Startseite Linguistik & Semiotik English high-stakes testing and constructing the ‘international’ in Kazakhstan and Mongolia
Artikel
Lizenziert
Nicht lizenziert Erfordert eine Authentifizierung

English high-stakes testing and constructing the ‘international’ in Kazakhstan and Mongolia

  • Kara Fleming ORCID logo EMAIL logo und Bolormaa Shinjee
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 8. August 2022
Applied Linguistics Review
Aus der Zeitschrift Applied Linguistics Review Band 15 Heft 4

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the role of high-stakes testing in mediating access to English in two Central Asian contexts where English is increasingly important not just in terms of mobility, but in identity construction on an individual and national level. We argue that in these contexts, English is increasingly constructed not only as a global language but the global language, which also has important implications for determining what counts as an ‘internationalized space’ or ‘internationalized person’, and as part of national strategies intended to make Kazakhstan and Mongolia more international. High-stakes tests like IELTS and TOEFL act as a focal point due to the role of these tests in verifying and ‘converting’ English ability into a quantifiable, transportable figure. We draw on a survey about test-takers’ experiences and practices concerning IELTS and TOEFL as well as interview data about the role and significance of English. Since access to knowledge and preparation for these tests is not evenly distributed across the population, our work provides evidence that some people may be in a more advantageous position to succeed on and benefit from high-stakes testing than others. Previous research on IELTS/TOEFL has largely focused on washback effects on school curriculums, test reliability, and strategies for test preparation, while research on globalization needs to continue to engage with specific mechanisms of how scales and hierarchies are created and maintained. We bridge this gap by considering how success or failure on IELTS/TOEFL becomes internalized as a quality of the individual and a reflection of their abilities, dedication and cosmopolitanism, and how testing contributes to carving out particular ‘international’ spaces. This paper will focus on how English comes to be conflated at least in some cases with being international, and how individuals make sense of high-stakes testing as a way of accessing an ‘international’ scale which may or may not involve literal movement abroad.

Keywords: English; IELTS; internationalization; Kazakhstan; Mongolia
Corresponding author: Kara Fleming, KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

Our thanks go to Zhazira Karabaleyeva and Aruzhan Kenenbayeva for their comments on earlier versions of the survey and for assistance with survey administration in Kazakhstan.

References

Alderson, J. Charles & Liz Hamp-Lyons. 1996. TOEFL preparation courses: A study of washback. Language Testing 13(3). 280–297. https://doi.org/10.1177/026553229601300304.Suche in Google Scholar

Blommaert, Jan. 2010. The sociolinguistics of globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511845307Suche in Google Scholar

Brooke, James. 2005. For Mongolians, E is for English, F is for future. The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/world/asia/for-mongolians-e-is-for-english-f-is-for-future.html.Suche in Google Scholar

Canagarajah, Suresh & Peter I. De Costa. 2016. Scales analysis, and its uses and prospects in educational linguistics. Linguistics and Education 34. 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2015.09.001.Suche in Google Scholar

Cheng, Liying & Christopher DeLuca. 2011. Voices from test-takers: Further evidence for language assessment validation and use. Educational Assessment 16(2). 104–122. https://doi.org/10.1080/10627197.2011.584042.Suche in Google Scholar

Chun, Christian W. 2017. Neoliberalism, globalization and critical discourse studies. In John Flowerdew & John E. Richardson (eds.), The Routledge handbook of critical discourse studies, 421–433. London: Routledge.10.4324/9781315739342-29Suche in Google Scholar

Cohen, Roger. 2004. The current status of English education in Mongolia. Asian EFL Journal 6(4). 1–21.Suche in Google Scholar

Corbin, Juliet & Anselm Strauss. 1990. Grounded theory research: Procedures, canons and evaluative criteria. Zeitschrift Für Sozologie 9(6). 418–427. https://doi.org/10.1515/zfsoz-1990-0602.Suche in Google Scholar

Curran, Nathaniel. 2018. Learned through labor: The discursive production of English speakers in South Korea. English Today 34(3). 30–35. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266078417000608.Suche in Google Scholar

De Costa, Peter I., Joseph Sung-Yul Park & Lionel Wee. 2019. Linguistic entrepreneurship as affective regime: Organizations, audit culture, and second/foreign language education policy. Language Policy 18. 387–406. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-018-9492-4.Suche in Google Scholar

Dooey, Patrick & Rhonda Oliver. 2002. An investigation into the predictive validity of the IELTS Test as an indicator of future academic success. Prospect 17(1). 36–54.Suche in Google Scholar

Duchêne, Alexandre & Monica Heller. 2012. Language in late capitalism: Pride and profit. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9780203155868Suche in Google Scholar

ETS. 2021. TOEFL iBT test and score data summary 2020. Available at: https://www.ets.org/s/toefl/pdf/toefl_tsds_data_2020.pdf.Suche in Google Scholar

Extra, Guus, Massimiliano Spotti & Piet van Avermaet. 2009. Language testing, migration, and citizenship: Cross-national perspectives on integration regimes. London, New York: Continuum.Suche in Google Scholar

Fierman, William. 2006. Language and education in post-Soviet Kazakhstan: Kazakh-Medium instruction in urban schools. Russian Review 65(1). 98–116. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9434.2005.00388.x.Suche in Google Scholar

Fleming, Kara. 2019. Language, scale, and ideologies of the national in Kazakhstan. In Sender Dovchin & Tyler Barrett (eds.), Critical inquiries in the studies of sociolinguistics of globalization, 66–83. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781788922852-007Suche in Google Scholar

Fleming, Kara & Juldyz Smagulova. 2021. Ideologies of alphabet change in Kazakhstan. Sociolinguistics symposium, 23. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong.Suche in Google Scholar

Fleming, Kara & Umberto Ansaldo. 2020. Revivals, nationalism, and linguistic discrimination: Threatening languages. London: Routledge.10.4324/9781315639451Suche in Google Scholar

Green, Anthony. 2007. IELTS washback in context: Preparation for academic writing in higher education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Gundsambuu, Sainbayar. 2019. Internationalization and English as a medium of instruction in Mongolian higher education. IAFOR Journal of Education 7(1). 71–92. https://doi.org/10.22492/ije.7.1.05.Suche in Google Scholar

Hamid, M. Obaidul. 2016. Policies of global English tests: Test-takers’ perspectives on the IELTS retake policy. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 37(3). 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2015.1061978.Suche in Google Scholar

Hamid, M. Obaidul, Ian Hardy & Vicente Reyes. 2019. Test-takers’ perspectives on a global test of English: Questions of fairness, justice and validity. Language Testing in Asia 9. 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-019-0092-9.Suche in Google Scholar

Hamid, M. Obaidul, Ngoc T. H. Hoang & Andy Kirkpatrick. 2018. Language tests, linguistic gatekeeping and global mobility. Current Issues in Language Planning 20(3). 226–244. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2018.1495371.Suche in Google Scholar

Heller, Monica. 2003. Globalization, the new economy, and the commodification of language and identity. Journal of Sociolinguistics 7. 473–492. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2003.00238.x.Suche in Google Scholar

IELTS. 2019. IELTS grows to 3.5 million a year. Available at: https://www.ielts.org/news/2019/ielts-grows-to-three-and-a-half-million-a-year.Suche in Google Scholar

Irvine, Judith T. & Susan Gal. 2000. Language ideology and linguistic differentiation. In Paul V. Kroskrity (ed.), Regimes of language: Ideologies, polities, and identities, 35–83. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Jahan, Iffat & M. Obaidul Hamid. 2019. English as a medium of instruction and the discursive construction of elite identity. Journal of Sociolinguistics 23. 386–408. https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.12360.Suche in Google Scholar

Karabassova, Laura. 2020. Understanding trilingual education reform in Kazakhstan: Why is it stalled? In Denise Egéa (ed.), Education in Central Asia: A Kaleidoscope of Challenges and Opportunities, 37–51. Cham: Springer. Available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-50127-3_3.10.1007/978-3-030-50127-3_3Suche in Google Scholar

Karabassova, Laura. 2021. English-medium education reform in Kazakhstan: Comparative study of educational change across two contexts in one country. Current Issues in Language Planning 22(5). 553–573. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2021.1884436.Suche in Google Scholar

McKay, Sandra Lee. 2002. Teaching English as an international language: Rethinking goals and perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.Suche in Google Scholar

McNamara, Tim & Carsten Roever. 2006. Language testing: The social dimension. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Suche in Google Scholar

McNamara, Tim & Kerry Ryan. 2011. Fairness versus justice in language testing: The place of English literacy in the Australian citizenship test. Language Assessment Quarterly 8(2). 161–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/15434303.2011.565438.Suche in Google Scholar

Ministry of Education and Science, Republic of Kazakhstan. 2015. Дорожная карта развития трехъязычного образования на 2015–2020 годы [Road Map for the Development of Trilingual Education for 2015–2020]. Kazakhstan: Ministry of Education and Science.Suche in Google Scholar

Nederveen Pieterse, Jan. 2009. Globalization and culture, 2nd edn. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Suche in Google Scholar

Omirgazy, Dana. 2018. Kazakhstan’s Bolashak Programme has awarded 12,831 scholarships in 25 years. The Astana Times. Available at: https://astanatimes.com/2018/04/kazakhstans-bolashak-programme-has-awarded-12831-scholarships-in-25-years/.Suche in Google Scholar

Orosoo, Myagmarsuren & Batbaatar Jamiyansuren. 2021. Language in education planning: Evaluation policy in Mongolia. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies 17(3). 1608–1614. https://doi.org/10.52462/jlls.116.Suche in Google Scholar

Park, Joseph Sung-Yul. 2009. The local construction of a global language: Ideologies of English in South Korea. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110214079Suche in Google Scholar

Park, Joseph Sung-Yul. 2010. Naturalization of competence and the neoliberal subject: Success stories of English language learning in the Korean Conservative Press. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 20(1). 22–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1395.2010.01046.x.Suche in Google Scholar

Park, Joseph Sung-Yul. 2013. Metadiscursive regimes of diversity in a multinational corporation. Language in Society 42. 557–577. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404513000663.Suche in Google Scholar

Park, Joseph Sung-Yul. 2016. Language as pure potential. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 37(5). 453–466. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2015.1071824.Suche in Google Scholar

Park, Joseph Sung-Yul & Adrienne Lo. 2012. Transnational South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of globalization: Markets, timescales, neoliberalism. Journal of Sociolinguistics 16(2). 147–164. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2011.00524.x.Suche in Google Scholar

Pearson, William S. 2019. Critical perspectives on the IELTS test. ELT Journal 73(3). 197–206. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccz006.Suche in Google Scholar

Pennycook, Alastair. 2017. The cultural politics of English as an international language. London: Routledge.10.4324/9781315225593Suche in Google Scholar

Pennycook, Alastair & Sinfree Makoni. 2020. Innovations and challenges in applied linguistics from the Global South. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780429489396Suche in Google Scholar

Piller, Ingrid & Jinhyun Cho. 2013. Neoliberalism as language policy. Language in Society 42. 23–44. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404512000887.Suche in Google Scholar

Shohamy, Elena. 2008. Language policy and language assessment: The relationship. Current Issues in Language Planning 9(3). 363–373. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664200802139604.Suche in Google Scholar

Smagulova, Juldyz. 2008. Language policies of Kazakhization and their influence on language attitudes and use. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 11(3). 440–475. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050802148798.Suche in Google Scholar

Smagulova, Juldyz. 2016. The re-acquisition of Kazakh in Kazakhstan: Achievements and challenges. In Elise S. Ahn & Juldyz Smagulova (eds.), Language change in Central Asia, 89–108. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.10.1515/9781614514534-009Suche in Google Scholar

Smagulova, Juldyz & Dinara Madiyeva. 2021. Normalizing a new language hierarchy: Event names in post-Soviet urban space. Russian Journal of Linguistics 25(4). 1004–1023. https://doi.org/10.22363/2687-0088-2021-25-4-1004-1023.Suche in Google Scholar

Smagulova, Juldyz & Kara Fleming. 2020. Legitimizing national, striving cosmopolitan: Branding of post-Soviet city space in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In Irene Theodoropoulou & Johanna Tovar (eds.), Research companion to language and country branding, 163–182. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780429325250-ch08Suche in Google Scholar

Spolsky, Bernard. 1997. The ethics of gatekeeping tests: What have we learned in a hundred years? Language Testing 14(3). 242–247. https://doi.org/10.1177/026553229701400302.Suche in Google Scholar

Strauss, Anselm & Juliet Corbin. 1990. Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Suche in Google Scholar

Templer, Bill. 2004. High-stakes testing at high fees: Notes and queries on the international English proficiency assessment market. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies 2(1). 189–226.Suche in Google Scholar

Woolard, Kathryn A. & Bambi B. Schieffelin. 1994. Language ideology. Annual Review of Anthropology 23. 55–82. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.23.100194.000415.Suche in Google Scholar
Received: 2022-06-05
Accepted: 2022-07-06
Published Online: 2022-08-08
Published in Print: 2024-07-26

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Special Issue: Power, Linguistic Discrimination and Inequality in English Language Teaching and Learning (ELTL): Reflection and Reform for Applied Linguistics from the Global South; Guest Editors: Fan Gabriel Fang and Sender Dovchin
  3. Editorial
  4. Reflection and reform of applied linguistics from the Global South: power and inequality in English users from the Global South
  5. Research Articles
  6. Translingual English discrimination: loss of academic sense of belonging, the hiring order of things, and students from the Global South
  7. Applied linguistics from the Global South: way forward to linguistic equality and social justice
  8. English high-stakes testing and constructing the ‘international’ in Kazakhstan and Mongolia
  9. The mundanity of translanguaging and Aboriginal identity in Australia
  10. Multimodal or multilingual? Native English teachers’ engagement with translanguaging in Hong Kong TESOL classrooms
  11. Epistemic injustice and neoliberal imaginations in English as a medium of instruction (EMI) policy
  12. Commentary
  13. Transidiomatic favela: language resources and embodied resistance in Brazilian and South African peripheries
  14. Special Issue: Translanguaging Outside the Centre: Perspectives from Chinese Language Teaching; Guest Editor: Danping Wang
  15. Editorial
  16. Translanguaging outside the centre: perspectives from Chinese language teaching
  17. Research Articles
  18. Translanguaging as a decolonising approach: students’ perspectives towards integrating Indigenous epistemology in language teaching
  19. Translanguaging as sociolinguistic infrastructuring to foster epistemic justice in international Chinese-medium-instruction degree programs in China
  20. Translanguaging as a pedagogy: exploring the use of teachers’ and students’ bilingual repertoires in Chinese language education
  21. A think-aloud method of investigating translanguaging strategies in learning Chinese characters
  22. Translanguaging pedagogies in developing morphological awareness: the case of Japanese students learning Chinese in China
  23. Facilitating learners’ participation through classroom translanguaging: comparing a translanguaging classroom and a monolingual classroom in Chinese language teaching
  24. A multimodal analysis of the online translanguaging practices of international students studying Chinese in a Chinese university
  25. Special Issue: Research Synthesis in Language Learning and Teaching; Guest Editors: Sin Wang Chong, Melissa Bond and Hamish Chalmers
  26. Editorial
  27. Opening the methodological black box of research synthesis in language education: where are we now and where are we heading?
  28. Research Article
  29. A typology of secondary research in Applied Linguistics
  30. Review Articles
  31. A scientometric analysis of applied linguistics research (1970–2022): methodology and future directions
  32. A systematic review of meta-analyses in second language research: current practices, issues, and recommendations
  33. Research Article
  34. Topics, publication patterns, and reporting quality in systematic reviews in language education. Lessons from the international database of education systematic reviews (IDESR)
  35. Review Article
  36. Bilingual education in China: a qualitative synthesis of research on models and perceptions
  37. Regular Issue Articles
  38. An interactional approach to speech acts for applied linguistics
  39. “Church is like a mini Korea”: the potential of migrant religious organisations for promoting heritage language maintenance
https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2022-0067
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
English; IELTS; internationalization; Kazakhstan; Mongolia

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Special Issue: Power, Linguistic Discrimination and Inequality in English Language Teaching and Learning (ELTL): Reflection and Reform for Applied Linguistics from the Global South; Guest Editors: Fan Gabriel Fang and Sender Dovchin
  3. Editorial
  4. Reflection and reform of applied linguistics from the Global South: power and inequality in English users from the Global South
  5. Research Articles
  6. Translingual English discrimination: loss of academic sense of belonging, the hiring order of things, and students from the Global South
  7. Applied linguistics from the Global South: way forward to linguistic equality and social justice
  8. English high-stakes testing and constructing the ‘international’ in Kazakhstan and Mongolia
  9. The mundanity of translanguaging and Aboriginal identity in Australia
  10. Multimodal or multilingual? Native English teachers’ engagement with translanguaging in Hong Kong TESOL classrooms
  11. Epistemic injustice and neoliberal imaginations in English as a medium of instruction (EMI) policy
  12. Commentary
  13. Transidiomatic favela: language resources and embodied resistance in Brazilian and South African peripheries
  14. Special Issue: Translanguaging Outside the Centre: Perspectives from Chinese Language Teaching; Guest Editor: Danping Wang
  15. Editorial
  16. Translanguaging outside the centre: perspectives from Chinese language teaching
  17. Research Articles
  18. Translanguaging as a decolonising approach: students’ perspectives towards integrating Indigenous epistemology in language teaching
  19. Translanguaging as sociolinguistic infrastructuring to foster epistemic justice in international Chinese-medium-instruction degree programs in China
  20. Translanguaging as a pedagogy: exploring the use of teachers’ and students’ bilingual repertoires in Chinese language education
  21. A think-aloud method of investigating translanguaging strategies in learning Chinese characters
  22. Translanguaging pedagogies in developing morphological awareness: the case of Japanese students learning Chinese in China
  23. Facilitating learners’ participation through classroom translanguaging: comparing a translanguaging classroom and a monolingual classroom in Chinese language teaching
  24. A multimodal analysis of the online translanguaging practices of international students studying Chinese in a Chinese university
  25. Special Issue: Research Synthesis in Language Learning and Teaching; Guest Editors: Sin Wang Chong, Melissa Bond and Hamish Chalmers
  26. Editorial
  27. Opening the methodological black box of research synthesis in language education: where are we now and where are we heading?
  28. Research Article
  29. A typology of secondary research in Applied Linguistics
  30. Review Articles
  31. A scientometric analysis of applied linguistics research (1970–2022): methodology and future directions
  32. A systematic review of meta-analyses in second language research: current practices, issues, and recommendations
  33. Research Article
  34. Topics, publication patterns, and reporting quality in systematic reviews in language education. Lessons from the international database of education systematic reviews (IDESR)
  35. Review Article
  36. Bilingual education in China: a qualitative synthesis of research on models and perceptions
  37. Regular Issue Articles
  38. An interactional approach to speech acts for applied linguistics
  39. “Church is like a mini Korea”: the potential of migrant religious organisations for promoting heritage language maintenance
Jetzt anmelden und 20% sparen
Institutioneller Zugang
Wie funktioniert Authentifizierung?
Haben Sie eine Idee, wie wir unsere Website verbessern können?
Bitte schreiben Sie uns.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Heruntergeladen am 31.12.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/applirev-2022-0067/html
Button zum nach oben scrollen