The ecology of language in classrooms at a university in eastern Ukraine

Abstract

Using an ecology of language framework, the purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which English as a medium of instruction (EMI) at a private university in eastern Ukraine allows for the use of Ukrainian, the state language, or Russian, the predominantly spoken language, in large cities in eastern Ukraine. Uses of English and Russian or Ukrainian were documented over nine months in the form of ethnographic field notes, audio recording, and video recording. Semi-structured interviews and informal conversations captured student and teacher attitudes towards English and Russian or Ukrainian use. Similar to practices in observed English as a foreign language classes at the same university, the authors found multiple pedagogical purposes for using the predominant native language (L1), Russian. Teachers and students consider the use of the L1 in the classroom to be a natural function of the need for comprehension. Ukrainian appeared in a limited form, but in ways that indexed its position as a national language. Attitudes towards Ukrainian also supported the ideology of Ukrainian's position as a state language.

Keywords:

• Russian
• Ukrainian
• ecology of language
• university
• language attitudes
• ethnography

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the following organizations and people: the rector of Alfred Nobel University, Professor Borys Kholod, for sanctioning the research conducted at the university; the administration, teachers, staff, and students of Alfred Nobel University for their willing participation and support of this research project; Elena Ivanishena for her assistance with transcription; and Siwon Lee of the University of Pennsylvania and two reviewers from Language and Education, for providing comments on previous drafts.

Note

Notes

1. All names in this paper are pseudonyms. Keeping with Ukrainian customs, teachers are referred to by their first name and patronymic (a middle name derived from one's father's first name), and students are referred to by first name only.

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to thank the US Department of Education for the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Grant [grant number P022A0100065] which supported the research presented in this article.