Institutional social media has become a primary channel through which State Islamic Higher Education Institutions (PTKIN) reach prospective students from culturally diverse regions, yet evidence on whether it shapes study program choice remains inconsistent and has rarely been examined from an educational and multicultural perspective. Using an explanatory survey across three multicultural regions and drawing on Hossler and Gallagher's college choice model, Perna's layered contextual model, signaling theory, the Technology Acceptance Model, and multicultural education perspectives, this study addresses three questions: (1) how first-year students from Java, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi perceive PTKIN institutional social media and their study program decisions; (2) whether, and how strongly, institutional social media affects these decisions; and (3) whether the effect remains robust after data-quality screening, common-method-bias checks, and heteroskedasticity correction. The survey was conducted at three PTKIN with Unggul (excellent) accreditation that represent the Javanese, Banjar, and Bugis-Makassar cultural regions: UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, UIN Antasari Banjarmasin, and UIN Alauddin Makassar (population = 12,816). Of 1,088 questionnaires collected, 852 (326 from Yogyakarta, 200 from Banjarmasin, and 326 from Makassar) were retained after systematic screening for incomplete responses, straight-lining, and multivariate outliers. The 50-item five-point Likert instrument was valid (r = 0.588–0.778) and reliable (Cronbach's α = 0.956 and 0.957). Both variables were in the high category (item means = 3.72 and 3.92). Institutional social media had a positive and significant effect on study program choice (Y = 24.569 + 0.865X; t = 40.938; p < 0.001), explaining 66.3% of its variance (f² = 1.97). The effect was robust (HC3 robust t = 42.483; 95% bootstrap CI = 0.825–0.904; Harman's first factor = 45.04%). The findings position institutional social media as an educational guidance and quality-signalling channel that narrows information gaps for students from diverse cultural regions and serves as a digital entry point to the multicultural campus climate of PTKIN. PTKIN should therefore design culturally responsive, evidence-based, and interactive social media content aligned with the admission calendar.
Emotions matter in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning because they shape how students participate, persist, and respond to classroom demands. Although emotion regulation has received growing attention in language education, little is known about how students in Indonesian Islamic schools describe and manage their emotions in everyday English lessons. This gap is important. When models developed mainly in Western psychological traditions are applied without cultural reading, students’ silence, hesitation, or restraint can easily be mistaken for low motivation or weak ability. In an Islamic-Indonesian school context, the same responses may also be connected with patience, modesty, face-saving, respect for others, or the wish to keep classroom harmony. Using a qualitative phenomenological design, this study explored the emotional experiences and emotion regulation strategies of 67 students from two Islamic high schools in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Data were gathered through open-ended questionnaires and two focus group discussions involving 20 selected students, and were analysed thematically. The findings show three intertwined emotional patterns: enjoyment, confidence, and motivation; anxiety, confusion, boredom, and fear of making mistakes; and fluctuating or neutral emotional states. Students most often used cognitive reappraisal (n = 25) and expressive suppression (n = 13), but they also reported more practical strategies, including deep breathing, peer talk, goal reminders, resting, drawing, asking questions, and silent self-composure. These findings suggest that emotion regulation in Islamic EFL classrooms is not only an individual cognitive process. It is also embodied, social, and shaped by local cultural expectations. The study therefore calls for EFL classrooms where teachers read students’ silence and hesitation carefully, reduce the social risk of error, and support emotional well-being through culturally responsive pedagogy.
Adab, the Islamic ethical orientation governing the conduct of knowledge, functions as an operational pedagogical principle shaping Arabic language teaching in a tahfīẓ pesantren in West Java, Indonesia. Using a qualitative case study design, the research was conducted at a purposively selected institution in which Qur’anic memorization constitutes the primary educational commitment. Participants included one institutional leader, two Arabic language teachers, and fourteen students distributed across junior and senior learning groups. Data were generated through 12 structured classroom observation sessions, semi-structured individual interviews, and institutional document analysis; thematic analysis, following Braun & Clarke’s (2006) six-phase procedure, yielded three analytical themes mapped directly to the three research questions. The findings demonstrate that Adab is not merely a background value but is explicitly invoked as a principle governing real-time instructional decisions, including lesson scope, pacing calibration, and the management of cognitive demands relative to students’ memorization responsibilities. At the junior level, Adab-oriented restraint manifests through visual scaffolding, tikrār (repetition-based memorization practice), and intensive teacher mediation; at the senior level, it shapes the integration of classical grammatical traditions with analytical textual interpretation. Framed through intercultural education theory (Bennett, 1993, 2017; Byram, 1997, 2021; Holliday, 2011; Kramsch, 1993, 2021), these instructional adaptations are theorized as intercultural pedagogical alignment — teachers’ principled, culturally informed negotiation between communicative language pedagogies and the institution's memorization-centered learning culture. Three specific contributions are advanced: (1) an empirical account of Adab as documentable classroom-level practice rather than abstract norm; (2) the concept of intercultural pedagogical alignment as a new analytical category for value-oriented educational settings; and (3) a reinterpretation of the absence of Arabic immersion environments as a cognitively rational, ethically grounded institutional choice.
This study examines the integration of ecotheology in early childhood Islamic education through a multicultural perspective at Al-Hikmah Kindergarten, Samarinda, East Kalimantan. The study is based on the view that the ecological crisis is not only related to physical environmental damage, but also reflects a lack of ethical, spiritual, social, and cultural awareness in caring for nature. This research employs a case study qualitative design. Data were collected through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews with the principal and Islamic education (PAI/IMTAQ center) teachers, as well as documentation including lesson plans, school programs, and child development assessment formats. The observation subjects were 17 kindergarten B students aged 5–6 years. The findings show that ecotheological values””such as tauhid (oneness of God), khalifah (stewardship), amanah (trust), mizan (balance), rahmah (compassion), and cleanliness ethics””are integrated through prayers, illustrated stories, visual media, IMTAQ center activities, role modeling, habits such as handwashing, proper waste disposal, plant care, outdoor activities, and cultural practices. The school’s proximity to the Mahakam River and Kampung Ketupat provides concrete ecological and cultural learning spaces, while the students’ multicultural backgrounds strengthen cooperation, tolerance, mutual assistance, and respect for diversity. This article emphasizes that integrating ecotheology in early childhood Islamic education should be concrete, enjoyable, contextual, and inclusive, enabling children to recognize nature as God’s creation, care for the environment, use resources wisely, and live harmoniously in a diverse society.
This study investigates the integration of Islamic and general education at three State Islamic Junior High Schools (MTs Negeri) in East Kalimantan; MTs Negeri 1 Balikpapan, MTs Negeri 1 Paser, and MTs Negeri 1 Kutai Kartanegara, to analyze the forms, processes, and impacts. Employing a qualitative methodology with a multi-site case study and phenomenological approach, data were collected through outdoor-indoor class observations, interviews with 13 teachers including principals, curriculum developers, and subject teachers, as well as document analysis of teaching modules, the Adiwiyata module, and the P2RA module. The integration was manifested in three main forms; curricular integration, by linking themes of aqidah akhlak into general subjects through teaching modules; social program integration, such as Adiwiyata; and the P2RA program. This process was framed within the Merdeka Curriculum by operationalizing the paradigm of integration-interconnection of knowledge and implemented through project-based learning aligned with multiple intelligences, enabling students to internalize values cognitively, affectively, and psychomotorically through diverse activities. Evaluation was conducted comprehensively, covering cognitive aspects (tests), affective aspects (attitude observation), and psychomotor aspects (practical performance). The integration also strengthens students’ religious character through behavioral transformation, deeper appreciation of values, and the ability to internalize them in both the educational environment and daily life. The noble character was developed through strategies of habituation, reflection, role modeling, and environmental support. The integration of Islamic and general education is not merely theoretical but also could be applied as a practical model for shaping a generation that excels academically while maintaining strong religious character.
