MODERN TENDENCIES OF LANGUAGE POLICY IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The article is devoted to an analysis and interpretation of modern Ukrainian legislature and policy in the sphere of language usage. The author quotes several articles of the Constitution of Ukraine and tries to provide a critical analysis of them with regards to local language usage in educational establishments as a language of instruction. The analysis shows that the right to get instruction in a minority language is proclaimed in all the government documents. There is a list of languages which are given the status of a local (minority) language. The author tries to analyze how the proclaimed freedom of choice of a language of instruction in an educational establishment is implemented in practice and finds that universities which are situated on territories of residence of national minorities do not provide instruction in a minority language though it is used in junior schools and pre-school educational establishments. The author presents the results of a field survey fulfilled in the East of Ukraine where most of Russian-speaking population lives. The results demonstrate that the majority of the population is Ukrainians by origin and nationality though they tend to use the Russian language in everyday life communication. The language of instruction in higher educational establishments is Russian. So, the results of the research prove that there is a discrepancy between the proclaimed freedom of choice of a language of instruction and the real possibilities to choose the language of instruction in a higher education institution