Investigating the Effectiveness of CLIL Strategies on Overcoming Challenges and Shaping Educators’ and Learners’ Perceptions

Abstract

Content and language must be carefully balanced when teaching science and engineering through a foreign language, as in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). This study examines challenges learners face in CLIL classes, evaluates the effectiveness of strategies used to address these challenges, explores learner and educator perceptions of these strategies, and investigates the role of code‑switching in supporting content learning and language development in English‑medium instruction. A mixed‑method, cross‑sectional design was employed with 200 junior and senior students and 15 educators from 10 engineering and science departments at the University of Koya. Quantitative data were collected via a structured Likert‑scale questionnaire administered to learners, and qualitative data via unstructured interviews with educators; data were analysed using structural equation modelling (AMOS) and thematic analysis supported by MAXQDA. The findings show that all examined strategies had significant positive effects on learners’ perceptions and an inverse relationship with experienced challenges. Limited English proficiency, technical vocabulary demands, and scarce resources emerged as major obstacles, while interaction, group work, feedback, and strong grammar and vocabulary knowledge supported both content and language learning. Code‑switching was found to enhance content comprehension and concept clarification while only slightly constraining language development.