Where Music, Language and Learning Meet

Leanne Hill (BA 2008, MA 2009) is a Faculty member at the University College Lecturer of Foreign Language Didactics and University College of Teacher Education Styria, Graz, Austria. Here she trains pre- and in-service teachers in teaching English as a foreign language at the primary level. Hill also conducts and collaborates on research projects related to foreign language teaching education.

Hill studies how teaching subjects like music in a foreign language can help students learn both the subject and the language more deeply. Right now, she is exploring how CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) teachers balance language and content. Understanding this can help improve teaching practices and student outcomes in multilingual classrooms.

Research builds on her UWaterloo background in English literature and music, as well as her Austrian teaching degree in English as a foreign language and music education, combining all fields to investigate language learning through music education.

Grebel’s community-minded environment nurtured her curiosity about education and inclusive learning, which continues to shape both her research and teaching philosophy. It is also where she met her Austrian husband in Leonard Enns’ Chapel Choir!