Nation-building and identity development through ethnocultural content in university English for Specific Purposes courses in Kazakhstan

Abstract

It seems obvious that that educational activity establishes conditions for the development of a person capable of combining ancestral traditions and values while maintaining their distinctive ethnoculture. This paper investigates how integrating ethnocultural material into English for Specific Purposes (ESP) university courses contributes to nation-building and students’ identity development while at the same time exerting impact on ESP curriculum advancement. The empirical part of the research involved 104 first-year engineering students learning English as a foreign language for specific purposes. The experiment demonstrated that exposing students to regional material and enabling them to communicate in English about their region empowers them in their national and regional identity, while contributing to nation-building goals of university education. The findings of the study reveal that integrating ethnocultural material into ESP university courses positively impacts both students’ motivation and their national identity development.
 
 Keywords: Ethnocultural material, ESP, national identity, nation-building, students, criteria, reflection.

Untitled

“…To determine the confidence difference in the control and experimental groups, we used the χ² method (in accordance with Pearson's criterion), which is used in pedagogical research and takes into account the specifics of the statistical data of the educational process. Kurmanayeva, D., Tazhitova, G., Zhalelova, G., Ustelimova, N., & Kurmanayeva, G., (2021) Based on the methods conducted for testing the effectiveness of the pedagogical system, it can be concluded that this study gave positive results. The level of students' cognitive activity had increased, which contributed to the high motivation for professional study.…”

“…Read general information about Ulytau (Parts I-III) 2. Fulfil the post-reading exercises Listening: Kurmanayeva, D., Tazhitova, G., Zhalelova, G., Ustelimova, N., & Kurmanayeva, G., (2021) 1. Listen to the information about rock drawings of 'Terekty-Aulie'.…”

“…discovering the recognizing the levels of factual knowledge of national culture; -assistance in the formation of the foundations of the national and cultural competence of students; -the use of lexical units with historical, cultural and national semantics in communication in the foreign language. Kurmanayeva, D., Tazhitova, G., Zhalelova, G., Ustelimova, N., & Kurmanayeva, G., (2021) The value-based component included the value attitude of the personality of the future specialist to professional activity, the formation of cognitive interests, and the demonstration of interesting historical, cultural and national-cultural life of the region.…”

“…To determine the value of cognitive and activity indicators, we offered students a business game, 'Excursion in the Zhezkazgan-Ulytau Region', where pronunciation, lexical and grammatical competencies were formed and language speaking skills were trained. Kurmanayeva, D., Tazhitova, G., Zhalelova, G., Ustelimova, N., & Kurmanayeva, G., (2021) During the business game, students demonstrated the ability to apply existing knowledge and experience to solve problems, as well as the ability to transfer existing knowledge to a new situation. The business game itself did not simply involve identifying the meanings and values embedded in regional texts, but also the teacher built a set of requirements on the basis of knowledge about the characteristics of pedagogical values in a particular sociocultural situation.…”

“…At the university level in non-linguistic specialties, English is studied over two semesters. The aim of the English courses is to form intercultural and communicative competence of students, while Kurmanayeva, D., Tazhitova, G., Zhalelova, G., Ustelimova, N., & Kurmanayeva, G., (2021). Nation-building and identity development through ethnocultural content in university English for Specific Purposes courses in Kazakhstan.…”