An experimental content-based process model has been designed,
within the framework of the new Spanish comprehensive secondary
education, for developing, through the study of non-linguistic content
(expressed in the target foreign language), learners’ capacity to use the
FL. The learner also applies subsidiary cognitive and academic skills
which will be transferable to the rest of the curriculum. A substantial
(and fully documented) empirical study obtained evidence regarding
the experimental model’s potential to generate satisfactory and beneficial
processes in the classroom, working with average students in a
representative state secondary school. This article sets out the methodological
basis upon which the experimental model was successfully
applied.
