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

  • D. Philip Montgomery

    D. Philip Montgomery is an assistant professor of Multilingual Education at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan. His research interests include language teacher education, language policy, and language ideology.

         , Peter I. De Costa

    Peter I. De Costa is a professor in the Department of Linguistics and Languages and the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. His research areas include emotions, identity, ideology and ethics in educational linguistics.

         and Yuliya Novitskaya

    Yuliya Novitskaya is Head of the Foreign Language Department at Kazakh American Free University (KAFU). She has been a lecturer, advisor, and manager of partnerships with universities, businesses, and foundations in Kazakhstan, Russia, Great Britain, Singapore, and the U.S.
Published/Copyright: February 28, 2025
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Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics
From the journal Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics Volume 48 Issue 1

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.

Keywords: CLIL; teacher identity; developmental pathways

About the authors

D. Philip Montgomery

D. Philip Montgomery is an assistant professor of Multilingual Education at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan. His research interests include language teacher education, language policy, and language ideology.

Peter I. De Costa

Peter I. De Costa is a professor in the Department of Linguistics and Languages and the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. His research areas include emotions, identity, ideology and ethics in educational linguistics.

Yuliya Novitskaya

Yuliya Novitskaya is Head of the Foreign Language Department at Kazakh American Free University (KAFU). She has been a lecturer, advisor, and manager of partnerships with universities, businesses, and foundations in Kazakhstan, Russia, Great Britain, Singapore, and the U.S.

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Acknowledgments

This project was conducted with funding from the U. S. -Kazakhstan University Partnerships program funded by the U. S. Mission to Kazakhstan and administered by American Councils [Award number SKZ100-19-CA-0149]. The authors thank American Councils for their support in advancing Kazakh-American academic partnerships, and colleagues at Kazakh-American Free University for their logistical and technical support throughout the project.

Published Online: 2025-02-28
Published in Print: 2025-02-25

© 2025 BFSU, FLTRP, Walter de Gruyter, Cultural and Education Section British Embassy

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Advancing CLIL Approaches in EMI Settings Through International Collaboration Peter I. De Costa, Douglas Hartman, Curtis Green-Eneix & D. Philip Montgomery
  3. Advancing CLIL Approaches in EMI Settings Through International Collaboration: An Introduction
  4. EMI and CLIL in Kazakhstani Higher Education: Current Policies and Future Possibilities
  5. Forging CLIL Teacher Identities in Kazakhstan: Developmental Pathways of Two University Teachers
  6. Curators and Mediators of Language, Content, Pedagogy, and Technology: Teachers’ Expanding Roles in Fully-Online CLIL Contexts
  7. Professional Vulnerability in Adopting a CLIL Pedagogy at a Neoliberal Restructured University in Kazakhstan
  8. Reframing the Cultivation Metaphor in Education by Reflecting on CLIL Professional Development Through a Forest Gardening Lens
  9. Commentary
  10. English for Specific Purposes
  11. Workplace English Language Needs for Medical Students in China Learning and Using English as Non-Native Speakers
  12. Cross-Cultural Communication
  13. Developing Relational Empathy in Virtual Ethnographic Intercultural Teaching
  14. Chinese Abstracts
  15. Chinese Abstracts
https://doi.org/10.1515/CJAL-2025-0103
Keywords for this article
CLIL; teacher identity; developmental pathways

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Advancing CLIL Approaches in EMI Settings Through International Collaboration Peter I. De Costa, Douglas Hartman, Curtis Green-Eneix & D. Philip Montgomery
  3. Advancing CLIL Approaches in EMI Settings Through International Collaboration: An Introduction
  4. EMI and CLIL in Kazakhstani Higher Education: Current Policies and Future Possibilities
  5. Forging CLIL Teacher Identities in Kazakhstan: Developmental Pathways of Two University Teachers
  6. Curators and Mediators of Language, Content, Pedagogy, and Technology: Teachers’ Expanding Roles in Fully-Online CLIL Contexts
  7. Professional Vulnerability in Adopting a CLIL Pedagogy at a Neoliberal Restructured University in Kazakhstan
  8. Reframing the Cultivation Metaphor in Education by Reflecting on CLIL Professional Development Through a Forest Gardening Lens
  9. Commentary
  10. English for Specific Purposes
  11. Workplace English Language Needs for Medical Students in China Learning and Using English as Non-Native Speakers
  12. Cross-Cultural Communication
  13. Developing Relational Empathy in Virtual Ethnographic Intercultural Teaching
  14. Chinese Abstracts
  15. Chinese Abstracts
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