivers were sent a questionnaire. In order to test participants’ receptive and productive abilities in English we administered three tests: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test –5th edition (PPVT; Dunn 2019 ), the Test for Reception of Grammar 2 (TROG; Bishop 2003 ), and the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN; Gagarina et al . 2019 ).

Background questionnaire.

Parents who agreed to participate (see Procedures section) were asked to complete a background questionnaire to collect information on the participants’ demographic and linguistic background. They were given the option of completing the questionnaire online, over the phone, or in person.

Crucially, the questionnaire prompted parents to indicate the average number of hours per week that the participants engaged in reading activities in English (including time dedicated to English homework and time of joint reading with their caregivers), extracurricular English language classes, extracurricular classes (e.g. arts and crafts or soccer) in English, and TV viewing or video game playing in English. The hours of the two types of extracurricular classes were combined into the variable Weekly extracurriculars given the similarity of the two constructs and the overall low frequency of both.

This test measures receptive lexical abilities. Participants are shown an array of four pictures and are asked to select the picture that matches the word spoken by the experimenter. This test has 240 items. When administered, this test was discontinued when participants made six errors in a group of eight items. Raw (i.e. non-standardized) scores are employed in this study, since the test was not normed on the population in which it was used. Research assistants scored each item during test administration. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of internal consistency was 0.98 at Time 1 and 0.97 at Time 2.

This test measures receptive grammatical abilities. Participants are shown an array of four pictures and are asked to select the picture that matches the statement given by the experimenter. Though the original test has 80 items, with 4 items evaluating 20 grammatical structures (e.g. negative statements, relative clauses), the piloting of this test showed it was too long to be part of the test battery in its full version. As such, it was reduced to 40 items (2 items for each of the 20 grammatical structures). It should be noted that, while the purpose of the original (i.e. full) test is to pinpoint constructions that represent areas of difficulty for the participant ( Bishop 2003 ), the test is employed here as an overall measure of grammatical ability, and we refrain from discussing results regarding individual structures. Our administration of the TROG was discontinued when participants made six errors in a group of eight items. The Cronbach’s alpha for this test was 0.94 at Time 1 and 0.91 at Time 2.

This test employs a restricted set of high-frequency vocabulary of nouns, verbs, and adjectives ( Bishop 2003 ). Nevertheless, it does rely, to a certain extent, on vocabulary abilities. For this reason, participants were first asked to take a preliminary test to determine whether they knew the content words in the task. This test was not scored, and its mechanics were that of the vocabulary test above, with the only difference being that participants had arrays of 8 pictures to choose from. No participant that knew less than half of the words took the test. However, this only affected one participant in the entire sample. Words that were not known by the participant were taught by the experimenter and retested. If necessary, words were then taught again prior to administering the test.

We employed the Dog story of the MAIN to measure listening comprehension and productive skills. This story has six full-color pictures and is presented in a printed format.

The MAIN was administered as a story retell. That is, research assistants first told the participant the story by following a fold-out presentation mode, reading the story provided by the MAIN instructions ( Gagarina et al . 2019 ), and then prompted participants to retell the story. Participants’ output was audio recorded for posterior transcription and analysis.

Since English was a FL for all participants and it was anticipated that participants’ skills would be highly limited at Time 1, in addition to the standard protocols for the administration of the MAIN, one additional consideration was followed during data collection. If participants started their story retell entirely in English or with some code switching between English and Catalan/Spanish, the experimenter would not interrupt. If participants produced more than two utterances entirely in Catalan/Spanish, the experimenter interrupted by saying ‘in English?’ If participants did not understand the question, the experimenter asked ‘will you explain it in English?’ in Catalan/Spanish. Participants were not interrupted again if they kept narrating the story in a non-target language.

The measure of productive abilities we employ for this study is word types (i.e. the number of different words produced during the retell), which measures participants’ productive vocabulary. Other measures were more affected by the high percentage of code switching and repetition in participants’ production.

After the story retell, experimenters administered the 10 open-ended comprehension questions of the MAIN ( Gagarina et al . 2019 ), which we use as a measure of listening comprehension. Questions were never translated for participants, but correct responses provided in Catalan/Spanish were considered correct.

All stories for Times 1 and 2 were transcribed by the same trilingual transcriber. Twenty-five per cent of the stories at Time 1 and 29 per cent at Time 2 were transcribed from scratch by a second transcriber. Word-for-word percentage agreement at Time 1 was 97.2 per cent and at Time 2 it was 96.9 per cent. The same transcriber who transcribed all the audios also scored the comprehension questions. A second rater scored the comprehension questions for 25 per cent of the participants at Time 1, with an agreement rate of 90.3 per cent. At Time 2, the agreement rate was 93.9 per cent. The Cronbach’s alpha for the comprehension test at Time 1 was 0.88 and 0.77 at Time 2.

Ethical considerations.

The protocols for this study were revised and approved by the ethics board at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya. Participating schools shared the invitation to participate in the study with students’ parents in one of two formats depending on the typical mode of communication between the schools and families: either online (via email or through the school’s own online platform) or on paper.

Data collection.

Data were collected at school during the school day. Participants were removed from class and tested individually in a quiet space. In total, 12 research assistants collected the data. Two of the research assistants were native speakers of English, one had a B2 level of English, and the rest had a C1 or C2 level of English.

The three English tasks presented here are part of a larger battery that further included two literacy tests. The order of the five tests was randomized across participants. All tests were administered in the same session, which lasted a maximum of 50 min and an average of 30 min, including breaks.

Data analysis.

All descriptive and inferential tests were run in R ( R Core Team 2022 ). We addressed both research questions with the same analyses. For each of the four outcome variables (vocabulary, grammar, listening comprehension, and word types in narratives), we ran the descriptive statistics with the relevant paired-samples and independent-samples Wilcoxon tests. When the Wilcoxon tests were significant, we obtained the Cohen’s d effect size using the package lsr ( Navarro 2015 ).

Subsequently, we fit a Generalized Linear Mixed-Effects (GLMER) model with a Poisson distribution using the lme4 package ( Bates et al . 2015 ), where the outcome variable was the score at Time 2. The predictors were: the total number of hours of English instruction participants had taken at school between Times 1 and 2 ( Hours of School English ), the number of weekly hours of extracurricular English activities ( Weekly extracurriculars ), of reading English activities in the home ( Weekly reading ), and of English TV viewing or videogame playing at home ( Weekly TV/videogames ), the years of maternal education ( Maternal education ), whether the school participants attended implemented CLIL or not ( CLIL ), their gender ( Gender) , their AOA in English ( English AOA ), and, crucially, participants’ score in the same test at Time 1 ( Time 1 score ). The Time 1 score predictor served as an autoregressor, accounting for all the variability at Time 2 that could be explained by Time 1 abilities. All predictors that were numerical (i.e. all but CLIL and Gender ), were scaled and centered. A random intercept was added for School to control for the variability explained by the fact that participants attended different schools.

Backward selection was followed for the predictors. Predictors that did not contribute significantly to the model were eliminated, one at a time, to reach the most parsimonious model. Reduced models were compared to their fuller counterparts by means of likelihood ratio tests. Since the effect of CLIL was central in answering research question 1, we did not eliminate this factor, even when non-significant.

All models were inspected for overdispersion and multicollinearity, and diagnostics of the residuals were run with the DHARMa package ( Hartig 2020 ). When necessary, adjustments were made to the model and are explained in the Results section.

Participant characteristics

Given the central role of the CLIL variable in this study, we present participant characteristics in Table 1 according to whether they attended a school that implemented CLIL or not. Participants in CLIL and Non-CLIL schools were similar in all the dimensions of interest except for the weekly number of hours of TV viewing and videogame playing in English, since non-CLIL students engaged in more than double the hours on average (which was due to some extreme values in this group).

Participant characteristics, divided according to whether their school follows a CLIL approach or not

The results for the vocabulary test at Times 1 and 2 appear in Figure 2 for those participants who took the test both times, shown separately for participants attending CLIL and non-CLIL schools.

Vocabulary test results for participants who completed the test at the two time points. The x-axis represents the testing time (Times 1 and 2), and the y-axis represents the vocabulary score (range 0–240). Each line is one participant, with each color indicating the school of the participant. Scores are faceted according to whether the school followed or not a CLIL approach. The thick red line indicates the trend for the CLIL and Non-CLIL groups separately using the group median.

Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics for the entire sample (i.e. even those students who did not take the test one of the two times). For these tables (see also Tables 3 – 5 ), we employ the median and interquartile range (henceforth, IQR) as measures of central tendency instead of the mean and standard deviation since many of the test results were not normally distributed. The median and IQR are less susceptible to extreme outliers and asymmetrical distributions. Table 2 also includes the results of Wilcoxon tests. Specifically, two paired-samples Wilcoxon tests compared the performance of the CLIL and Non-CLIL participants, separately, at Times 1 and 2. As shown in Table 2 , both tests were significant, demonstrating that both groups made significant vocabulary gains over time. Considering the Cohen’s d effect size was medium in both groups, the extent of the gains was similar in both groups. In addition, Table 2 also presents independent-samples Wilcoxon tests comparing the performance of CLIL and Non-CLIL participants at the two time points. At Time 1, this test was significant ( p = .031), indicating that at Time 1, participants in Non-CLIL schools outperformed their CLIL counterparts. At Time 2, however, there was no evidence of such a difference.

Descriptive statistics for vocabulary test, together with Wilcoxon tests and, when relevant, Cohen’s d effect size

Descriptive statistics for grammar test, together with Wilcoxon tests and, when relevant, Cohen’s d effect size

Next, we discuss the statistical modeling to address our research questions. Since the initial Poisson GLMER model was found to be overdispersed, a negative binomial model was fit ( Winter 2019 : 227). The output of this model appears in Supplementary Appendix A . In terms of the effects of CLIL, the model found that this factor did not contribute significantly to the model ( p = .105). However, other predictors were found to be associated with Time 2 vocabulary scores. As could be expected, Time 1 scores were strongly and positively associated with Time 2 scores ( p < .001), suggesting that vocabulary abilities at Time 1 were strongly predictive of Time 2 abilities. In addition, the amount of English hours at school between Time 1 and 2 were also predictive of Time 2 vocabulary scores ( p = .008). That is, participants who had engaged in more hours of English instruction at school between Times 1 and 2 performed better at Time 2. Two other predictors showed a positive association with vocabulary scores at Time 2: Weekly extracurricular hours ( p = .027) and Maternal education ( p = .015). This suggests that participants who took more hours of English classes outside of school and those with more educated mothers had higher vocabulary scores at Time 2.

The results for grammar scores at Times 1 and 2 appear in Figure 3 . As for the group results for the receptive grammar test ( Table 3 ), participants in both CLIL and Non-CLIL schools made significant improvements between the two times. Differences between the two groups were not statistically significant at Time 1 or 2, though they trended towards significance for Time 1 ( p = .088), in favor of Non-CLIL participants.

Grammar test results for participants who completed the test at the two time points. The x-axis represents the testing time (Times 1 and 2), and the y-axis represents the grammar score (range 0–40).

The initial Poisson GLMER showed overdispersion. As such, we fit a negative binomial GLMER. Similarly to the model for vocabulary, CLIL did not contribute to the model significantly ( p = .617). However, Time 1 grammar scores ( p < .001) were strongly associated with Time 2 abilities. In addition, there were two predictors that trended towards significance and were left in the model since a model without either of them was a marginally worse fit to the data. These two predictors were Maternal education ( p = .074) and Weekly extracurriculars ( p = .071), and they both were positively associated with Time 2 grammatical abilities. The output of this model appears in Supplementary Appendix B .

Listening comprehension

Results for the listening comprehension test, which could range between 0 and 10, appear in Figure 4 for CLIL and Non-CLIL participants. Group results are shown in Table 4 . Participants in both CLIL and Non-CLIL schools made significant improvements between Times 1 and 2, and differences between the two groups were not statistically significant at either time.

Descriptive statistics for narrative comprehension test, together with Wilcoxon tests and, when relevant, Cohen’s d effect size

Listening comprehension test results for participants who completed the test at the two time points. The x-axis represents the testing time (Times 1 and 2), and the y-axis represents the listening comprehension score (range 0–10).

As shown in Figure 4 , many participants scored 0 for narrative comprehension at Time 1. The negative binomial GLMER model, suitable for overdispersed data, found that the CLIL factor did not contribute to the model significantly ( p = .226). Instead, Time 1 listening comprehension scores ( p < .001) were the best predictor of Time 2 performance. One more predictor made a contribution to the model that was marginally significant: Maternal education ( p = .074). The full output of this model appears in Supplementary Appendix C .

Word types in narrative production

The last outcome variable of interest was the number of word types participants used in the story retell of the Dog story of the MAIN. These results appear visualized in Figure 5 . In terms of the group scores ( Table 5 ), participants in both CLIL and Non-CLIL groups made significant improvements between Times 1 and 2. At Time 1, Non-CLIL participants produced significantly more types than CLIL participants, but this was not true at Time 2.

Descriptive statistics for word types in narrative production, together with Wilcoxon tests and, when relevant, Cohen’s d effect size

Number of types in narrative production for participants who completed the test at the two time points. The x-axis represents the testing time (Times 1 and 2), and the y-axis represents the number of types.

The initial Poisson GLMER model for the number of types in the narration was overdispersed and had singularity issues (i.e. the random intercept for School predicted no variance). As such, we fit a negative binomial GLM model without a random intercept. The full output of the optimal model appears in Supplementary Appendix D . As we found for the other three outcome variables, CLIL was not a significant predictor of Time 2 performance ( p = .842). The only two predictors that were found to contribute significantly, and positively, to the model were Word types at Time 1 ( p < .001) and Maternal education ( p = .011).

This study is one of the first to consider the effects of CLIL implementation together with other potential sources of individual variation on the development of FL English receptive and productive abilities. We asked two main questions: first, whether following a CLIL approach at school was beneficial to the development of English abilities during Grade 1. Secondly, whether characteristics of the family and linguistic background that have been shown to influence FL skills in older children would similarly affect individual variation in this young sample of children.

CLIL effects at the onset of primary schooling

When results of CLIL and Non-CLIL students were compared, separately for Times 1 and 2, it was found that Non-CLIL students were significantly better than CLIL students in vocabulary and word types in story retells, and marginally better in grammar at Time 1. However, at Time 2, none of the comparisons yielded significant results, suggesting that initial differences between CLIL and Non-CLIL students at the onset of Grade 1 had been neutralized by the end of that same year.

Modeling Time 2 results by including Time 1 scores as an autoregressor, together with other sources of individual differences, did not find evidence that following a CLIL approach yielded any particular advantages once other variables were accounted for. As such, these results could be interpreted cautiously as not providing support for the early implementation of CLIL at the onset of primary schooling.

As demonstrated by our review of the literature, this study is far from being the first one to not find advantages for a CLIL approach in primary school ( Serra 2007 ; Agustín-Llach 2015 ; Pladevall-Ballester and Vallbona 2016 ), though it is one of the first studies that have tested the results of this approach at the very onset of primary.

Even though CLIL was not found to be a significant predictor in and of itself, the model for receptive vocabulary found that the hours of English instruction at school were positively associated with Time 2 abilities. That is, participants who had spent more time in English classes at school (CLIL or not), were more likely to obtain higher scores at Time 2. It was the case that CLIL students overall spent more time learning English at school than Non-CLIL students (see Figure 1 ). Thus, effects of quantity of exposure to the FL were apparent at least for receptive vocabulary.

The question remains, however, why CLIL did not confer an advantage to students who followed such an approach at Grade 1. To explain this lack of effect, we invoke Muñoz’s (2015) double hypothesis. First, it is possible that the CLIL participants had not received a sufficient amount of ‘extra’ input than the Non-CLIL participants. Such limited extra input may not be sufficient for the CLIL approach to yield advantages in Grade 1. Very young learners, such as those in early primary, benefit from implicit learning in naturalistic and immersion FL learning contexts ( DeKeyser 2000 ; Paradis et al . 2021 ). Thus, the application of CLIL may need to go hand in hand with massive/increased FL exposure for young learners to benefit from it. In addition, it is possible that children at Grade 1 may be simply too young to benefit from a CLIL approach. Previous research comparing the implementation of CLIL at different ages has shown that older students may benefit more from this approach than younger ones ( Muñoz 2015 ). Whether the older age advantage is rooted in older learners’ increased cognitive/academic maturity or in their higher proficiency level at the onset of CLIL experiences is, however, difficult to disentangle.

Best predictors of Time 2 performance

Of all the potential sources of individual variation, skills at Time 1 were the most robust predictor of Time 2 skills. This was unsurprising given previous studies with a similar design ( Unsworth et al . 2015 ; Van Mensel and Galand 2022 ). Contrary to our initial hypothesis, we found that participants’ performance at Time 2 was associated with their out-of-school engagement with English. Specifically, participants with a higher frequency of extracurricular English classes tended to have higher levels of vocabulary and grammar. It is possible that since extracurricular activities tend to have more reduced groups of students than classes at school, they are more conducive to English learning.

We did not find evidence that the frequency of engagement with English reading or TV/videogames was associated with better performance at Time 2. As stated in our review of the literature, it is possible that the sample was overall too young to engage with these activities with such a frequency that would lend itself to robust findings. It is possible that with increasing age, children will engage in more out-of-school experiences with English so that a larger effect becomes apparent (e.g. Unsworth et al . 2015 ; Sundqvist and Sylvén 2014 ; Muñoz et al. 2018 ; Van Mensel and Galand 2022 ).

One of the most robust predictors was maternal education. Children with more educated mothers had better outcomes for the four abilities at Time 2. Other studies have found this association for older students as well ( Van Mensel and Galand 2022 ). The robustness of this finding for our current sample brought us to probe further into the association between maternal education and FL skills. A series of Pearson’s correlations did not find any significant correlation between maternal years of education, on the one hand, and children’s frequency of engagement with English reading ( r = 0.006, p = .935), TV/video games ( r = −0.088, p = .248), extracurricular activities ( r = 0.003, p = .996), or English AOA ( r = −0.052, p = .493). However, an ordinal model found that more educated mothers reported higher levels of English proficiency ( p < .001). Since none of the mothers in the sample used English to communicate with their children, the implications of this finding are unclear. It is possible that more educated mothers find ways to support their children’s English development that were not controlled for in this study (e.g. helping with English homework).

Finally, and despite this study testing children at the very onset of formal schooling, we found no evidence that the gender of the participants, nor their English AOA, affected their performance in any of the abilities at Time 2. This study, then, is in line with previous ones that have found similar null results (e.g. Muñoz 2011 ; De Wilde and Eyckmans 2017 ).

The main findings of this study bear specific implications for FL instruction. First, CLIL was not found to be a significant predictor of Time 2 performance. It is possible that CLIL students had not had a sufficient amount of added English exposure at school in terms of intensity per week to make a difference, that they were too young to benefit from the CLIL approach, or that the time span to which they were exposed to CLIL was too short. Regardless, these results, together with that of other studies with similar findings, suggest that Grade 1 may not be the optimal time to introduce CLIL. Longitudinal studies that follow CLIL learners for a longer period of time will be able to determine when students start benefiting from CLIL significantly. However, the timing is key. It is expected that CLIL students will eventually show advantages over Non-CLIL students due to increased FL exposure. But, if it is found that students who start CLIL in mid or late primary catch up to their counterparts who have followed CLIL since Grade 1, delaying the onset of CLIL implementation would lead to the optimization of school resources and be altogether more cost-effective.

Secondly, skills at Time 1 (beginning of Grade 1) were the best predictor of skills at Time 2 (end of Grade 1). This finding suggests that disparities in children’s FL skills at the onset of primary may remain or even increase as time progresses. Since this was not a retrospective study, it was not a goal to determine what may cause these initial differences prior to the onset of formal schooling. However, FL teachers may find it useful to assess children’s skills at the early stages of primary to find out what students may be in need of extra support.

Thirdly, children who engage in extracurricular activities in English seem to have some advantages, at least with respect to vocabulary and grammar. Unfortunately, these activities may not be accessible for families with limited resources. As such, encouraging parents to enroll their children in such activities should be done with caution.

Finally, having a more educated mother predicted increased gains in all abilities, though the mechanics underlying such an association are unclear. While maternal education is not malleable, FL instructors at school should be sensitive to the fact that variations in the educational level of mothers can have implications for the students’ progress in class.

The conclusions from this study should be considered together with its two main limitations. First, development was measured at the beginning and end of one academic year (around 8 months). As such, this timespan may have been insufficient for gains to emerge in these very young CLIL students. A longitudinal study that follows students for a longer time period (e.g. Grades 1–6) would be able to determine when the extra FL input conferred by CLIL may meaningfully improve measurable outcomes and inform the debate on when the optimal time to start CLIL is. In addition, as one anonymous reviewer pointed out, we were not able to analyze the impact of specific aspects of the CLIL programs implemented in each school (e.g. the learning activities that teachers employed, the specific subjects that were taught as CLIL). Combining 14 schools increased the generalizability of our results but inevitably limited the granularity of our analyses and findings. Thus, we believe that in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the effects of CLIL in primary schools we need to combine larger-scale studies such as the present one with others that narrow in on school-specific aspects of CLIL implementation.

Despite these limitations, the present study contributes to our limited knowledge of the effects of CLIL instruction at early stages of primary education in a multilingual context while controlling for other sources of individual differences that should not be neglected in this type of research.

Notes on Contributor

Adriana Soto-Corominas is a researcher at the Department of Applied Linguistics at Universitat Internacional de Catalunya. She is interested in individual variation in bilingual and multilingual development in childhood. She currently holds a Marie Sklodowska-Curie action grant to investigate the development of Catalan, Spanish, and English in multilingual children schooled in Catalunya. Address for correspondence : Department of Applied Linguistics, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain. < [email protected] >

Helena Roquet is an assistant professor at the Department of Applied Linguistics at Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, where she is the Director of the Institute for Multilingualism. Her research focuses on the effects of the implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approaches during the childhood and teenage years.

Marta Segura is a researcher at the Department of Applied Linguistics at Universitat Internacional de Catalunya. She investigates the effects of CLIL in preschoolers.

We thank all participants, their parents, and schools for their participation.

The project leading to this application has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 101027137.

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