Understanding challenges, investment, and strategic language use of postgraduate students in an English-medium university in Kazakhstan

This qualitative study documents six postgraduate Kazakh students’ challenges, language learning strategies (LLSs), and future vision while studying at a highly selective English medium instruction (EMI) university in Kazakhstan. It also aims to capture the influence of the participants’ past English learning experiences and contextual factors on their LLS deployment. The study found that all participants exhibited greater agency, using a host of appropriate LLSs to complete their master’s programmes successfully. However, the two participants who studied in schools for the gifted encountered fewer challenges than the other participants from mainstream schools after joining the EMI university. The former exercising their agency and their positive previous English language learning experiences enabled them to use diverse voluntary strategies to accomplish both personal and national goals. This study reveals how educational policy and distribution of enabling language learning resources in similar contexts can affect individuals’ LLS choices and use, and their identity improvement.