Growing pains: graduate students grappling with English medium instruction in Kazakhstan

IF 1.6 Q1 LINGUISTICS Asian Englishes Pub Date : 2022-09-20 DOI:10.1080/13488678.2022.2119970

M. Tajik, Syed Abdul Manan, Adina Arvatu, M. Shegebayev

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引用次数: 6

Abstract

The internationalization of research has led to a dramatic increase in the number of English medium programs in universities across the world. This study investigates graduate students’ experiences with English medium instruction (EMI) in Kazakhstan. The data reported here were collected through an online survey conducted in 10 public and private universities in Kazakhstan in March-June 2021. This survey received a total of 320 responses from graduate students with diverse age, gender, disciplinary, educational, and linguistic profiles. Through a combination of closed and open-ended questions, we aimed to determine how graduate students coped with EMI in their programs. We find that most respondents are struggling with various aspects of academic reading and writing. Low English proficiency is often cited as a cause of these struggles, but so are specific elements of academic writing (style, documentation practices, paraphrasing), which mystify L2 students and slow down their progress. Inadequate socialization in English at earlier stages of their academic development together with gaps in existing language and writing support are also seen as factors. Overall, the data confirm the existence of deep ecological tensions between policy aspirations and enactment conditions on the ground.

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成长的烦恼：哈萨克斯坦的研究生正在努力接受英语教学

研究的国际化使世界各地大学的英语课程数量急剧增加。本研究调查了哈萨克斯坦研究生的英语教学经历。这里报告的数据是通过2021年3月至6月在哈萨克斯坦10所公立和私立大学进行的在线调查收集的。这项调查共收到320份来自不同年龄、性别、学科、教育和语言背景的研究生的回复。通过封闭式和开放式问题的结合，我们旨在确定研究生如何在他们的项目中应对EMI。我们发现，大多数受访者在学术阅读和写作的各个方面都很吃力。英语水平低通常被认为是这些困难的原因，但学术写作的特定元素（风格、文档实践、转述）也是如此，这让二语学生感到困惑，减缓了他们的进步。在他们学术发展的早期阶段，英语社会化不足，以及现有语言和写作支持的差距也被视为因素。总的来说，这些数据证实了政策愿望与当地颁布条件之间存在着深刻的生态紧张关系。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Asian Englishes LINGUISTICS-

CiteScore

3.30

自引率

18.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： Asian Englishes seeks to publish the best papers dealing with various issues involved in the diffusion of English and its diversification in Asia and the Pacific. It aims to promote better understanding of the nature of English and the role which it plays in the linguistic repertoire of those who live and work in Asia, both intra- and internationally, and in spoken and written form. The journal particularly highlights such themes as: 1.Varieties of English in Asia – Including their divergence & convergence (phonetics, phonology, prosody, vocabulary, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, discourse, rhetoric) 2.ELT and English proficiency testing vis-a-vis English variation and international use of English 3.English as a language of international and intercultural communication in Asia 4.English-language journalism, literature, and other media 5.Social roles and functions of English in Asian countries 6.Multicultural English and mutual intelligibility 7.Language policy and language planning 8.Impact of English on other Asian languages 9.English-knowing bi- and multilingualism 10.English-medium education 11.Relevance of new paradigms, such as English as a Lingua Franca, to Asian contexts. 12.The depth of penetration, use in various domains, and future direction of English in (the development of) Asian Societies.