EFL teachers as intercultural gatekeepers: Designing culturally responsive materials with GenAI in Indonesia

Abstract

Interculturality and culturally responsive pedagogy are gaining priority in Indonesian primary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) as learner diversity increases and Generative AI (GenAI) becomes part of everyday teaching. Yet little empirical work explains how EFL teachers use GenAI to design materials and tasks, or what language and ethics checks they perform. This qualitative case study examines teachers’ perceptions and their strategies for maintaining linguistic appropriateness, cultural fit, and inclusion in GenAI-supported EFL resources. Twelve in-service primary English teachers were selected through purposive maximum-variation sampling across regions, school sectors, experience, and AI proficiency. Data included a GenAI-assisted design task with think-alouds, stimulated-recall interviews, and digital artifacts (prompts, outputs, and final materials). Reflexive Thematic Analysis was used to trace how teachers moved from initial prompts to revised materials and what checks they applied before considering the outputs suitable for pupils. Results show that GenAI speeds drafting and widens ideation, but teachers operate as intercultural gatekeepers: they contextualize prompts, refine outputs repeatedly, verify level and accuracy, evaluate cultural portrayals, and screen for bias to avoid generic or Western-leaning content while facing policy ambiguity, privacy risks, and uneven AI skills. The study recommends teacher training on culturally responsive prompting, critical checking of AI outputs, clearer school-level guidance on ethics and privacy, and better access to digital infrastructure across school contexts.