Barriers to English Language Proficiency: A Comparative Phenomenological Study of Graduating Students in Kazakhstani State and Private Schools

Abstract

English language proficiency plays a central role in access to higher education, employment, and global participation, and in Kazakhstan it is positioned as a national priority through the Trilingual Education Policy (Nazarbayev, 2007). Despite these ambitions, students often demonstrate limited ability to use English effectively, particularly in speaking and listening, indicating a persistent gap between policy expectations and classroom outcomes (Imanova et al., 2023; Tuspekova et al., 2020). This study examines how high secondary school participants in state and private schools report barriers to developing English language proficiency and how these experiences align or differ across contexts. Guided by a comparative qualitative phenomenological design, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with 16 participants from two urban schools in Northern Kazakhstan. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-phase framework. The findings reveal that barriers to English proficiency are interconnected and shaped by contextual, instructional, psychological, and linguistic factors. Participants from state school more frequently reported textbook-driven instruction, limited opportunities for communicative practice, and restricted access to resources, while participants from private school described greater instructional support but continued difficulties in spontaneous communication. Across both contexts, speaking emerged as the most challenging skill, closely linked to anxiety, low confidence, and fear of negative evaluation, which constrained participation. These findings suggest that barriers to English proficiency are socially and institutionally mediated through classroom practices and learning conditions. Thus, the findings of this study contribute to the existing literature on English language learning in Kazakhstan and highlight the need to create more supportive instructional and learning environments, as well as more equitable educational opportunities across school types, for the development of students’ English proficiency.