Interculturality, native-speakerism and authenticity: paradoxes in Indonesia’s EFL pedagogy

Abstract

ABSTRACT Intercultural language pedagogy goes beyond native speaker and target culture norms. Using an intercultural lens, this study examines the extent to which native-speakerism and authenticity inform the pedagogic belief and practice of Indonesian high-school teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) and in particular how first language use shapes the teacher’s instruction and classroom discourse. Data were obtained from classroom observations, narrative frames, stimulated-recall, and in-depth interviews with five teachers, and a focus group discussion involving seven students. The data were analysed using a qualitative thematic framework. Findings show that the teachers often used home languages and lived cultural realities as a springboard to navigate and mediate between first and target language-and-culture. They displayed agency in dealing with local aspirations and the situatedness of EFL pedagogy and interculturality in the multilingual society. Evidence also revealed that native speaker models of English competence and pedagogic performance and English-speaking West concepts of authenticity tended to create paradoxes in the classroom. This paper forefronts the need to work towards a more culturally-responsive and critically-conscious EFL pedagogy.