This article sets out to broaden the understanding of foreign language
self-concept in CLIL context. The few existing studies on self-concept
in CLIL have been quantitative and provided somewhat discrepant results,
highlighting the need for approaching the topic qualitatively. The data
of the present study are in-depth interviews with 24 former Finnish
CLIL pupils who retrospectively reflected on their CLIL experiences. The
participants had received English-medium CLIL for nine years during
their comprehensive school in the 1990s. The data were analyzed
qualitatively using thematic analysis. The participants generally felt
that CLIL had had a significant role in contributing to their very
positive English language self-concept. Most reported being highly
confident language users who had not experienced any language anxiety in
English. However, some participants’ self-concept had oscillated
throughout the years. The participants put a lot of emphasis on social
comparisons, external feedback and the early start of CLIL in forming
their positive English self-concept. The participants’ self-concepts in
other foreign languages seemed to be more negative. The results indicate
that early and fairly moderate CLIL has potential in creating a
positive target language self-concept, which encourages to adopt CLIL
methodology also to mainstream language education.