Dontsov A.S.

S. Toraighyrov Pavlodar State University, Kazakhstan

Multilingualism in the education system of the Republic of Kazakhstan: the history, current state and main problems

The Republic of Kazakhstan is a multinational state in Central Asia and home to more than 130 ethnic groups. Starting from the middle of the 18th century, when a long process of Kazakh lands accession to the Russian Empire began, first settlers started to appear in the territory of our country. In the 19th century, many Uyghurs and Dungans moved into the territory of modern Kazakhstan from China. A big wave of Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish and Bulgarian immigrants moved to Kazakhstan during the agrarian reforms of the early 20th century. A large number of Koreans, Volga Germans, Chechens, Ingush, and representatives of many other nations were deported into the country in Soviet times. Tens of thousands of people from all over the Soviet Union came to Kazakhstan to take part in the construction of new industrial facilities and the virgin lands campaign. Thus, not only ethnic, but also cultural (and, consequently, linguistic) diversity has become an essential attribute of our state.

The Soviet period of the history of Kazakhstan is also marked by the achievement of impressive results in the field of education: in a relatively short period of time total access to primary and middle education for all citizens was achieved, the campaign to eradicate illiteracy among adults was successfully finished, first higher education institutions were established and the number of people with higher education degrees was constantly growing. It should be noted here that back in those years, the Russian language held a dominant position in the education system, and the number of educational institutions with Kazakh as the language of instruction was very small. As a result, most of the indigenous population of the country were fluent speakers of not only their native (Kazakh) language, but also the Russian language. The modern Kazakh society is still largely characterized by this bilingualism.

After the country gained independence in 1991, the Kazakh language got the status of the state language, its role has increased considerably in all areas of public life, including education. The number of people of all ages studying in Kazakh has been growing ever since. The Russian language continues to play an important role of the language of international communication and is used officially on a par with Kazakh. However, because the last 25 years saw an unprecedented scientific and technological progress and intensification of international contacts caused by globalization, it becomes obvious that in today's world, it is no longer enough to speak these two languages. It is English that has become the language essential for a successful integration into the global community.

The year 2007 can be regarded as the starting point in the practical realization of the trilingual education idea. This is when the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev initiated the so-called "Tri-Unity of Languages" project. Next year, the Ministry of Education and Science selected two basic universities for the implementation of multilingual education (Kazakh Ablai Khan University of International Relations and World Languages and Karaganda State University named after Academician E.A. Buketov); the Concept of Multilingual Education Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan was developed; first regulations governing the implementation of multilingual education programs in higher education institutions appeared.

This area has become of great interest to many researchers. The most fundamental works that laid the theoretical and methodological foundations of multilingual education are S.S. Kunanbayeva's monograph "Modern Foreign Language Education: Methodology and Theory" [1] and B.A. Zhetpisbayeva's doctoral thesis "Theoretical and Methodological Foundations of Multilingual Education" [2].

The monograph by S.S. Kunanbayeva is based on the idea of foreign language education modernization on the basis of the updated cognitive and linguoculturological methodology. The author developed a model and a program of foreign language education, formulated its basic principles, described foreign language proficiency levels that harmonize international standards with local conditions. The main result and a logical continuation of the work on this monograph was The Concept of Foreign Language Education Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan [3] which ensures the unity and continuity of levels of foreign language proficiency at all stages of the educational system and a comprehensive modernization of foreign language education on the basis of the state language policy. The proposed system of foreign language education is a combination of international quality assessment scale with the domestic subject content, it unifies the qualification and quality requirements for the final results by levels of foreign language proficiency for all types of educational institutions with variative educational subprograms at each level.

A key practical result of B.A. Zhetpisbayeva's research is The Concept of Multilingual Education Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan [4]. This Concept defines the legal, theoretical, methodological, scientific and organizational support for the implementation of the ideas of multilingual education in different types of educational institutions, and outlines the main stages and directions of its development. According to the author, the main mechanism for multilingual education implementation is the so-called "dual input" principle, which means that a foreign language is studied through linguistic disciplines and used as a language of instruction when studying some of the non-linguistic disciplines.

Another important step in the development of trilingual education was made in 2015 when the Nation’s Plan “100 Steps Towards the Implementation of 5 Institutional Reforms” [5] was adopted. This plan, among other things, provides for a stage-by-stage transition to teaching in English in senior secondary schools and higher education institutions. In the framework of the Nation’s Plan implementation, the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Kazakhstan developed The Roadmap for Trilingual Education Development [6]. This document provides for a gradual transition to teaching certain subjects (namely, information science, physics, chemistry and biology) in senior secondary schools and at least 30 percent of basic and special disciplines in higher education institutions in English. At the same time, students will study English throughout the entire period of studies in higher education institutions.

As mentioned earlier, in general, the Kazakh society is characterized by a fairly high level of bilingualism. There have been long-standing traditions of teaching Kazakh and Russian and using them as languages of instruction, therefore, there is no shortage of either qualified teachers, or educational materials for various school subjects and university courses.

The situation with English is completely different. A recent study held by the National Academy of Education named after I. Altynsarin [7] showed that only 9.5% of school teachers, 7.6% of college teachers and 10.7% of academic staff at the level of higher education are ready to use English as the language of instruction in their classrooms. However, there are some reasons to believe that even such low figures do not fully reflect the real picture. First of all, the authors of the analysis report admit that their research was based on a self-evaluation procedure, that is, information in the forms was filled in by the management of respective educational institutions, and the submitted data were not checked subsequently. Secondly, it is not clear from the report what level of proficiency in English can be considered sufficient to teach in this language. There is a section devoted to the professional development of teachers who use English as the language of instructions in their classrooms. The list there includes courses offered by Orleu JSC (The National Centre for Pedagogical Staff Professional Development), Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools, and IELTS preparation courses. However, it should be noted here that Orleu JSC issues its certificates to anyone who has attended a certain (usually a short-term) course, while a high-score IELTS certificate requires much more preparation. So, it is obvious that these two certificates do not reflect the same level of quality in terms of language proficiency. Therefore, the first question that needs to be answered is what level of language proficiency may be considered acceptable and how can this level be reliably measured?

Karaganda State University named after E.A. Buketov seem to have found the solution. According to their Regulations on Multilingual Education Organization, “the right to teach basic courses and majors in English is granted to teachers whose level of English proficiency corresponds to CEFR B2-C1 levels. The documents confirming the required level of English are either IELTS / TOEFL international certificates or a second degree in Foreign Language: Two Foreign Languages (English) [8].” Thus, the required levels (B2-C1) are outlined and can be easily converted into specific results of the IELTS / TOEFL exams; these levels also correspond to the requirements for foreign language proficiency of a graduate with a degree in the above-mentioned program.

Success or failure of the planned reforms will be largely determined by the quality of teacher training in the field of English. Having discussed the requirements for the minimum level of English proficiency, we can now move on to the question of how to supply the system of education with such a high number of English-speaking teachers. High level of foreign language competence of future professionals can be achieved through the development and implementation of an effective system of language training at all levels of education, but is it possible to significantly improve the situation among thousands of teachers already working in education institutions all over the country?

As an answer to this question, The Roadmap for Trilingual Education Development for 2015-2020 provides for advanced training of 2,400 teachers at language courses annually, as well as the organization of distance learning courses in English for teachers [6, p. 9-10].

In practice, in order to achieve a minimally acceptable level (B2), one needs from 500 to 600 hours of classes; to reach level C1, from 700 to 800 hours are required. Besides, at least twice as many hours are needed for homework. According to Professor Zh. Smagulova, the Dean of the Language Center at KIMEP University, teachers will have to spend 2 years studying the language 6 hours a day. Given the workload of teachers and academic staff, it seems rather unlikely.

The Roadmap for Trilingual Education Development for 2015-2020 also suggests inviting graduates of the Bolashak scholarship programme (a state-funded scholarship programme providing talented Kazakhstani youth with a chance to study abroad) for a few hours a week in their spare time [6, p. 6]. However, it is important to note that, first of all, many of those graduates had just a one-year Master's degree program abroad, and one year may not be enough to reach the required level of proficiency in a foreign language; secondly, even a good command of the English language does not automatically imply being able to teach it well.

As previously noted, as of today, teachers' training in foreign languages is not carried out centrally, with different organizations offering different training programs. In order to improve the situation, it might be reasonable to create a unified in-service teacher training program taking into account the specifics of adult education and making it possible to effectively study English in parallel with the work. In addition, it is important to implement an effective mechanism stimulating teachers to study English. They should be motivated and see specific benefits that fluency in English may bring them. Motivation is an extremely important factor in second language acquisition, without it, this process is very unlikely to be effective.

Another important problem is learning and teaching materials in English: should we use the materials published abroad or is it better to develop our own ones? On the one hand, the content of materials written by domestic authors better meets the requirements of Kazakhstani standards and model programs. On the other hand, these materials are not always written in good English. Besides, most of domestic materials are not used nationwide - they are implemented only in specific educational institutions, and some levels of education are seriously underrepresented. For example, there is a significant shortage of materials for the postgraduate level - the level when, according to the state educational standard, the transition from level B2 to level C1 should take place.

To solve this problem, teaching and learning materials for non-linguistic subjects taught in English should be developed jointly by Kazakhstani and foreign authors and implemented centrally in all educational institutions of the corresponding level.

Finally, there should be more research in this area, including large-scale monitoring studies designed to show the current state of multilingual education at all levels of the education system. It is ineffective and even dangerous to carry out any reforms in the field of education relying on the “top-down” approach only – these reforms must meet the real possibilities of the education system at the given point in time.

In summary, the transition to multilingual education in a modern multicultural and dynamically-developing Kazakhstan meets current global challenges and corresponds to the general course of the state development. However, it is important to remember that it has been less than 10 years since the announcement of the “Tri-Unity of Languages” project, and the main work in this area (especially in the field of transition to teaching in English) is still ahead. It is therefore expedient to consider a real transition to trilingualism in education not as a task for the near future, but as a long-term strategic goal that requires much work and solving many problems.

References:

1. Kunanbayeva S.S. Modern foreign language education: methodology and theory. - Almaty, 2005. - 264 p. [in Russian].

2. Zhetpisbayeva B.A. Theoretical and methodological foundations of multilingual education: abstract of a doctoral thesis in 13.00.01 - General pedagogy, history of pedagogy and education, ethnopedagogy. - Karaganda, 2009. - 44 p. [in Russian].

3. The concept of foreign language education development in the Republic of Kazakhstan. - Almaty: Kazakh Ablai Khan University of International Relations and World Languages. - 2006. - 20 p. [in Russian].

4. The concept of multilingual education in the Republic of Kazakhstan. - Karaganda, 2008. - 21 p. [in Russian].

5. The Nation’s Plan - 100 Steps Towards the Implementation of 5 Institutional Reforms // Kazakhstanskaya Pravda. – No. 92 (27968) - 20 May 2015. [in Russian].

6. The Roadmap for Trilingual Education Development for 2015-2020 [electronic resource]. URL: http://almaobledu-gov.kz/uploads/files/file558.pdf (Retrieved October 10, 2016). [in Kazakh and Russian].

7. Current state of trilingual education in Kazakhstan. Analytical reference. - Astana: National Academy of Education named after I. Altynsarin, 2016. - 35 p. [in Kazakh and Russian].

8. Regulations on the organization of multilingual education at Karaganda State University named after E.A. Buketov. - Karaganda: KarSU Publishing House, 2008. - 8 p. [in Russian].