Talk on Developing a language policy for an English-medium university in Uzbekistan, and broader questions for English-medium higher education in Central Asia’ by Prof Andrew Linn, University of Westminster

Cambridge Central Asia Forum invites you to a talk by

on

‘Developing a language policy for an English-medium university in Uzbekistan, and broader questions for English-medium higher education in Central Asia’

By

Andrew Linn, University of Westminster

Date: 21 February

Time: 11am

In Person Venue: Room S1, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge

Online Zoom registration link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/Vu0-L-UHQ5eiILMpKuPEtA

Everyone is welcome.

Abstract: English-medium education [EME] is typically defined as “the use of the English language to teach academic subjects in countries or jurisdictions where the first language (L1) of the majority of the population is not English.” This phenomenon has been in the ascendant globally in recent decades. In 2001 it was reported that there were 725 English-taught Master’s programmes in Europe (Wächter & Maiworm 2007) and 20 years later that there were 27,874 English-medium education courses being taught globally (British Council).  Central Asia is far from exempt from the headlong rush to EME, despite Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan all being characterised as possessing “very low proficiency” in English (English Proficiency Index 2024).

In this paper we report on findings from an established English-medium university in Uzbekistan, providing insights into the experiences and attitudes of the whole community as part of a project to develop a language policy for that university.  We will present and reflect on the language policy.  Through leading several British Council-funded projects in the region, we have had the opportunity to test some of the insights from the initial project in the context of EME across the Uzbek HE sector, at an EME institution in Kazakhstan and most recently in several universities in Turkmenistan.  Based on this broad survey, we will conclude with some considerations about the future of EME in the region.

Wächter, Bernd & Maiworm, F. 2008. English-Taught Programmes in European Higher Education – The Picture in 2007. Bonn: Lemmens Medien GmbH (ACA Papers on International Cooperation in Education).

Biography: Professor Andrew Linn is Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange and Professor of Language, History and Society at the University of Westminster. Before joining Westminster, and following undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Cambridge, Andrew was based at the University of Sheffield for 18 years, where he was Professor of the History of Linguistics from 2003.  His PhD was a study of the standardisation of Norwegian, and this has led to publications in the fields of language policy and planning, the history of language study, theories of standardisation, Norwegian history, and the changing role of English globally.  His most recent work has focused on English-medium education with an emphasis on Central Asia.  Andrew is President of the Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas.

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