Students’ Perception and Attitudes towards Implementation of Multilingualism in a University

Abstract

The Republic of Kazakhstan has introduced a state level trilingual program, with the Kazakh, Russian and English languages, to promote linguistic diversity in the context of globalization, multilingualism and integration. This study aims to explore the attitude of students of multilingual programs to the use of multilingualism at a prestigious university in the western region of Kazakhstan as a criterion of how effectively the new trilingual policy is being implemented in Kazakh higher education. The study sample comprised 64 first- and second-year Kazakh multilingual students specializing in teaching exact sciences. Using a mixed method research design involving quantitative and qualitative analyses of responses to the questionnaire developed specifically for this study, findings suggest that, despite students’ understanding of the significance and necessity of multilingualism in their future profession and the university authorities’ promotion of multilingualism at the university, it is still too early to speak about the success of the state trilingual policy in higher education. Although students of multilingual programs generally look positively at multilingualism, they seem to fail to understand clearly how the Kazakh, Russian and English languages can be integrated in the study of a specialized subject and what actual possibilities their integration can offer for effective communication in the classroom. Suggestions to increase the effectiveness of the multilingualism in education are made including applying the translanguaging perspective and developing multilingual online reference materials.