A Critical Narrative Inquiry into the Struggles and Agency of English Language Learners from “Underdeveloped” Regions in West Kalimantan

Undergraduate English language education students from “underdeveloped” regions in West Kalimantan need to be able to develop their local communities in due course, as expected by the local government and the students themselves. It is hence necessary for critically oriented teacher educators to identify the students’ struggles and agency (or capacity to cope with economic, physical, or psychological constraining structures) in the past and present, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as future projections. With that goal, a critical narrative inquiry methodology was employed. The researchers elicited the 14 first-year undergraduate students’ language learning histories, reflections in a Critical Reading course, and their thoughts on English language learning during the pandemic at a Christian university in Central Java. Findings suggest that despite constraining structures, the students could exercise their agency when learning English before entering the university and during their undergraduate studies. Furthermore, they could agentively envision what they would do after graduating from the university, which calls for concerted efforts on the part of teacher educators, the students themselves, and the local government in West Kalimantan to form agents of change.