Multilingual Education in Islamic Boarding Schools: Planning, Implementation and Institutional Policy

This study investigates cases of language 'policing' as educational language policies and
how these are represented across different policy levels. Focusing on Indonesian schools
and using discursive approaches to language policy as a theoretical framework, I critically
examine institutions' motivations and justifications for designing and implementing
policies whereby non-standardized forms are 'banned' and how these are reported in
metalinguistic discourse. Drawing on a range of data, including media discourse, policy
documents, teacher interviews, and linguistic landscapes, I textually trace how
educational language policies (re)produce prescriptive and linguist ideologies, often using
metaphors of crime and often using language as a proxy for social factors such as
academic achievement, employability, and standards. Overall, micro- and meso-level
language policies are a partial product of linguistic conservatism in current macro-level
educational policy. (Language policy, language policing, schools, language ideologies).
The research results show that multilingual education in Islamic boarding schools
enriches students' language skills and promotes cross-cultural understanding and
tolerance. Policy implications and recommendations for multilingual education in other
educational institutions are also discussed. This research provides valuable insight into
the potential of multilingual education in improving the quality of teaching and
strengthening inter-ethnic and intercultural harmony in Indonesia.