EXPLORING THE KAZAKHSTANI LINGUISTIC MARKETPLACE: A CASE OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' LANGUAGE CAPITAL, CHOICE, AND ATTITUDES

Abstract

Language is the central conduit or resource for meaning-making in most societies. However, not all languages are equal, particularly social, economic, and cultural values. Accordingly, it has become essential to explore the current Kazakhstani linguistic marketplace to identify the value or status of the Kazakh, Russian and English languages. Therefore, this thesis focuses on university students and how they position their language choice, language capital, and attitudes. This thesis investigates university students' perceptions about their language capital/s and their language choices in the Kazakhstani linguistic marketplace. Therefore, the following research questions guided this qualitative research study: 1) How is linguistic capital positioned in the current Kazakh linguistic marketplace?; 2) How do these positionings impact students' language choice and linguistic capital?; 3) What market, societal, and language socialization domains impact students' language choices and attitudes?. The participants were 10 bachelor and master's students from the Eurasian National University (ENU) with different geographical and linguistic backgrounds. In addition, three research instruments such as qualitative questionnaires, interviews, and linguistic portraits underpinned this research project. The findings revealed that the Kazakh linguistic capital had value in the family domain and national identity. Furthermore, the Russian linguistic capital had high capital in social and education fields. In contrast, the English language is emerging as a valuable resource in the world of work, and students viewed it as offering social mobility upward.