Resisting and Re-Appropriating English in Pesantren

English learning in Indonesia is often framed as a neutral response to globalization, yet its ideological dimensions become especially visible in religious educational contexts. Drawing on a postcolonial and critical applied linguistics lens, this study examines how English learning in pesantren has been represented in existing EFL research with particular attention to student resistance and re-appropriation. Adopting a narrative review approach, the study synthesizes 28 scholarly sources comprising peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters on EFL practices in pesantren . The findings show that resistance to English is shaped by ideological, curricular, interactional, and structural factors; it signals efforts to govern the language’s moral and cultural significance rather than a simple rejection of language learning. At the same time, English is actively re-appropriated through the localization of teaching materials, its use for Islamic purposes such as da‘wah , and hybrid multilingual strategies involving English, Arabic, and Indonesian. These processes accentuate forms of learner and teacher agency and challenge Western-centered models of English education. The study further emphasizes the need for context-sensitive pedagogies and highlights pesantren as an important site of postcolonial linguistic negotiation and epistemic agency.

Applied linguistics · Ideology · Islam · Narrative · Negotiation · Arabic Language Education Studies · Education and Islamic Studies · Multicultural Education and Local Wisdom