MULTILINGUAL IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE ATTITUDES AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN UZBEKISTAN: A CASE STUDY OF ENGLISH, UZBEK, KARAKALPAK AND RUSSIAN IN THE CLASSROOM
Keywords:
Keywords: multilingual identity, language attitudes, language investment, Karakalpakstan, Karakalpak, Uzbek, Russian, English, secondary educationAbstract
Annotation: This paper investigates multilingual identity and language attitudes among secondary school students in Karakalpakstan, with particular attention to Karakalpak, Uzbek, Russian, and English. These languages occupy different social, educational, and personal positions in students’ lives, which may influence how they perceive their linguistic identities and engage with English in the classroom. The study adopts a mixed-methods design informed by Norton’s (2013) concept of identity and investment. A language-attitude questionnaire was administered to 150 secondary school students from six schools in Karakalpakstan. Follow-up semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 students who were purposively selected to represent a range of questionnaire responses. Questionnaire data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while interview data were analyzed thematically following Braun and Clarke (2006). The findings indicate that Karakalpak is strongly associated with family, home, and cultural belonging: Uzbek is associated with educational and civic contexts; Russian retains social and communicative value, particularly in urban settings; and English is primarily associated with future educational and professional opportunities. Students reported greater investment in English and Uzbek in classroom contexts, whereas Karakalpak was more strongly associated with home and family domains. The study argues that students’ multilingual identities and language attitudes should be considered in English language teaching. Greater attention to these factors may help teachers develop more relevant and engaging classroom practices. The study contributes to research on multilingual identity and English language education in the context of Uzbekistan, with a particular focus on the under-researched context of Karakalpakstan.
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