CC BY
14PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
ACADEMIC MOBILITY PROGRAMS AS A COMPONENT OF LANGUAGE IMMERSION
Mikadze L.
Karaganda economic university of Kazpotrebsoyuz
Aubakirova G.
c.p.s., professor, Karaganda economic university of Kazpotrebsoyuz,
Jumaliyeva S.
Karaganda economic university of Kazpotrebsoyuz
ABSTRACT
The article considers academic mobility as a component of language immersion in the study of English, as well as a part of the internationalization of education and the integration of the university into the global educational and scientific space. It describes aspects of the international activities of the Karaganda Economic University that contribute to the internationalization of the university, as well as the participation of students and undergraduates in academic mobility programs, and the role of these programs in learning English. The mutual influence of knowledge of foreign languages and this type of activity is emphasized in the article. The types of motivation for learning foreign languages, its relationship with academic mobility, as well as factors affecting motivation, are examined in detail. It also formulates the role of academic mobility in the study of English by university students.
Keywords: academic mobility, language immersion, motivation, modern higher education, university internationalization, common education space, integration processes, the international cooperation, The Bologna Process, development.
The integration processes taking place in the world community in all spheres of human activity have also affected the higher education system. The purpose of forming common education space is to train professional staff able to work in a global market, assuming increased student mobility and cooperation among university professors from different countries. In its turn, it will help to achieve success in the chosen profession, and improve the employment system of university graduates, raising the status of these countries in the field of education. In connection with these processes, the academic mobility of students and teachers of higher educational establishments is developing. The study of English, in our opinion, relates closely to academic mobility. Our goal is to uncover this connection, to answer the question about the role and relevance of academic mobility, and whether we can consider it a part of language immersion in language learning.
In 2010, Kazakhstan became the 47th member state of the Bologna process and the first Central Asian state recognized as a full member of the European educational space. One of the goals of the Bologna process is to expand the mobility of students and teaching staff [1]. Consequently, academic mobility is one of the most important aspects of the integration of Kazakhstani higher education establishments into the common education space. The number of students participating in academic mobility programs is growing annually. Over the period of 2018, their number exceeded 4,000, but this amounted to only 1% of the total number of all students in the country. Regarding external incoming mobility, the largest number of visiting students are in the countries of the former Commonwealth of Independent States. Running second is Asia, in particular representatives of Malaysia, Pakistan and China [2].
Mobility has certain advantages, both for the student and for the entire European community. Accord-
ingly, in many leading Kazakhstani universities, the academic mobility of students has become a necessary component of the educational process. Thus, in order to promote the development of mobility, there creates the funds to support this social phenomenon, such as the Erasmus+ European Union program or DAAD in Germany. An important role in promoting mobility is given to the transition to a three-level education system: bachelor, master and doctor. However, it should be noted that although the phenomenon of mobility is young for our country, it has quite firmly strengthened its position among students in connection with great prospects. Therefore, in the first place in this case there is an opportunity for students to realize their educational needs for obtaining several diplomas, training in various specialties. Academic mobility is the ability of students to form their own educational path. In other words, in the framework of educational standards, is to choose subjects, courses, educational establishments in accordance with their inclinations, aspirations and ambitions. Karaganda Economic University of Kazpotrebsoyuz, being one of the leading economic universities of Kazakhstan, is positioning itself as an innovative university, implementing educational and scientific policy as the basis for professional growth and personal development of specialists for the economy of Kazakhstan, striving to achieve competitive positions in the common education space. Among the priorities of its development, KEUK sees the expansion of international cooperation with leading universities and research centers in the world, the introduction of the best achievements of world higher education in the educational process and the dissemination of the principles of the Bologna process in Kazakhstan. An important element in the preparation of graduates with modern competencies in demand on the world labor market is the participation of students in academic mobility programs. Academic mobility is understood as the development by a student
of a part of the educational program in another university, as a rule, carried out on the basis of agreements between KEUK and partner universities. The student gains practical experience in using a foreign language, both in the professional sphere and for everyday communication. What is academic exchange? The academic exchange program involves the development of the student part of the educational program in a foreign partner university within one semester. After studying abroad, the student does not go on academic leave and continues to study with his group when returns. Each semester, the Center for International Programs and Projects of KEUK offers potential participants in academic mobility programs a choice of more than 20 partner universities in 14 countries. To participate in international academic exchange programs, you must first decide on a university. The main thing to note is the correspondence of the learning path at a foreign university to your learning path at KEUK. Most partner universities offer a specific list of courses, in both national and English languages. When choosing a language of instruction, student should pay attention to the fact that the level of language proficiency should be at least B2 on the European scale (intermediate level). In this case, an international certificate must confirm the level, or student should be ready to undergo testing and an interview at KEUK to determine the level of English proficiency. Of particular importance in the process of forming the abilities of a modern specialist is higher education, the task of which is not only education in the broad sense of the word, but also the preparation of specialists for professional activities that require a high level of competence, among other things in the field of native and foreign languages. Thus, a foreign language is becoming an important element in the international integration of national educational standards. A foreign language will help and is already helping the successful movement of Kazakhstani universities along the "Bologna Way". Knowledge of foreign language:
- opens up the real opportunities for free transfer from one university to another;
- improves the academic mobility;
- gives the opportunity to work in an international professional team;
- increases the competitiveness of specialists, both on the Russian and the world labor market [3, C. 42-46].
To draw up the necessary documents and possible financing options for KEUK students participating in these programs, from the KEUK, students turn to the Center for International Programs and Projects. Among the priorities of its development, the Karaganda Economic University of the Kazpotrebsoyuz sees the expansion of international cooperation with the world's leading universities and research centers, the introduction of the best achievements of the world higher school in the educational process. An important element in the preparation of graduates with modern competencies in demand on the world labor market is the participation of students in academic mobility programs [4, p. 371374]. In addition to the ability to learn a foreign language, a key component in learning is a motivation, which in its essence is always task-oriented. Its validity
expires when the goal is reached, or decreases when the goal becomes elusive. Consequently, the educational goals in learning a foreign language should be transparent and practically feasible; in addition, with frequent experiences of failure, the initially available operational motivation reduces to zero. Currently, a lesson in a foreign language focuses on the educational goal and the educational process. Participants in academic mobility are well motivated, they have a clear goal, and they want to achieve this goal [5, p. 171-178].
However, despite all the attempts made both by the state and directly by universities, academic mobility remains at a rather low level. The several factors is determines this trend. The financial factor probably plays the most important role in students' ability to afford academic mobility, even if they receive a grant. Many students themselves pay for their studies while working in parallel, so for them mobility means losing a support for a period of at least 6 months. In addition, one of the key stop factors in mobility is the price policy of airlines for tickets from Kazakhstan. Ticket prices in Kazakhstan are among the highest in the world, which many people cannot afford to travel by plane, especially students. The second important factor is direct knowledge of a foreign language. Over the past few years, Kazakhstan has made a strengthened three-language youth training program its policy. This is where the vicious circle turns out. Students have to go to another country to improve the language and practice it, but cannot do this because of its low level. The third problem is that many students entering universities at the age of 17-18 continue to be under the care of their parents and be afraid of leaving their home for so long and so far. The youthful infantilism and independence is found in many countries, but in such family-oriented countries as Kazakhstan, Italy, Russia, this problem is especially acute.
As can be seen from the above, out of 100% of those wishing to go on academic mobility, only a few can really afford to leave - 1% of all students of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as was noted at the beginning of the article.
Although despite all the difficulties encountered by students, the program works and increases its momentum from year to year. One of the advantages is the minimal presence of bureaucratic delays directly for the student. This is a good example of how universities are working hard to make academic mobility programs accessible. As an example, there is a Center for International Programs at the Karaganda Economic University of Kazpotrebsoyuz, which employs highly qualified specialists whose goal is to explain the aims and objectives of academic mobility as much as possible, to help with the choice of country and university of destination, and to provide maximum assistance from start to finish. The specialists of the Center take on their own responsibility the preparation and execution of all documents related to academic mobility, this is possible because they all are fluent in at least one foreign language, and are an indirect incentive and example for students.
We conducted a survey of students of various specialties who took a part in the mobility programs provided by the Karaganda Economic University abroad.
The survey involved 15 sophomores and juniors. Interviewees were suggested to answer the question "How did your participation in the academic mobility program affect your knowledge of the English language?" with one of the following answers:
Two of the 15 respondents noted a significant improvement in speaking, 12 students are sure that the level of language proficiency has become much higher, which amounted to 87% of the total number of respondents, and only 1 person did not notice a difference in the level of language proficiency before and after participating in the academic mobility program.
We can provide statistical data or studies of the positive impact of student mobility for learning a foreign language, but the most accurate are the feedback directly from the students themselves who used this program. One of these students is Auketaev Aitbek, a graduate 2017 of the Karaganda Economic University of Kazportrebsoyuz. In 2016, Aitbek under the academic mobility program got the opportunity to study for the spring semester at the Janos Kodolany University of Applied Sciences, Székesvehervár (Hungary). According to Aitbek, the diversity of academic mobility programs is one of the indicators of the development and modernity of a higher educational establishment, and is one of the main reasons why he chose the KEUK for a bachelor's degree in restaurant management and hotel business. Aitbek believes that the invaluable experience of studying abroad gained him a great impetus in improving his English, and helped to take a different look at the difference in the teaching methods of Kazakhstan and Europe. Thanks to the program of academic mobility, he was able to analyze the system and methods of education in different countries, and personally, to find out the very middle ground so necessary in his learning of the English language. In addition to English, the student chose to study two more foreign languages: Chinese and Hungarian. In view of the fact that students from all over the world come to one university through academic mobility programs, it is possible not only to learn the language from native speak-
1. My level of English has become much higher.
2. There is a significant improvement in speaking English has been noted.
3. I do not see any significant progress in English proficiency after the mobility program.
ers, but also to practice speaking, expanding their vocabulary and improving communication skills in English with other students. Since it is no secret to anyone that English is the language of international communication, directly linking student mobility programs with immersion in the English-speaking environment. Now, looking back at his experience, Aitbek notes that a semester of study at a foreign university helped him not only to improve his English, but also to overcome the shyness of communicating in English. Today, Aitbek advises all students to participate in academic mobility programs without fail.
However, every action will always have a reaction. Such opposition in this situation is the criticism of the exchange program, which arises from the fact that not everyone has plans to work in international corporations or abroad. For sure, that makes sense, but there is no point to underestimate the role of international relations in shaping a healthy economic and political environment in the country. One of the levers affecting the promotion of a particular country in the world arena is the percentage and degree of knowledge of foreign languages of the population of this state. In this context, we clearly trace a directly proportional relationship between the development of the country and the citizens' proficiency level of at least one foreign language.
In conclusion, we would like to note that there is still a general lack of students and applicants awareness about the opportunities that a higher educational establishment has, despite many attempts by universities to popularize the academic mobility of students in foreign countries. Nevertheless, as the famous proverb says: "Rome was not built in a day", same way the expansion of language skills through the mobility of students is building from the ground up, slowly but steadily. The message of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Zhomart Tokaev, pays special attention
to the field of education. The President of Kazakhstan highlighted the increase in financing of the education sector to 5% of the country's GDP [6]. This will definitely affect the number of grants allocated to students of higher educational establishments, and, accordingly, will help more students in taking advantage of the unique opportunity to get acquainted with the culture of other countries, as well as increase their level of knowledge of a foreign language.
According to the study described in the article, academic mobility is an integral component of the internationalization of education in modern conditions, an important aspect of the development of the university's international activity and its competitiveness in the common education and scientific space. As well as it is an important component in the study of English, giving a direct opportunity to immerse the student in the language environment. Participation in the academic mobility programs and international projects requires language skills, while being a component of language immersion, i.e. some way of learning English. Along with that, nowadays, the academic mobility is a method of solving many of the problems and challenges facing education in general. This is a more in-depth study and improvement of the language, broadening the horizons of young people, educating the tolerance and understanding of a foreign culture, traditions and principles, as well as cultivating supple-minded individuals.
It is obvious that the various mobility programs need expanding and support both of state and of higher education establishments, which turns out to be possible only with their coordinated interaction. Citing the Great Russian writer L.N. Tolstoy: "True social progress is in a greater and greater unity of people."
References
1. The Bologna Declaration of 19 June 1999. (Electronic document) http://www.ehea.info/me-dia.ehea.info/file/Ministerial_confer-ences/02/8/1999_Bologna_Declaration_Eng-lish_553028.pdf (date of the application: 09/18/2019).
2. Information statistics of the Bologna process and academic mobility center (date of the application: 09/18/2019) URL: https://enic-kazakhstan.kz/ru/aca-demic_mobility/informacionnaya-statistika-1
3. Bolsunovskaya L.M., Matveenko I.A. Diversification of foreign language teaching techniques under the conditions of transferring to the multi-level system of the professional training of specialists (on the example of the Institute of geology, oil and gas)//Phil-ological Sciences. Questions of theory and practice Tambov: Literacy, No. 1 (5): in the 2nd part of Part I, 2010.
4. Bolsunovskaya L.M., Mironova V.E., Is-korkina A.A. Specific character of project based learning in the process of foreign language teaching of junior students at non-linguistic university (on the example of national research Tomsk polytechnic university). Mezhdunarodnyy zhurnal eksperimentalnogo obra-zovaniya, No. 2-3, 2015.
5. Bogdanova N.V. MOTIVATION OF ACADEMIC MOBILITY PROGRAMS PARTICIPANTS IN THE PROCESS OF LANGUAGE TRAINING//The Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia Proceedings No. 150, 2012
6. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart To-kayev's State of the Nation Address "CONSTRUCTIVE PUBLIC DIALOGUE - THE BASIS OF STABILITY AND PROSPERITY OF KAZAKHSTAN", September 2, 2019. URL:http://www.akorda.kz/ru/addresses/addresses_of _president/poslanie-glavy-gosudarstva-kasym-zhomarta-tokaeva-narodu-kazahstana
