Language Matters: Strengthening Teachers’ Capacity to Support Linguistically Diverse Learners in a 3T Madrasah Ibtidaiyah

Abstract

Teachers in linguistically diverse classrooms often switch to students' home language because it seems easier or because students are assumed not to understand, rather than as a planned pedagogical choice. This community engagement program aimed to strengthen Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (MI) teachers’ capacity to support linguistically diverse learners through Linguistically Responsive Teaching (LRT), articulating the switch in language as a part of lesson plan. The program was conducted at MI Zainul Huda, Kangean Island, Sumenep, East Java, using a participatory community-engagement approach that included a needs assessment, an LRT workshop, technical guidance on contextual learning media, and a classroom engagement session. Eleven teachers participated in the program. Program evaluation involved a teacher questionnaire, post-workshop evaluation, and descriptive classroom observation. The questionnaire was administered before and after the program as part of the evaluation process; however, the two administrations involved different respondents and were therefore not used to measure individual changes. Teachers actively participated throughout the workshop and expressed interest in further professional development related to teaching in the 3T context. Post-program evaluation indicated positive perceptions of the workshop, particularly regarding understanding LRT, its classroom application, and perceived confidence. Classroom engagement with Grade 5 and 6 students further illustrated that simple language, repetition, gestures, body language, and contextual examples could facilitate student participation when students initially experienced difficulty understanding the instructional language. The program demonstrates the feasibility of contextual, low-cost, and practice-oriented LRT capacity building in a linguistically diverse 3T Islamic primary school.