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

ABSTRACT

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–July 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 found 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. Inadequate socialization in English 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.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic writing
• English medium instruction
• multilingual graduate students
• Kazakhstan
• trilingual policy
• medium of instruction

Acknowledgments

The authors greatly appreciate the valuable contributions made by all research participants from the selected universities, the anonymous peer reviewers for their insightful comments, and their team members (Uli Schamiloglu, Duishon Shamatov, and Gulnissa Zhunussova) who are part of the larger project. They also thank the research assistants (Lyudmila Fillipova and Seth Antwi) who assisted in conducting the survey and organizing the survey data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research study was funded by the Nazarbayev University Collaborative Research Grant 021220CRP1322, “Graduate students’ struggles with academic reading and writing in English medium universities in Kazakhstan.