Exploring Academic Writing as Social Practice: Institutional Goals, Complexities and Possibilities in Central Asia

This book poses a provocative question: what happens when academic writing is imported not just as a skill set, but as an ideology, one that dictates whose knowledge counts, which languages belong, and how scholarly voice should sound? Focusing on English-medium instruction (EMI) universities in Central Asia, the book reimagines academic writing as a social practice rooted in power, identity, and institutional histories. Across chapters, contributors examine how students and educators negotiate imported norms, develop scholarly voice, and contest epistemic hierarchies through feedback, supervision, and writing groups. Rather than adopting global prescriptions, the book foregrounds local pedagogies, culturally embedded challenges, and creative responses to writing in EMI university contexts. As one of the first regionally grounded academic literacies volumes in Central Asia, this book offers essential insights for scholars of writing development, decolonial education, and the politics of knowledge production in global higher education reform.

Michelle Bedeker is Head of Education at New Uzbekistan University. She holds a PhD in Language and Literacy Studies. Her research critically explores multilingual education and pedagogy using postcolonial and interdisciplinary frameworks, with a focus on equity, multilingualism, and critical engagement with global education reforms in the Central Asian context.

Tsediso Michael Makoelle is the Dean of Education at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa. He holds a PhD in Inclusive Education (Manchester, UK) and a DEd in Educational Leadership (South Africa). As a Nelson Mandela Scholar, he has made significant contributions to educational inclusion, leadership, and higher education reform.

Syed Abdul Manan heads the Research Ethics Department at the Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan. His research, teaching, and supervision interests include language education policy and planning, EMI, multilingual practices, World Englishes, and language policy issues concerning the politics, economics, and sociology of language, as well as linguistic rights and social justice.