A Systematic Review of CLIL Research in Kazakhstan: An Underrepresented Context

Abstract

Kazakhstan is a country that has lofty aspirations for educational reforms. Though not formally and officially, CLIL as a primary action plan of the trilingual education is one of such ambitious initiatives. This report includes a systematic review of relevant and current literature on the implementation of the CLIL in the context of Kazakhstan. It solely looks at the state of CLIL research in Kazakhstan in order to identify gaps and make recommendations for future studies. A total of 20 studies were identified and selected for further analysis. The criteria for selection were derived from earlier research and include the following categories: relevant methodology, studies within the Kazakhstani setting exclusively, publications in three languages Kazakh, Russian and English, and peer-reviewed and conference publications. The coding scheme for the data analysis was also influenced by previous research, as mentioned clearly in the paper's methodology section. The review's findings indicate a tendency towards examining teachers' perceptions of CLIL using a qualitative approach and interviews as the primary data collection instrument. As a result of this systematic review, the paper suggests further research areas on the CLIL approach in underrepresented Kazakhstani context.