Pedagogic issues of the tri-lingual primary and secondary schools in Kazakhstan

This paper deals with the study of sources on pedagogic issues of the tri-lingual primary and secondary schools in Kazakhstan with the aim of examining the pedagogic issues of the tri-lingual primary and secondary schools in particular. This study focuses on observation of multilingual schools, pedagogic issues, and classes at specific trilingual primary and secondary schools and the related data will be collected and analyzed. The paper discusses the materials and facts revealed on the pedagogic issues of the pilot primary schools in Kazakhstan. This problem is empirically considered by taking interviews from the teachers of primary school. Also, pupils of primary school interviewed by asking some questions about difficulties in learning English. Their answers are identified and as a result, many constructive suggestions were highlighted to focus on improving tri-lingual education system in primary schools in Kazakhstan. 

Introduction

The language question in Kazakhstan has undoubtedly been influenced by a number of historic, political, cultural, social, and economic reasons and factors. The State Programme for Development and Functioning of Languages in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020 (2011) envisages future Kazakhstanis as trilingual. They should know Kazakh as a state (national) language, Russian as an official language used alongside the Kazakh language in state organisations and local self-government agencies (also actively used in the public communicative domain), and English as an international language. [10, c. 98]

The main site for implementing the policy is educational institutions. Trilingual education has been piloted in a network of 33 schools for gifted children since 2007 (Daryn National Scientific-Practical Centre, 2012). Trilingual education is also piloted in seventeen Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools established to become sites for the development of a wider range of best educational practices as part of the ongoing national reform of education. By 2020, the number of trilingual schools in Kazakhstan is meant to reach 700. However, there is no written trilingual education policy or clear guidance for implementation in schools, which causes confusion and lack of clear focus for unity of practice whereas pilot schools appear to be finding their own way. [11, c. 67]

The primary reason for conducting this research lies in the need to promote awareness of the undeniable role of education in language policy implementation in Kazakhstan. In this article we want to study and analize the pedagogic issues of the trilingual secondary schools in Kazakhstan.

Trilingualism plan to introduce in 2019, a decision will be taken only in 2018, and while the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan is carried out preparatory work with the teaching staff who will implement it in the practice.[1, c. 12]

According to the best foreign examples introduced trinity of languages in teaching. Priority is given to the study of the state language, and students from the first class learn English. Students will choose to study subjects such as physics, chemistry, biology and informatics by themselves. The research question of this work is to know what kind of pedagogical issues have primary and secondary schools of Kazakhstan in English language education. The objectives of this study are:

• proposing some recommendations to improve the curriculum of English in trilingual schools;
• to find out teachers’ difficulties at primary level schools;
• to find out teachers’ perception towards available sources of teaching English;
• to find ot students’ problems in learning English 

Methodology

The sample school chosen for this research is the state primary school. In Kazakhstan, there are four (4) years of primary education. The experiment of this research work conducted through the interview, questionnaire and some lessons were observed. In the process of interviewing we focused on seven (7) teachers who teach English and three (3) teachers who teach Kazakh and Russian in primary schools. Five pupils’ parents were also interviewed, and their views on the school’s trilingual education model were elicited. Document analysis followed by these topics first was trilingual education policy in primary school; Second were issues of the tri-lingual primary schools. Seven (7) teachers of primary schools who teach English and three (3) teachers of Kazakh and Russian were interviewed and the following questions were asked: What are the difficulties and problems in learning and teaching English? How is the trilingual education model structured in the primary school? What is the role of Kazakh in classes in which English or Russian is used? Is there any evidence of code-switching and co-languaging and how is this used? What languages are used to teach which subjects, when and why? How successful is the school in creating trilingual pupils? And the questions were related to the pedagogical issues of multilingual primary schools in teaching and learning English. There are some pedagogic issues and difficulties in teaching and learning English we found out from the process of interview that we conducted:

 ü Spelling

• Homework
• Some pupils do not appear interested in English
• Disruptive (upsetting) behavior
• Pronunciation difficulties
• Writing composition
• Terrible (very bad) handwriting
• Learning vowel letters is difficult
• Some students cannot understand a dialogue or a reading passage
• Most students are afraid to speak in the classroom
• Evaluating and assessment
• Teachers are not well-trained enough
• Salary rate of teachers
• The number of children in one class
• Amount of English hours for one week
• Do not have individual / differentiated instruction in learning
• Lack of teaching materials in English 

Interviews

The main problem in the transition to English language learning in Kazakhstani schools is not having well-trained teachers. Teachers need to learn not only the language, but also the methodology of teaching their subject in English. At the moment, there is a training of future teachers with the knowledge of the language in the East Kazakhstan State University named after S.Amanzholov such disciplines as "Genetics", "Biodiversity" and others which have started gradually to carry out in English. For the preparation of highly qualified teachers of biology, chemistry, physics, maths and informatics in English language became necessary training for the teaching staff of higher educational institutions. Organized training courses of English language knowledge by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan for university teachers is of great importance for achieving the objectives. To study the different subjects in English is required creativity of teachers to create educational materials, aid, curriculum and application capable to lead active cognitive activity of the student, to arouse interest in the subject and motivation for learning. As a result, learning and cognitive independence of the student creates the preconditions for the emergence of a civilized state. There were some teachers who identified the problems and explained that we need well trained teachers through the interview. She is an English teacher of primary school and she has worked at this sphere for six years. In their school they have an unusual problem, teachers are not welltrained and their English level needs improvement. Some teachers just skip some topics in the textbook and do not teach them, or they give school exercises as homework, and again with no teaching them. However, in the end of semester, they demand from their students what they haven’t taught. And, also, their pronunciation suffers too. She thinks that English teachers in our country need English trainings.

The second problem in the transition to trilingual education system is salary rate of teachers. Who will guarantee and be responsible for quality of English language teaching at kindergartens and schools when a few numbers of English teachers is willing to work at ungraded schools for a miserable salary? In this case the equity and effectiveness are out of question. The supplementary private tutoring might redress the issue of poor education gained in rural schools. However, private tutoring (“repetitorstvo”) costs a lot and can be a rare occasion at remote areas. Furthermore, having graduated from school the rural youth also has no equal possibilities for well-paid job in international companies because of the limited English proficiency. Thus, we will advocate the rights of rural children who can be left behind elite schools with high-tuition fees and native speakers of English. No matter how many hours a child spends on languages acquisition in school settings if he or she does not use the languages in the daily routine outside of a classroom. The assistance matters. Therefore, active parents’ involvement, support of teachers, promotion of multilingual competence should be included in a toolkit for an ambitious and long-term multilingual education reform in Kazakhstan.

One more issue that we have in transition is the number of children in one class. There were teachers who told about this problem: in our schools we have only one teacher for 30-35 pupils. The process of dividing class into 2 groups is carried out in case of quantity of pupils is 24 or more in urban educational organizations, 20 or more in rural areas, and 10 pupils at least in small schools during the lessons. It is very difficult to teach any subject, especially English, because this subject is foreign for our children. In some schools pupils are divided into two groups for learning English language, but some schools don’t have an opportunity to do that.

Another problem of trilingual education system is lack of English hours for 1 week. In our country there are a lot of schools which have only 45 minutes of English lesson in one week. It is not enough to take good knowledge of English. After one week pupils cannot remember what they learn from the last lesson. It will be better to have English at least 3 times a week. The maximum amount of weekly teaching load of students including all types of classroom and extra-curricular (optional, individual and group sessions) of academic work shall not exceed 25 hours at 2nd grade, 29 hours – at 3rd grade, 29 hours – at 4th grade, 32 hoursat 5th grade, 33 hours – at 6th grade, 34 hours – at 7th grade, 36 hours – at 8th grade, 38 hours – at 9th grade, 39 hours – at 10th grade, 39 hours – at 11th grade.

In primary schools of Kazakhstan we don’t have individual / differentiated instruction in learning. Having such type of approach for each pupil is important, because some pupils can understand English easily, but some of them can understand it through another way. It means each teacher should have tasks at different level for different students. The top-down approach should be changed into the bottom-up approach. The policy-makers do not think about the differences between the regional educational institutions in terms of qualified, well-trained teachers who are able to speak equally in three languages (NUGSE, 2014). There is deficiency in teachers who are able to conduct classes in line with the trilingual policy. Moreover, there is a lack of training courses for teachers. This issue is reflected in the Roadmap of trilingual education in Kazakhstan (MES, 2015). The educational institutions cannot train teachers who will be able to teach in three or two languages. This issue is raised in the State program of education development in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020 (MES, 2010).

Next issue is, lack of teaching materials in English, Kazakh languages. Moreover, the quality of textbooks should be improved and reviewed by the entire stakeholder in education (Bridges, 2014). The other side of the problem is that some of the educational institutions cannot afford buying good quality materials without financial support from the government.

Also schools have problems in evaluating of students. Teachers have some tasks and tests for students, and after the testing each student teachers look at evaluation sheet and evaluate them. We think that it is not good idea of evaluating students. Because each student has own thoughts, skills and creativity which we should notice and evaluate them properly. At present in all territories of Kazakhstan a five-point evaluation system has been introduced, which may not always estimate the each child's individual development trajectory. The new evaluation system is introduced in order to create optimal conditions for efficient tracking of individual pupils’ achievements using a rating evaluation system. The object of research throughout the work is the learning process of Mathematics, Cognition of the world, Chemistry, Russian and Kazakh languages in forms 3-8.Total in the experiment 10 forms were involved. The experiment took place during three years from 2009 to 2012. Results of conducted research were those changes in the teaching process, which have caused qualitative characteristics such as increased digestible material and depth of its understanding, the activity of pupils at the lesson, their creative independence, change of self-criticism and self-evaluation, etc.

One more problem is that some stakeholders do not want to implement the trilingual education programs. The administration of some educational institutions does not want to change their educational policy as it makes them change a curriculum, hire new staff, spend money. Some parents and students still are not willing to study in several languages. Finally, the majority of regional institutions are under-equipped (equipment, technology) to support the trilingual education programs.

Diagram 1. Kind of difficulties in learning English

Survey on students’ perception of the trilingual education model 

A questionnaire was designed to find out students’ perception of the trilingual education model in the school. From the diagram 1 we can see the problems and difficulties of pupils in learning English. The highest difficulty (85%) in learning English is speaking in the classroom in front of other pupils. Some pupils said that they don not have confidence and fluency of language. Some of pupils answered that they afraid of bad marks, it means they have fear in making mistakes. Second big problem is writing composition (75%). 

Some students pointed out that it is difficult to write about your thoughts in English, we noticed that pupils have lack of words and they do not read books in English language. Next problem is homework, through the interview with parents we noticed that they said the same problem, doing homework without tutors is hard for pupils, one reason is that parent do not know English enough, another reason is that pupils do not understand the new topic in classroom properly. Then we can see from the diagram the same three problems (60%) they are spelling, lack of English subject hours for one week and do not having individual instruction in learning English. Two pupils pointed out that they want to have more hours of English, because one hour of English is not enough to be fluent in this language.

Discussion

During the data collection semi structured interviews were conducted to know the ground realities as well. Some students and teachers were interviewed and the results of these interviews show the causes and effects regarding scored results. The study revealed that the learning conditions at primary schools level are not in excellent level. Most of the teachers face the various troubles from learners. In many primary schools there is only one teacher who has to teach more than one classes.

Some schools don’t have individual / differentiated instruction in learning. Having such type of approach for each pupil is important, because some pupils can understand English easily, but some of them can understand it through another way. It means each teacher should have tasks at different level for different students.

Although in general all stakeholders are in favour of the trilingual education model, there are some conflicting views. The school seems to have set up a well-structured model, allocating a balanced amount of time to the three different languages across the whole curriculum. Ideally, the three languages would be employed effectively for different subjects, and students’ language proficiency in all the three languages would reach a satisfactory level when they graduate from the school. There were suggestions ways of using Kazakh in the English Classroom in Kazakhstan which could help students learn English. The mother tongue can play a positive role in English language learning if handled appropriately.

The English teachers claimed to adhere strictly to it themselves, but sometimes allowed limited use of mother tongue by students during group discussions. This is supported by evidence from the recorded lesson.

Suggestions

Teaching is an important task. A teacher must have grip on his subject. He should be of progressive mind and ambitious and always be ready to learn something new mold himself according to the need of society. Try to learn more and more because knowledge has no limits. It will be good if teachers start their training courses in teaching English.

Recommended justifications of the trilingual education model in the sample school

• The three languages should be used as media of instruction, but the ratio of each should alter as students progress through primary, with the emphasis on Kazakh in the early
• Kazakh could be used for Kazakh, Kazakh Literature and Geography of Kazakhstan and History of Kazakhstan.
• English could be used as for English and for maths, informatics and physics in Secondary
• All English teachers should work together more closely and develop cross curriculum activities which require the use of
• A multilingual pedagogy can be adopted, whose aim would be to enhance students’ trilingual development.
• Tests should be given at the end of P3 and P4 to assess students’ proficiency in the three

Conclusion

This study concluded that primary teachers face a numbers of difficulties while teaching English at primary level. It can make easier if teachers use the direct method, no doubt traditional method is also the essence of teaching. So both methods should be applied side by side. Trainings should be given to the teachers so that they may teach English with interest consequently students may show better results. Among the main objectives of the program are training teachers of primary and secondary schools able to give lessons in trilingual education programs; enhancing prestige of using the Kazakh language; maintaining the system of language diversity in Kazakhstan; ensuring functioning of the Russian language in the communicative sphere; provision of systematic scientific and methodological support to teaching English and other foreign languages; development of polylingual education infrastructure; development of intercultural component of language education; and ensuring the intellectual growth in Kazakhstan by acquainting its people with cultural values.

The education principles in the Kazakhstani trilingual system are as follows:

• ¾Kazakh – Russian – English;
• ¾Languages are learnt separately;
• ¾Learning of the languages is based on the native language;
• ¾Teaching a foreign language is teaching how to express thoughts in a foreign language, teaching its culture;
• ¾Development of trilingual personality;
• ¾Speech development algorithm: subvocalization – oral speech written speech;
• ¾Communicative ability [5, c. 54].

Thus, currently a most important objective of an education institution is teaching pupils global cultural values enabling them to successfully communicate and interact with people of other cultures on the global level. When studying foreign culture, history, geography, literature, arts and science pupils and students will get better understanding of their own culture and language. Research and practice of interconnected teaching native and foreign languages prove its impact on the harmonious development of personality [6, c. 76].

The tactics of implementing trilingual education in Kazakhstani higher education institutions include:

¾ development of regulations on implementation of trilingual education programs;

¾ training teachers for trilingual education programs;

¾ utilization of world experience, which can be adapted to trilingual education;

¾ review of level model of foreign language teaching and learning in order to develop similar models of teaching and learning the Russian and Kazakh languages, which will develop standards in teaching the languages.

¾ establishment of the national coordination center of trilingual education [5, c. 43].

When we tried to have some interviews, and ask about “progression of trilingual education” at schools, we took some answers from teachers and pupils from school, We can already see some visible results of the program: The Ministry of Education and Science has promoted publishing trilingual dictionaries of terms (English-Kazakh-Russian), textbooks, workbooks; it monitors the implementation of the national budget program of professional training and retraining of teachers in public education institutions. The Daryn National center holds seminars and workshops, national English Olympiads, participates in developing English courses for schools with intensive English learning. Regional programs of developing trilingualism have been designed. Several schools and universities of Kazakhstan have developed trilingual education programs and a number of integrated courses taught in English. New school textbooks are published in six languages: Kazakh, Russian, Yigur, Uzbek, Turkish, and German. Teachers start to have training program which helps lead trilingual education system at schools. From 2017 pupils start to learn English deeper on Saturdays. To conclude, various factors which influence the implementation of this reform within the Kazakhstani education context should be taken into consideration. This is significant because many stakeholders have a different approach in the implementation of this policy reform in Kazakhstan. Another challenge is design and development of integrated courses as for that not only good language proficiency, but teaching techniques used in the formation of language skills are required. Therefore, school and university teachers who are to give integrated courses should be trained both in the language and in methods of teaching a foreign language as it is the only way to make a language integrated course effective. These are only some of many challenges Kazakhstani educators face, yet there is hope that support of the state, greater autonomy of the universities and competence of educators will help realization of trilingual higher education in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

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