Sarah Martin and Mark Bolin present... December 4, 2006

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Sarah Martin and Mark Bolinpresent...Decembe
r 4, 2006
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Language Tension in Post-Soviet Education
PoliciesEstonia and Kazakhstan
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Soviet Education Policy

• Generally rigid and inflexible
• Only accepting of Marxism/Leninism
• Conformed academic disciplines to prevailing
  ideology (i.e., genetics)
  
• Often monolingual, frequently monocultural
• Many children left behind
• 8-10 of children in each grade were held back

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Russification within Soviet Education

• 1958 Education Reforms abolished mandatory
  mother-tongue instruction
  
• Official goal of education was bilingualism in
  practice was one-sided
  
• Often lack of non-Russian resources, i.e.
  instructors and texts

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Why Kazakhstan and Estonia?

• Both underwent Russification during Soviet times
• Both have a large Russophone population
• Both have actively promoted their titular
  languages (especially in education) since
  independence
  
• Both have strong economic ties to powerful
  neighbors
  
• Estonia and EU Kazakhstan and Russia

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Kazakhstanunder the Soviet Union

• Success of Russification
• Close proximity to Russia
• High numbers and percentage of Russophones
• Especially dominant among urban elites
• Most families opted for Russian education
• 64.6 of Kazakhs claimed Russian proficiency in
  1989
  
• Less than 1 of ethnic Russians had proficiency
  in Kazakh
  
• 1989- 30.2 of students were learning in Kazakh,
  while 67.4 were learning in Russian
  

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Language Revival

• 1986 protests over appointment of ethnic Russian
• Fueled nationalism, with language as unifier
• 1989 Language law Kazakh as official state
  language and Russian as language of interethnic
  communication
  
• The rescue of the Kazakh language was one of the
  main objectives of our government since the first
  days of its establishment as independent and
  sovereign.

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Actual shifts in language and education

• The new independent government focused on
  establishing Kazakh language schools
  
• Priority to train Kazakh teachers, materially
  equip Kazakh schools
  
• Non-Kazakh employees in Ministry of Education
  went from 47 in 1987 to 20 in 1992
  
• By 1994 it was 57.2 of students learning in
  Russian, 40.1 in Kazakh
  
• 1 Kazakh school in Almaty in 1991, 50 in 1994
• Current structure of general education
  institution Kazakh language 8 hours/week,
  Russian 4 hours/week

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Actual shifts in language and education, contd

• Books published in Kazakh rose from 29 in 1990
  to 45 in 1993
  
• A few attempted adult language education centers
  
  
• In 1999 census 99 of Kazakhs and 15 of Russians
  claimed proficiency in Kazakh

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Prevailing Russian Dominance

• 1993 law declared both Kazakh and Russian as
  language of instruction in higher education, but
  Russian significantly dominates
  
• 1997 language law influenced by Russian
  complaints
  
• Still primarily use Russian in workplace,
  parliament, the press, media, schools
  
• Mixed public opinion, but most still want
  children in Russian schools
  

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The language issue today

• Mixed Presidential stance
• Favors ethnic Kazakhs, but also wants to hold
  onto Russian ties
  
• Official position of Russian/Kazakh parallelism
• Claims that this has solved the language
  problem
  
• It is too early to say whether Kazakhs new
  status has brought fundamental change in peoples
  language repertoire and instituted an effective
  system of school education in the state language

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Estonia under the Soviet Union

• General population (2006) 1.4 million 68.6
  Estonian, 25.7 Russian
  
• General Population (1989) 1.3 million 61.5
  Estonian, 30.3
  
• Student population from 1970 until 2006 has
  varied between 180,000 and 220,000 in proportion
  to general population
  

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Soviet Times, contd

• 11 years of school
• Ethnic Estonians studied Estonian, Russian, and
  often a third language
  
• 1972 (last year for stats)- Schools
• 73 Estonian language
• 27 Russian language (or mixed)

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Soviet Times, contd

• Bilingualism in Education One-sided
• In Estonian language schools, 66 hrs/wk devoted
  to Estonian, while 41 hrs/wk devoted to Russian
  
• In Russian language schools, 72 hrs/wk devoted to
  Russian, while 16 hrs/wk devoted to Estonian
  

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Soviet Times, contd

• 72 of university graduates were ethnically
  Estonian
  
• 85 University professors ethnically Estonian
• Literacy and Estonian language
• 1st in USSR for per capita non Russian literature
  production
  
• 4th in overall literature output

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Estonian Language Law and the Russophone minority

• Jan. 18, 1989- Estonian SSR declares Estonian to
  be sole official language of Republic
  
• Russian given no official status, but recognized
  as 2nd largest language
  
• Within declaration, non Estonians guaranteed
  education in their own language and opportunities
  to learn language if already older than school-age

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Education in the Republic of Estonia The
Russophone Minority

• No consistent policy, however the ultimate goal
  was bilingualism for Russophones
  
• Problems
• Russification under USSR encouraged social split
  between Estonians and Russians two school
  systems
  
• Lack of Estonian as a Foreign Language (EFL)
  textbooks
  
• All textbooks outdated

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Education in R. Of Estonia, contd

• Textbooks in Russian printed in Russia with
  Russian cultural references often Soviet
  ideology present
  
• Shortage of qualified teachers of EFL, as well as
  qualified teachers of other subjects capable of
  teaching in Estonian
  
• Only three EFL training programs in the country
• Only 5 of teachers in 2000 held EFL certificates

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Solutions for Russophone Minority Education

• Ministry of Education- goal of educational system
  is the unity of the Estonian people.
  
• New Curriculum- developed in 1990s
• Multicultural, but Estonian oriented
• Rejection of Soviet ideology
• Rejection of outdated disciplines (scientific
  communism)

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Solutions, contd

• Gradually increasing Estonian difficulty,
  hopefully with increasing proficiency.
  
• Estica Programs
• Government-sponsored experimental teaching
  programs and textbooks
  
• Estonian Language Center- Adult education

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3 Models of Estonian Education

• Rural- immersion education
• Urban- intensive education
• Urban in areas of high Russian density-
  soft-mixed education

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Current Trends

• By 2007/08, government suspends Russian secondary
  education
  
• Almost all Russian find Estonian proficiency to
  be a positive goal, but older Russians dont
  learn as often as younger ones
  
• Since Russians see Estonian economy as providing
  more opportunities than Russian economy, they are
  increasingly willing to learn Estonian

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Current Trends, contd

• Estonia-centric curriculum and media have created
  pro-Estonian sentiments within the Estonian
  Russians a new Baltic Russian identity is
  forming
• New Estonian-focused curriculum has unified
  Russians into a community as a national minority
  
• Estonians prefer study of English, so Russian is
  losing prestige and economic power in Estonia

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Conclusions

• Estonian linguistic and education policies tend
  to be more protective than Kazakhstans.
  
• Estonian has a well-established literary heritage
  and the language is seen as the primary vehicle
  of the Estonian ethnicity
  
• Kazakh ethnic identity is somewhat new and
  constructed

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Conclusions, Contd

• Kazakh has been gaining strength because of
  governmental support, but Russian economic
  dominance allows the Russian language to remain
  of higher utility
• Estonian language has been supported at the
  grassroots level, even under Soviet rule
  
• Estonian has always held importance for ethnic
  Estonians, but since independence, even the
  Russophones have begun to realize its academic
  and economic value

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Conclusions, contd

• With Estonian accession to the EU and their
  reorientation towards the West, Russian language
  prestige is waning
  
• The EU has had a moderating effect on Estonian
  language/education policies because of the bodys
  commitment to minority rights
  
• While Kazakhstan has maintained their Russian
  ties, they are also becoming increasingly global
  and multilingualism is on the rise
  

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Bibliography

• Dave, Bhavna. A Shrinking Reach of the State?
  Language Policy and
  
• Implementation in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
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  Pauline Jones Luong. London Cornell University
  Press, 2004. 120- 155.
• Estonia. Wikipedia Online Dictionary. November
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• Foundation, 21 November 2006.
  http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia
  
• Grenoble, Lenore. Language Policy in the Soviet
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• Academic Publishers, 2003.
• Geistlinger, Michael, and Aksel Kirch. Estonia A
  New Framework for the
  
• Estonian Majority and Russian Minority.
  Tallinn Braumuller, 1995.
  
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Est
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• Jarve, Priit. Minorities and Majorities in
  Estonia. Flensburg, Germany ECMI,
  
• 1999.
• Kiris, Advig. Restoration of the Independence of
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  1991.
• Kolsto, Pal. National Integration and Violent
  Conflict in Post Soviet Societies The cases of
  Estonia and Moldova. Lanham Rowman and
  Littlefield, 2002.

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Bibliography

• Landau, Jacob M., and Barbara Kellner-Heinkele.
  Politics of Language in
  
• the ex-Soviet Muslim States. Ann Arbor, MI The
  University of Michigan Press, 2001.
  
• Nurmagambetov, Amantay A., and Askarbek K.
  Kussainov. "Globalization, Modernization and
  Education in Muslim Countries." Kazakhstan
  Transformation of School Education in the Years
  of Independence and Globalization. Ed. Rukhsana
  Zia. New York Nova Science, 2006. 165-178.
• Raun, Toivo U., Estonia and the Estonians. Palo
  Alto, California The Hoover Institute Press of
  Stanford University, 2001.
  
• Tannberg, Tonu, et al. The History of Estonia.
  Tallinn A/S Bit, 2002.
  
• The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia.
  Wikipedia Online Dictionary. October 2006 The
  Wikimedia Foundation, 4 October 2006.
  
• The Russians in Estonia and Latvia The Present
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