INTEGRATING LOCAL WISDOM INTO EFL EDUCATION FOR INTERCULTURAL CITIZENSHIP: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEWPROPOSING THE LINTAS-TEFL MODEL
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47178/xbrhkc54Keywords:
EFL, intercultural citizenship, intercultural communicative competence, local wisdom, language teachingAbstract
This integrative review examines how local wisdom can be transformed into culturally meaningful content for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education while supporting language development, learner identity, and intercultural citizenship. The revised synthesis draws on 34 traceable publications: 27 sources from EFL/ELT, materials development, intercultural language education, digital literacy, and language-learner identity, together with seven supporting publications from culturally responsive and community-based education. Sources were identified through Google Scholar, ERIC, DOAJ, Crossref-indexed publisher pages, and backward and forward citation tracing using combinations of EFL/ELT, local wisdom, local culture, culturally responsive language teaching, authentic materials, intercultural communicative competence, learner identity, digital storytelling, and intercultural citizenship. The full corpus is reported in Appendix A and was appraised according to its direct relevance to EFL, methodological transparency, and evidential contribution. Thematic coding generated seven themes: local wisdom as culturally meaningful EFL content; linguistic accessibility and scaffolding; intercultural comparison and critical cultural awareness; language-learner identity and belonging; multimodal and digital cultural production; community participation and ethical representation; and assessment of language and intercultural learning. The evidence suggests that local cultural resources may provide familiar contexts for purposeful English use and intercultural reflection, but the benefits are conditional rather than automatic. Authentic texts may overload less-proficient learners, cultural content may become essentialised or tokenistic, and intercultural projects may produce limited language development when task design and assessment are weak. The review therefore proposes the LINTAS-TEFL framework: Locate resources and communicative needs, Identify linguistic and cultural features, Negotiate perspectives and representation, Translate knowledge into EFL materials and tasks, Activate English use through inquiry and production, and Synthesize language, identity, intercultural learning, and community feedback. The framework is conceptual and has not undergone expert validation, usability testing, or classroom impact evaluation.
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