Leveraging the pedagogical nexus in CLIL professional development


Bedeker M. Jumagaliyeva A. Ospanbek A. Marshal N. Kerimkulova S.
2026Routledge

Language, Culture and Curriculum
2026#39Issue 1119 - 137 pp.

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is promoted globally to enhance subject knowledge and language learning, yet professional development (PD) often overlooks teachers’ cultural insights and pedagogical expertise, creating a gap between policy and classroom realities. In Kazakhstan, top-down CLIL reforms risk marginalising teachers’ voices and reproducing one-size-fits-all approaches. This paper reports on a 45-hour PD programme for biology teachers designed around the pedagogical nexus and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to examine how culturally and linguistically responsive PD can contribute to CLIL practice. Using a qualitative case study design, we analysed journals, interviews, peer reflections, and lesson documents from 11 biology teachers. Findings show three interrelated shifts: teachers developed a new understanding of the language of science, reimagined their pedagogy to integrate language with content, and adapted CLIL practice through translanguaging, post-Soviet traditions, and cultural values of teaching. These shifts highlight how pedagogical habitus shaped teachers’ engagement with PD. The study contributes a context-sensitive CLIL PD model that foregrounds teacher expertise and demonstrates how locally grounded initiatives can strengthen reform in Kazakhstan and other multilingual settings.

CLIL professional development , language of science , pedagogical beliefs , Pedagogical nexus , systemic functional linguistics

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Department of Education, New Uzbekistan University, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan

Department of Education
Graduate School of Education

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