Forging CLIL Teacher Identities in Kazakhstan: Developmental Pathways of Two University Teachers

Abstract As universities in Kazakhstan continue to address the challenges that come with developing English-medium instruction (EMI) programs, university Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teachers need to develop capacities to teach in English, while their English teacher counterparts need to develop content-specific pedagogical knowledge. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) pedagogies, defined as the integration of both language and content curricular goals, have emerged as a vehicle to facilitate this development for both types of teachers. However, what it means to be a CLIL teacher may vary considerably as teachers leverage their professional knowledge and personal experiences. We, therefore, explore teachers’ conceptions of CLIL and how their disciplinary, linguistic, and pedagogical backgrounds enable or burden them to forge a “CLIL teacher” identity. This qualitative study illustrates the salient points of the journeys taken by two university teachers, one a specialist in oil and gas, the other an English teacher and teacher educator. Drawing on extended one-on-one interviews, we present two teachers’ experiences through a series of CLIL-informed workshops. Using a multidisciplinary analytical framework, we map the ways in which the two teacher participants negotiate their identities in relation to CLIL. The findings highlight the importance of understanding teacher experiences, particularly their language learning backgrounds, attitudes toward supporting student learning, and relationships with their colleagues as they work to adapt to teaching English and STEM subjects in university EMI contexts.