Bilingualism in the Republic of Tatarstan: language policy and attitudes towards Tatar language education
Dvikalbystė Tatarstano Respublikoje: kalbos politika ir požiūris į totorių kalbos mokymą
This thesis deals with the current Tatar language education policy within the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan. The research has three-dimensional focus: political, educational and social levels. The political level is investigated by analysing the corpus of Russian and Tatar legislative acts concerning Tatar language education. Educational level presents the implementation of the Tatar language policy and is studied by analysing school documentation. Attitudes of teachers, schoolchildren and parents or legal guardians of schoolchildren regarding the current Tatar language education are considered as the social level. Within the research, critical discourse analysis and survey have been conducted. Four schools of the Republic of Tatarstan (Kazan Secondary Comprehensive School №18 with Advanced Studying of the English Language, Arsk Secondary Comprehensive School №1 with Advanced Studying of Several Subjects, Bazar-Matak Secondary Comprehensive School and Leskhoz Secondary Comprehensive School) have been involved in the empirical research and participated in the survey. The results of the research have demonstrated that Tatar education does not entirely satisfy the needs of those directly or indirectly involved in Tatar educational system and must undergo changes. To improve the Tatar language education, the Russian and Tatar language policies should be modified. As the practical impact of the research, recommendations on possible changes in the current Tatar language education are given.