Perceptions and Use of English by Secondary School Students From Central Asia

Abstract

After almost two centuries of functioning almost exclusively through the medium of Russian, the governments of the now-independent Kyrgyzstan are trying to implement the knowledge of English among the population as an auxiliary tool of interaction with the rest of the world. Nevertheless, and despite the huge amount of money invested in English education, there is a lack of studies about the attitudes of the Kyrgyzstani students toward this language and the use that they intend to do of it. This paper analyses the attitudes toward the learning and use of English by Kyrgyzstani secondary-school students from four educational models in two regions of the country. A questionnaire given to 182 students from different local and foreign ethnic and language backgrounds was used to collect data. The results of the research show different approaches depending on the location of the schools and the educational program followed. For most students English may be a good asset but very few consider it a language that can be used in contexts other than the classroom.