Culturally based English language teaching strategies For Islamic higher education institutions in Indonesia

This study aims to investigate the current teaching strategies applied by EFL teachers in Indonesian Islamic higher education institutions in Makassar south Sulawesi, and to follow the implementation of Sit’s (2017) proposed 3-I module in this context. The research goal was to develop, implement, and review the results of a culturally based teaching strategy that would be appropriate in Islamic classrooms, based on the inclusive teaching strategies of the 3-I module developed by Sit (2017) for English language teaching at tertiary level.

Mixed research methods were employed in this study to collect and analyze the data. The data were collected through surveys, classroom observations, teacher interviews, and student focus groups. Research participants were teachers and students selected purposefully from five Islamic higher education institutions in Makassar.

The research findings indicated that the teachers and students at Indonesian Islamic higher education institutions considered the implementation of 3-I module was generally effective and productive in their EFL classrooms. However, there are some concerns regarding the Islamic cultural values of the students during the implementation of this module in the current study Islamic educational context. Therefore, to maximize the effectiveness and feasibility of this module in Islamic cultural context, the researcher has proposed an additional dimension to the existing dimensions, namely, the integrational dimension of Islamic values.

The integrational dimension is not intended to add a fourth step in the 3-I module’s sequential teaching strategies. Rather, the integrational dimension is designed to serve as an overarching umbrella to integrate Islamic values across all three dimensions of the 3-I module. By incorporating the integrational dimension, the module can be more practically adapted and applied in varied cultural and educational contexts within Indonesia, with the addition of Islamic values. In a broader scope, adding the integrational dimension may make the 3-I module applicable in most Asian countries influenced by Confucian heritage culture and high-power distance culture.