Indonesian university teachers’ multilingual practices beyond English medium instruction and their motivations

Monolingual English Medium Instruction versus Multilingual pedagogy: Students’ Perspectives from a Praxis Study in Pakistani Secondary Schools

The debate between monolingual English-medium instruction (EMI) and multilingual pedagogy has gained increasing attention in multilingual societies, where English functions as a global lingua franca. At the same time, local languages hold cultural and cognitive value. This study examines students' perspectives on English-medium and multilingual instruction through a qualitative, praxis-oriented investigation conducted at Pak-Turk Marif International School and The City School, Hyderabad, Pakistan. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and reflective written responses from ESL students (n = 10). Guided by a praxis framework and informed by translingual theory and critical pedagogy, the study moves from identifying a classroom-based issue to generating contextual evidence, analyzing student responses, and reflecting on pedagogical implications. The data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, which allowed key patterns to emerge from the students' experiences. The findings reveal a clear preference for multilingual pedagogy, with ( n=7) participants favoring the use of multiple languages to enhance comprehension, inclusivity, and engagement. In contrast,(n=3) respondents supported EMI, primarily for reasons of consistency and English language development. Importantly, even among EMI supporters, English was viewed as an instrumental resource rather than an inherently superior medium of cognition. The study demonstrates that multilingual pedagogical practices better align with students’ learning needs and socio-cultural contexts. The study argues for flexible, context-sensitive language practices that integrate English without marginalizing local languages. It also opens new gates for future research.

Performing English, Learning Bilingually: The Institutional Promise–Practice Paradox of EMI in Bangladeshi Tertiary Education

English-medium instruction (EMI) has expanded across Bangladeshi higher education as a marker of academic quality, internationalisation, and graduate employability. Yet the institutional promotion of English does not necessarily translate into sustained English-medium classroom interaction or improved opportunities for students’ language development. This qualitative multiple-case study examines how EMI is interpreted, negotiated, and enacted across three private universities in Bangladesh. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with six teachers of content-oriented English-department courses and 18 final-year undergraduate students, three student focus-group discussions, and three classroom observations. The dataset was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, supported by iterative coding, memo writing, within-case analysis, and cross-case comparison. Findings indicate that EMI functioned less as a stable English-only instructional model than as a negotiated bilingual practice shaped by uneven English proficiency, time constraints, and institutional expectations. Teachers used Bangla to clarify difficult concepts, sustain interaction, and support comprehension, while students valued English for its academic and professional benefits but often experienced English-only instruction as limiting confidence, participation, and access to disciplinary knowledge. Bilingual mediation, however, rarely formed part of a systematic approach to academic-English development. The central tension therefore lies not simply in teachers’ departure from English-only instruction, but in universities’ expectation that EMI will deliver both disciplinary learning and English proficiency without adequate linguistic, pedagogical, and assessment support. Conceptualising this tension as the EMI institutional promise–practice paradox, the study argues for a linguistically responsive model that combines planned bilingual scaffolding, explicit disciplinary-language development, language-sensitive assessment, and sustained teacher support. By showing how bilingual mediation both sustains and complicates EMI, the study contributes to debates on multilingual pedagogy, linguistic equity, and institutional responsibility in multilingual higher education.

Pre-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ identity construction during teaching practicum in Vietnam

This study explores how pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in Vietnam construct their professional identities during teaching practicum. Framed within sociocultural theory (SCT), it examines both the factors that mediate their identity development and the processes through which identity is negotiated. Data were collected from five pre-service teachers through reflective journals written over two months and two rounds of interviews. Using holistic and categorical narrative analysis, the study found that teacher identity was mediated by mentors, students, peers, and institutional regulations, while also shaped by emotional experiences, reflection, and agency. Contradictions between university-based pedagogy and classroom realities emerged as central to identity negotiation. The study contributes theoretically by highlighting the longitudinal development of identity across practicum stages and practically by offering insights into designing teacher education programs that integrate formal regulations with supportive mentoring, peer collaboration, and opportunities for reflection.

Language Usage in Multilingual University Classrooms: Toward an Inclusive Translanguaging Framework for Students and Lecturers in South African Higher Education

Multilingualism is a defining feature of South African higher education, yet university classrooms frequently remain organised around English as the principal language of teaching, learning, and assessment. This conceptual article examines how university students and lecturers use language in multilingual classrooms and proposes an inclusive framework for transforming linguistic diversity into a pedagogical resource. The article is based on an integrative review of scholarship on multilingual higher education, translanguaging, linguistic capital, epistemic access, and language-policy implementation, with particular attention to South African research and policy. The synthesis identifies five interrelated patterns. First, English offers mobility and access to global academic discourse, but simultaneously functions as a gatekeeping mechanism. Second, students use code-switching, peer explanation, translation, multilingual note-making, and digital communication to negotiate meaning. Third, lecturers employ multilingual practices unevenly, often informally and without adequate institutional support. Fourth, strategic translanguaging can strengthen conceptual understanding, participation, identity affirmation, and epistemic access. Fifth, implementation is constrained by multilingual class composition, limited terminology, assessment conventions, lecturer proficiency, workload, and monolingual institutional cultures. In response, the article develops the Inclusive Multilingual University Classroom Framework, comprising four connected dimensions: recognition of linguistic repertoires, purposeful multilingual pedagogy, equitable multilingual assessment support, and institutional enablement. The framework positions English and African languages as complementary rather than competing resources and assigns shared responsibilities to students, lecturers, departments, and university leadership. The article concludes that multilingual inclusion requires more than policy recognition or spontaneous code-switching. It requires planned pedagogical design, lecturer development, terminology resources, technology-supported access, and assessment practices that preserve disciplinary standards while widening opportunities to learn.

Indonesian pre-service teachers’ strategy of using English as a medium in teaching a foreign language

This study aims to explore the type of Teacher Talk used by Indonesian pre-service teachers in teaching Indonesian as a foreign language (BIPA) in Australian classrooms. Here, the teachers used English to set a common language in the classroom. Open-ended questionnaires and interviews were conducted to find out the type of Teacher Talk and gain teachers’ perspectives during the teaching process from four participants. The data collected revealed six types of Teacher Talk they used in the classroom and were categorized using Flanders Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC). It shows that using English in the classroom could develop comprehension interactions. Thus, it enhances students' willingness and confidence to interact and engage during the learning process. Moreover, using English to explain Indonesian helps students to understand the materials. Therefore, this study challenges existing hypotheses in teaching foreign languages and shows that using students’ first language also could help students in learning a new language. Even so, providing activities related to the target language is still important.

“Teach in English or retire”: linguistic, pedagogical and career consequences of English medium instruction