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Description
Recent scholarship has shown that the classic EFL-ESL distinction is increasingly inadequate for explaining contexts in which English expands beyond subject status without fully replacing local languages. This article develops the notion of ESL-emerging education systems through a comparative analysis of Vietnam, Rwanda, and Kazakhstan. Using a qualitative comparative design, the study synthesises policy documents and peer-reviewed research on language planning, English-medium instruction, teacher development, and multilingual governance published between 2008 and 2025. The analysis identifies three shared drivers across the cases: economic internationalisation, educational modernisation, and the symbolic value of English as cultural and institutional capital. It also reveals sharply different trajectories. Vietnam represents gradual intensification, where English is strategically expanded across schooling and higher education while Vietnamese remains the dominant medium of public life. Rwanda illustrates rapid policy reorientation, with English acquiring high institutional authority but generating persistent classroom-level strain and equity concerns. Kazakhstan demonstrates a state-managed trilingual pathway in which English is promoted selectively, especially in science and higher education, yet remains mediated by Kazakh-Russian bilingual realities. Across the three cases, the main fault lines concern teacher preparedness, uneven access, and the management of multilingual repertoires. The article argues that ESL emergence is best understood as a continuum shaped by policy speed, domain depth, and multilingual safeguards rather than as a binary shift from foreign to second language status. It concludes by proposing a sequenced approach to English expansion that prioritises capacity building, pedagogical realism, and social inclusion for sustainable multilingual development in late-expanding national educational systems.
