THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ENGLISH AS MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN EUROPE: THE CASE OF KAZAKHSTAN

Abstract

Nowadays multilingualism in education is a requirement of modern society while it a pedagogical challenge. The tri-lingual policy is popular among youth of Kazakhstan (Akenova et al, 2014) and supported by government (Akshulova, Ismailova, 2013).The implementation of English-medium instruction in Higher Education of Kazakhstan is in line with the government policy on the use of languages in education from 2011 - 2020. The gap between traditional principles of bilingual education and the new policies creates challenges in terms of designing curricula, pedagogical approaches and strategies for implementation English as a-medium of instruction (EMI). The importance of EMI implementation has been studied by (Agai-Lochi 2015; Tamtam et al 2012). The first aim of the project reported in this paper is to examine this phenomenon which reflects the specifics of international and national level of education. Secondly, the paper presents an analysis of the challenges of this unique way of teaching. The problems faced during EMI connected with lack of handouts and methodology to teach in the second language. The author tries to provide some recommendations on using innovative strategies to improve EMI in the higher education of Kazakhstan.