Schoolchildren are starting to learn a foreign language sooner than ever as education authorities introduce early-start compulsory foreign language (FL) policies. As a result of this global trend, the learning of FLs is playing a major role in many educational systems (Coleman, 2006). This is the context in which CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) programmes have been implemented during the last few years in many different contexts, in the belief that this will help to improve students’ language proficiency and to “nurture a feel good and can do attitude towards language learning in general”(Marsh, 2000: 10).

The aim of this paper is to analyze the effect of CLIL on students’ attitudes towards English as a FL and the two official languages (Basque and Spanish) in the curriculum of a bilingual context, namely the Basque Country in Spain. The participants in the study were 287 secondary education students from four different schools and the results obtained seem to confirm that CLIL programmes help to foster positive attitudes towards language learning in general.