“I am a mixed person of Kazakh, Turkish and English”: Multilingual students’ identity in EMI universities in Kazakhstan

Abstract

With the increasing growth of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) programs around the globe, there is a need for systematic research situated within the multilingual nature of EMI settings. Drawing upon the theory of Pavlenko and Blackledge's (2004) identities in multilingual contexts, this study investigated the construction of students' identities in EMI universities in Kazakhstan. The data analysis revealed how multilingual students' identity can be affected by language ideologies and power relations of the wider sociolinguistic and socio-political context in Kazakhstan. The empirical evidence indicated that identity may consist of multiple domains, which can be reshaped depending on the contextual features. Multilingual students in EMI programs can construct a variety of identities due to the existing macro discourses shaping language ideologies in Kazakhstan and resist the imposed identities by exerting their agency. The findings of this research contribute geographically and theoretically to the existing EMI scholarship with nuanced insights on the sociolinguistic role of multilingualism in students' identity, which can be used to inform EMI policies and practices based on a bottom-up approach.