Speaking the unsanctioned

Language policy, ideological ordering, and translanguaging identities across three Indonesian pesantren

Bibliographic Data

ID24230428
AuthorsRofiqi Rofiqi (0009-0004-3869-6733, Institut Agama Islam Al-Khairat), Anis Zunaidah (0009-0003-8034-1904, Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam KH. Muhammad Ali Shodiq), M Aris Akin (Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Darud Da’wah wal Irsyad (STAI DDI)), Hasfiana Hasfiana (Universitas Islam As’adiyah), Sayuthi Atman Said (Institut Agama Islam Negeri Ternate), Hendi Sugianto (0009-0005-9824-2327, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Ternate)
Year2026
Pages1-19
Publication date2026-10-08
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCurrent Issues in Language Planning (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1466-4208 • E-ISSN: 1747-7506
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14664208.2026.2745599
OpenAlexW7221051977
LanguageEN
References cited22

This study examines language policy, language ideology, and translanguaging practice across three Indonesian pesantren (Islamic boarding schools combining residential Qur’anic study with formal schooling), pursuing three objectives: (1) how santri (students), ustaz/ustazah (teachers), and kiai (institutional leaders) negotiate multilingual repertoires under official language policies; (2) what language ideologies sustain hierarchical policy ordering at each site; and (3) how translanguaging functions as a resource for intercultural identity construction under monoglossic constraints. Using a qualitative, multi-site ethnographic design, the study draws on 74 h of observation, 42 semi-structured interviews, and institutional documents gathered over seven months. Three findings emerge: (1) translanguaging is a pedagogical necessity that official policy denies and renders invisible; (2) hierarchical language ideological ordering, enacted through policy, positions regional vernaculars as institutionally illegitimate even as pesantren actors frame it as religious and pedagogical commitment; and (3) under monoglossic constraints, santri construct ‘translanguaging third-space selves' – composite plural identities that policy cannot fully contain. The study concludes that heteroglossic policy reform is a necessary complement to Arabic and English proficiency goals in faith-based multilingual education, offering a non-Western model and the newly defined concept of the translanguaging third-space self for analysing language ideology and identity in similar institutions internationally.

Indonesian language · Language ideology · Language policy · pesantren · Translanguaging · Language and Culture · Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies · Multilingual Education and Policy

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