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CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING IN KARAKALPAKSTAN:
BRIDGING LINGUISTIC DIVIDES THROUGH EQUITY-CENTERED
PEDAGOGY
Yulduz Sultanova
MA TESOL Program Student, Webster University
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15592571
Annotation:
This article applies pedagogies of culturally responsive
teaching (CRT) to the multilingual Karakalpakstan classroom, an autonomous
republic in Uzbekistan. Underpinned by sociolinguistic theory and by practice in
the classroom, the article discusses how the background languages, school
medium, ethnic background, and gender of the students can affect English
language tutoring among 14-15-year-old pre-intermediate learners. Techniques
addressed in the article range through differentiated instruction, strategic code-
switching, gender-sensitive group work, identity-informed materials, and fluid
assessment. Effects addressed by the article relate to decreasing educational
disparities among Russian- and Karakalpak-medium learners, making
classrooms more inclusive and supportive of learners' identities, and
challenging fixed notions about learners. A sociolinguistic framework sets
learners' embodied experience and intersectional identities to the forefront of
the enterprise about language pedagogy
Keywords:
Culturally
responsive
teaching,
multilingualism,
sociolinguistics, equity, language education, identity-based pedagogy, Central
Asia
Introduction.
In today's globalized classrooms, culturally responsive
teaching (CRT) is the way forward to teach diverse student linguistic and
cultural profiles. In the Karakalpakstan republic, which is part of Uzbekistan,
linguistic heterogeneity is compounded by historical and structural inequalities.
Teaching and learning under such conditions cannot be separated from identity,
access, and social capital. English teaching must therefore be tackled from a
sociolinguistic view.
This is a qualitative study about CRT practices implemented in one private
school in Karakalpakstan among twelve 14- and 15-year-old pre-intermediate
learners to build fair, just, and enjoyable English language classes.
The research draws on Geneva Gay's (2010) description of CRT as using the
other students’ cultural attributes, life experiences, and frames of reference to
instruct more effectively. It is underpinned by Ladson-Billings (1995) and
Krashen’s (1985) Affective Filter Hypothesis, which is focused on emotional and
social dimensions to learning. Tirvassen (2018) is guarded against essentialized
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accounts of identity and promotes dynamic, narrative constructions, while Van
Booven (2018) is interested in fostering social interactional competence among
the students in multicultural social worlds.
The student population was composed of Russian- and Karakalpak-medium
school students. They all share Karakalpak language as their L1, but their levels
vary in their proficiency in Russian in an asymmetrical way, affecting
participation in-class and confidence. Those who study in Russian-medium
classes showcase higher confidence level while those who study in Karakalpak-
medium classes are often shy during meaning-focused speaking activities.
Russian, as generally accepted to be the wider communication language, has
symbolic power that affects educational resource access (Fought, 2011;
Schilling, 2011).
According to Tomlinson (2001), the lesson was addressed to the different
levels of the learners' proficiency. For instance, low-level learners (Student A)
were supported by the employment of visuals and sentence frames, while high-
level learners (Student B) were provided with debate-based tasks. This reduced
affective filters (Krashen, 1985) and encouraged all the learners to take part.
With three languages, i.e., Karakalpak, Russian, and English, being common
knowledge, code-switching was utilized to explain difficult concepts. Although
English was spoken as the default language for teaching, strategic use of Russian
and Karakalpak facilitated understanding, validating Deumert’s (2011) opinion
that multilingual classrooms are advantaged by flexibility in discourse.
Gender imbalance was realized in participation. For example, despite
having female students like Student C who were academic performers
themselves, they were reticent to participate in group discussions. Reflective
exercises and rotational group assignments were utilized to facilitate equal
participation, according to Schilling (2011) and Calder (2020) guidelines.
The content was localized to represent students’ identity and local culture,
with themes based on Karakalpak context. For reading tasks, texts about
Karakalpak national holidays, the Aral Sea, Shylpiq, towns and regions of
Karakalpakstan, etc. were used to raise students’ engagement to the content.
This aligns with Bayley and Villarreal's (2019) argument to provide greater
voice to the marginalized groups in language education to allow the students to
gain a sense of ownership of learning.
For the disengaged students (Student B, for instance), curricula used TED
Talks, YouGlish, and subtitled videos. They encouraged receptive
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multilingualism (Deumert, 2011) and offered authentic input in line with
international English usage.
Classroom strategies such as think-pair-share and sentence starters were
accommodating to quieter learners, as prescribed by Vygotsky’s Zone of
Proximal Development, as they provided scaffolding interactions and reduced
the anxiety of performance.
Whereas learner categorization facilitated the targeting of instruction, it
also threatened to oversimplify student identities. Tirvassen (2018) cautions
against essentialism and urges teachers to embrace identity as fluid and
dynamic. Reflexivity is crucial for CRT practitioners to ensure that they do not
unwittingly reinforce stereotypes.
Evaluation in CRT Rubrics for writing, speaking, reading, and listening,
which emphasized effort, progress, and clarity over correctness, were used in
formative assessments. Materials selected were well picked to avoid cultural
bias as much as possible. According to Van Booven (2018) and Tirvassen (2018),
assessment should not just consider linguistic accuracy but also the learners'
sociocultural and interactive abilities.
Conclusion
. Teaching in multilingual classrooms, such as in
Karakalpakstan, is not just teaching content in languages—instead, it is a work
in fostering equity, responsiveness, and identity-focused pedagogy. Teachers
must transform content, recognize multilingual assets, and create spaces where
everydiv can be seen and heard. According to Canagarajah (1999), critical
pedagogy is about challenging hegemonies and forging inclusive professional
communities through validating learners’ backgrounds.
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