Using CLIL to Develop Pre-Service Teachers’ Readiness for EMI through a Classroom-Based Perspective

Abstract

This classroom-based reflective article examines how Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) can develop pre-service teachers’ readiness for English-medium instruction (EMI) in a regional Thai university context. Drawing on the author’s nine-and-a-half years of bilingual primary teaching and subsequent instruction of an English for Teaching course at Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University (NRRU), the study integrates practical accounts with learner feedback from two groups. Primary-level data were collected from 57 former students who studied English, science, and mathematics through English in a CLIL-based program, while highereducation data were gathered from course evaluations by 23 pre-service teachers. The findings reveal that CLIL-supported lessons promoted engagement, routine English use, and academic vocabulary retention among primary learners, although some found content learning in English challenging. At theuniversity level, pre-service teachers reported high satisfaction with scaffolding, active learning, and microteaching, leading to increased confidence and improved lesson design for EMI. The study highlights key challenges, such as aligning language and content objectives and sustaining motivation, whilerecommending CLIL as an effective strategy for bridging the policy-practice gap andadvancing Sustainable Development Goal 4 on equitable education.