Principals as gatekeepers of language policy implementation in Kazan, Russia

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the paper is to shed light on potential driving forces that guide principals’ decisions on how to implement language policies in their schools in Kazan, Russia. Kazan is the capital of Tatarstan and home for the second biggest ethnic group in Russia, called Tatars, whose native language proficiency is gradually declining. After briefly reviewing the history of language policies in the USSR, Russia and their impact on Tatar community in Tatarstan, the paper examines several factors – external pressures (official language policies, social interest groups, language status), internal pressures (school mission, motivation, curriculum, resources and staff) and principals’ ideologies – that impact Tatar language education in the school system. The analysis reveals that principals play a crucial role in creating a language environment and inculcating attitudes toward learning, speaking and developing literacy and proficiency in multiple languages, including Tatar. Given the fact that the implementation of language laws in Tatarstan and in Russia is not clearly specified, there is no infrastructure to monitor its realization. Thus, principals’ beliefs, attitudes toward and knowledge of the benefits of multilingualism, and the role of mother language learning and instruction become paramount to enhancing or hindering language development among Tatars.

KEYWORDS:

• Multilingualism
• school principals
• the Tatar language
• language policy implementation

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my advisers, professors and colleagues who provided support and guidance throughout all stages of the project, from conceptualizing the study to its publication: Dr. Janet Alsup, Dr. Luciana de Oliveira, Dr. Kate Menken, Dr. Melanie Shoffner, Dr. Ksenia Kirillova. Special thanks to the editor and anonymous reviewers for their carefull reading and helpful feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Alsu Gilmetdinova is the Head of the Office of International Affairs and part time faculty in the Department of Foreign Languages. Her primary research interests focus on the role of ideology and pedagogy in language education in multilingual contexts.