Developing plurilingual academic literacies of young Kazakhstani scholars: An ethnographic case study

Abstract

Within the academic literacies framework, academic writing practices are viewed as a social phenomenon that involves identity formation and negotiation, epistemologies, and power relations within discourse communities. Prior to independence in 1991, Kazakhstani higher education and research was dominated by the Russian language and Russian-based academic literacies. A significant language shift to Russian during the Soviet period did not allow for the development of Kazakh and other languages in the academy. The current geopolitical situation and the policies regarding publications for PhD candidates and university faculty have been reshaping the academic literacies of local academic discourse communities, presenting challenges to emerging scholars. Plurilingual approaches to academic writing instruction may help mitigate these challenges through expanding students’ repertoires of literacies in different languages as well as developing their pluricultural competences. This study is interested in the multilingual academic literacies of Kazakhstani discourse communities working in humanities and social sciences, how they are affected by the internationalisation of academic discourse, and how plurilingual pedagogical approaches can be applied in the context of Kazakhstani higher education. Therefore, the aim of this ethnographic study is to explore the plurilingual practices of 12 doctoral students in Kazakhstani universities as they took a 12-week course in academic writing informed by plurilingual pedagogies, genre-based and academic literacies approaches. Ethnographic fieldwork aimed to 1) identify the participants’ plurilingual academic literacies; 2) reveal the effect of internationalisation on their literacies; and 3) explore the use of plurilingual pedagogies in teaching academic writing as they go through the course. The data, which include semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, samples of student writing, and researcher diaries were analysed through the lens of academic literacies, genre knowledge, plurilingual pedagogies, and continua of biliteracy frameworks. The findings reveal how Kazakhstan’s current education practices as well as policies pertaining to scholarly publications lead to the “scopusisation” of academic discourse and shape academic literacies and identities of emerging scholars. The findings of the study are used to develop a comprehensive framework of academic literacies, which synthesises the existing theories, including Lea and Street’s Academic Literacies and Tardy’s Genre Specific Knowledge, and to explore the use of plurilingual pedagogies in developing postgraduate students’ academic writing. Implications of the study include recommendations for academic writing instruction, as well as policy related to education, research, and scholarly publication.