Trilingual Education in Kazakhstan: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

This study analyses the complexities of implementing trilingual education in the context of Kazakhstan. Trilingualism has been gaining both supporters and opponents among teachers, students and parents. The main objective of this paper is to identify the educational characteristics in the implementation process of trilingual policies in Kazakhstan by analysing the opinion of six Kazakh teachers from two different types of schools (NIS and general secondary schools) through online interviews. The qualitative analysis of the data follows a grounded theory scheme in order to establish the different categories, through which we carry out content analysis. Results show that trilingual education is necessary in Kazakhstan. Specific drawbacks are also identified (e.g. lack of qualified teaching staff or level of language competence of students). Our conclusions suggest that trilingual education is beneficial for the Kazakh system though the differences identified (NIS and general secondary) may jeopardise successful implementation.

Keywords

• trilingual education
• qualitative research
• educational policy
• teachers’ opinions