A SOCIOLINGUISTIC PROFILE OF ESP LEARNERS AT AN ACADEMIC TRANSPORT LYCEUM

This paper presents a sociolinguistic profile of a group of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) learners studying at an Academic Transport Lyceum in Tashkent. The learners are multilingual students aged 16–17 who use Uzbek, Tajik, and Russian in their daily lives and are learning English primarily for academic and professional purposes. Drawing on sociolinguistic theory, the paper examines how language background, regional origin, and socioeconomic factors influence learners’ English development, classroom participation, and assessment outcomes. The study also explores the contexts in which learners are expected to use English in the future, particularly in transport and logistics-related professions. Pedagogical and assessment implications are discussed with an emphasis on communicative competence, translanguaging, and equitable assessment practices. The findings highlight the importance of sociolinguistically informed instruction that recognizes linguistic diversity as a resource rather than a deficit.