Exploring the role of English in meritocracy in multilingual Indonesia: teacher beliefs, language use, and Global Englishes

Abstract

ABSTRACT English features prominently in global communication as part of the knowledge economy in Indonesia and worldwide. Meritocracy represents a key concept within the rhetoric of this economy, as it promises that how well people do in life is not determined by external matters, but mostly by how hard they try. Included here is how hard they study English, and how well they perform on measures of English proficiency. No previous research has, however, considered English teachers' beliefs about the role of English in meritocracy. This is perhaps surprising given that the literature has increasingly highlighted the role of teachers as changemakers. To explore this issue, the present study considered the views of 260 English teachers in Indonesia. Findings revealed statistically significant correlations between teachers' beliefs in meritocracy for their own careers and for their students, on the one hand, and their views of English as a tool for success, on the other hand. This study not only makes an empirical contribution to the limited literature on the role of meritocracy in language education, but also advances conversation on language education from a multilingual and multicultural perspective by addressing the limits of meritocracy through Global Englishes with a translanguaging orientation.