Indonesian university teachers’ multilingual practices beyond English medium instruction and their motivations

Purpose Grounded in English as a lingua franca theory, this study re-examines English-medium instruction (EMI) in Indonesian higher education from a multilingual perspective. Design/methodology/approach Using a rapid ethnographic approach, classroom observations and interviews were conducted with 12 EMI lecturers across three accredited universities. Findings The findings reveal that lecturers strategically integrated Bahasa Indonesia, Javanese, Arabic, Thai, Malay and Latin alongside English through practices such as code-switching, translanguaging and lexical borrowing. These multilingual practices enhanced learning, promoted student engagement and reflected cultural and religious identities. Originality/value The study proposes reconceptualizing EMI as multilingualism with EMI, positioning English as one resource within a dynamic multilingual ecology rather than the sole language of instruction.