Language preferences of students in general and professional educational institutions: results of longitudinal research

Abstract

The theme of the research is the result of five-year research of linguistic adaptation of a group of pupils of general educational and professional educational institutions of RK in the context of implemen- tation of the modern language policy of multilingualism. The aim of the study is to examine the language strategies and tactics of the students and their implementation in their main social practices. The main directions of the research include language preferences of young people in communication at different levels of sociality, assessment of the level of knowledge of three languages – state language, Russian and English, assessment of representation of the state language in the global network, attitude towards Latin script and multilingualism in general. The significance of the work lies in identifying the contemporary language preferences of young people in the implementation of language policy and identifying the ways of language adaptation. The research methodology includes a quantitative research method, in particular a questionnaire survey.

The main conclusions of the research work are the following: the development of the state language

remains the task of the indigenous ethnic group; this development mainly takes place in the dyad – fam- ily and studies, the other social circles are covered mainly by bilingualism; multilingualism has not yet formed as an extensive language practice among young people; representatives of small ethnic groups of Kazakhstan prefer Russian to the state language as a language of their socialization and adaptation.

Key words: state language, multilingualism, bilingualism, language adaptation.