Translanguaging in Uzbekistan’s Higher Education: Practical Strategies for Teaching Academic Writing

Abstract

As Uzbekistan’s higher education system becomes increasingly integrated into the international academic community, the importance of English-medium instruction and academic writing skills continues to grow in universities. At the same time, many students in Uzbekistan use multiple languages—particularly Uzbek, Russian, and English—throughout their educational experiences. This situation creates certain tensions between English-based institutional requirements and students’ natural multilingual practices (Curry & Lillis, 2024; Rahman & Hu, 2025). This article reviews recent research on translanguaging in academic writing and proposes practical recommendations for implementing translanguaging pedagogy in higher education in Uzbekistan. Based on studies published between 2011 and 2025, pedagogical approaches that support multilingual students while maintaining the quality of English academic writing are identified (Tang et al., 2024; Sun, 2023). Recommended strategies include multilingual brainstorming, flexible drafting, peer feedback in a shared language, cross-linguistic genre comparison, adaptation of assessment practices, and responsible use of artificial intelligence (Yang & Lin, 2025; Almashour et al., 2025).