Contextualizing Islamic Traditions in English Language Teaching at Indonesian Islamic Higher Education

Abstract

English language teaching (ELT) in the context of Indonesian Islamic higher education has been particular and little known. The spirit of interconnecting ELT and Islamic tradition has given birth to the concept of dual tasks suggesting the practitioners to teach English and preach Islam. The practitioners are faced with strategic efforts to contextualize Islamic traditions into ELT. By examining six State Islamic higher education located in Lombok, Java, and Sumatera as the main contexts, this study explores issues related to the English teachers' dual tasks and their practiced strategies of contextualizing Islamic traditions into their teaching activities. Narrative inquiry was employed to explore those issues as they are closely related to the participants’ life experiences as English teachers at Indonesian Islamic higher education. This study concludes that the participants’ dual tasks are supported by theological narratives, particularly that of the Islamic propagation argument, and by academic narratives highlighting scientific distinction and knowledge integration. Further, the contextualization of Islamic tradition in ELT is polarized in the explicit mode narratives, referring to the strategies directly related to ELT, and the implicit mode narratives which cover the strategies indirectly connected to ELT. The findings highlight the intricate interaction between ELT and Islamic tradition within the realm of Indonesian higher education, thereby indicating potential pathways for subsequent research endeavors and pedagogical enhancements.