Reasons Why Kyrgyz Students Prefer Russian as the Language of Instruction in Universities: Student Views

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the reasons why university students in Kyrgyzstan prefer Russian as the language of instruction. Twenty university students were selected as the study group. While the semi-structured interview form was used as the data collection tool of the study designed in the phenomenology design, the content analysis technique was used as the data analysis technique. The data were collected from the students with a voice recorder and a notebook. The research has revealed that the most effective reason why the university students in Kyrgyzstan prefer Russian as the language of education is their concern for finding jobs in the future and the inadequacy of the Kyrgyz sources in scientific research. Among the reasons why students prefer Russian as the language of instruction, the least effective one is foreign language learning. The results were discussed in the context of the relevant literature and suggestions thought to serve to solve the problem were put forth.