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Symbolic capital and the problem of navigating English language teacher practice: the case of Indonesian pesantren

journal contribution
posted on 2021-08-01, 00:00 authored by Andrew SkourdoumbisAndrew Skourdoumbis, Ahmad Madkur
English is the most widely taught and learned language in the world. Within the broader literatures on the worldwide spread and dominance of English as a key skill for 21st century education, the use of English(es) and English Language Teaching (ELT) in the context of schooling in Asian countries represent an important research direction. Our paper contributes to these debates by exploring the problem of English language teachers’ beliefs about their pedagogical practices in Indonesian pesantren schools. The system of religious pesantren schools provides a unique research context to examine teacher practice in classrooms where English is not assigned the assumed de facto status of a ‘global lingua franca’. In engaging a Bourdieusian lens, this paper explores teachers’ perceptions of the (lack of) symbolic and linguistic capital of English language learning in pesantren, the emergent tensions, and how these frame teacher beliefs and practice. In so doing, this paper aims to contribute to the broader debates in the field that seek to critically analyse and reframe the hegemonic status of English as a global educational commodity of political-economic power.

History

Journal

Tesol in context

Volume

29

Pagination

15-34

Location

Hindmarsh, S. Aust.

ISSN

1030-8385

eISSN

2209-0916

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Issue

2

Publisher

Australian Council of TESOL Associations