Teachers Navigating Intercultural Tensions in the CEFR-informed English Language Teaching in Indonesian Pesantren

Abstract

This study examined whether the CEFR is culturally appropriate for English teaching in the context of Indonesian pesantren, Islamic boarding schools, where religious values deeply shape educational practices. It specifically investigated how teachers navigated intercultural tensions embedded in CEFR-oriented pedagogy. Drawing on a qualitative interpretive approach involving classroom observations, four English teacher interviews, and curriculum documents, this study explored how English language teachers navigated these tensions in practice. Referring mainly to the CEFR’s plurilingual and pluricultural vision, which positions learners as social agents that mobilize their full linguistic and cultural repertoires, the study found that pesantren teachers did not view interculturality as conflicting with Islamic values. Instead, they reframed the CEFR-informed intercultural aims through religious and moral lenses that aligned with pesantren identity. Teachers also negotiated their professional agency within institutional and ideological constraints, selectively adopting CEFR principles while maintaining religious expectations. Additionally, multilingual practices involving Indonesian, Arabic, and English languages illustrated an organic form of the CEFR’s plurilingual competence, as teachers encouraged students to draw on all linguistic resources to support comprehension and meaning-making. In doing so, teachers acted as cultural, ideological, and linguistic mediators that selectively adapted the CEFR-informed practices to fit a value-oriented educational setting.