Научно-методический журнал Scientific and methodological journal 2009 жылдың қыркүйек айынан бастап шығады Издается с сентября 2009 года
TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN A MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOM
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| TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN A MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOM
Abstract English learning received a big boost in 2010 when the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan launched the State Program of Education Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020. The reforms provide a number of initiatives, including the introduction of the trilingual education system at all levels of education, which aims to shape the future generation, fluent in Kazakh, Russian and English languages. In this regard, this article aims to discuss some of the major challenges faced by the teachers of English in the multilingual classes in higher education of Kazakhstan. For this, 20 teachers and 60 students from Karaganda State Technical University were sampled with separate questionnaires. The data was collected through interviews and classroom observations. Major findings revealed a number of problems faced by teachers and students. The study suggests some strategies to cope with these challenges. Key words: multilingual classroom, teaching English, challenges, language of instruction. I ntroduction. Speaking more than two languages means that you are multilingual. Multilingualism is not a rare phenomenon. It’s the norm for the country like Kazakhstan where representatives of 130 nationalities live here. According to the 2016 census, there are two dominant ethnic groups in Kazakhstan: ethnic Kazakhs (66.48%) and ethnic Russians (20.61%) with a wide array of other groups represented, including Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Germans, Tatars, Uyghurs, Koreans, and Meskhetian Turks. Current reforms in language policy are focused on the need of trilingual education. The objectives of language policy of the modern Kazakhstan are reflected in the Address of President of Republic of Kazakhstan, N. Nazarbayev, "Kazakhstan in the New World" (2007), in which the framework of competitiveness of country and its citizens, proposed phased implementation of the cultural project called "The Unity of Three Languages", aimed to the development of three languages: Kazakh as the state language, Russian as the language of international communication and English as the language of successful integration into the global economy. Moreover, the educational issues on trilingual policy are mentioned in the policy documents of the State program of education development in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020. According to this State program, the English language should be studied not only as a foreign language but also be used as the language of instruction at all levels of education [1]. Language plays a crucial role in terms of the internationalization of cultures, the globalization of intercultural tour communication. As some linguists consider the language is a whole world, able to lexically and semantically embrace the entire multifaceted culture, all the multisyllabic society [2]. Many linguists define bilingualism /multilingualism as ‘master over two or more languages’. Although, ‘bilingualism’ can mean knowing any two languages at any proficiency level, in this paper it is used to refer to a person who has two native languages. ‘Multilingualism’ is used to refer to someone who has two or more native languages. In this study, ‘native language’ is used to a language that is learned from birth, which is Kazakh, and ‘second language’ is used to refer to a language that is learned at a late stage, which is Russian. This paper primarily examines learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). |