Bilingual Education in Central Asia

English language choices in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

“…As Bahry et al. (2017) noted, during the Soviet period there was promotion of the languages of different ethnolinguistic groups. However, in the later years, the policies were characterised by processes of sblizhenie (‘getting closer’) and sliianie (‘merging’) of ethnolinguistic groups for the purpose of merging differences within the primarily Russian‐speaking Soviet population and creating a singular Soviet identity (Raby, 1996; Smagulova & Ahn, 2016).…”

“…In terms of education language of instruction (LOI), schools may be Kyrgyz, Russian, or minority languages (when numbers warrant). To provide a snapshot of the LOI of schools, in the 2009–2010 academic year (AY), the LOI of schools was as follows: 1,379 Kyrgyz; 162 Russian; 137 Uzbek; seven Tajik; and 449 mixed LOI schools, with two or more LOIs (Bahry et al., 2017). In AY 2011–2012, the makeup of the mixed schools shifted so that Kyrgyz–Russian, Kyrgyz–Uzbek, and Kyrgyz–Uzbek–Russian LOI schools made up 19.7% of all schools (Bahry et al., 2017).…”

“…This is because language policy and planning research regarding Central Asia broadly – or what Pavlenko (2013) referred to as first and second wave post‐Soviet sociolinguistics and sociology of language research – has largely fallen into two main categories. The first category of research focuses on macro‐level language policy, politics, and planning efforts (Bahry et al., 2008, 2017; Landau & Kellner‐Heinkele, 2001). The second category focuses on language revitalisation processes which emerged following the dissolution of the Soviet Union (Smagulova, 2016a, 2017).…”

“…To provide a snapshot of the LOI of schools, in the 2009–2010 academic year (AY), the LOI of schools was as follows: 1,379 Kyrgyz; 162 Russian; 137 Uzbek; seven Tajik; and 449 mixed LOI schools, with two or more LOIs (Bahry et al., 2017). In AY 2011–2012, the makeup of the mixed schools shifted so that Kyrgyz–Russian, Kyrgyz–Uzbek, and Kyrgyz–Uzbek–Russian LOI schools made up 19.7% of all schools (Bahry et al., 2017). In the Kyrgyz context, English is usually taught as a foreign language and not as a primary language of instruction.…”

Introduction

“…In terms of scholarship, language policy and planning research in the 1990s and early 2000s on Central Asia – that is, first‐ and second‐wave post‐Soviet sociolinguistics and sociology of language research – often focused on language policy, politics, and planning efforts along with language revitalisation processes following the dissolution of the Soviet Union (Pavlenko, 2013). More recently, research has focused on the instantiation of nation‐state language ideologies vis‐à‐vis language revitalisation initiatives with little to no attention focused on how the role of other languages like English has been changing and/or emerging (Bahry et al., 2017).…”