Technology-Supported Deep Learning in Indonesian EFL Classrooms: Teachers’ Strategies and Learners’ Experiences

Abstract

Deep learning has become an increasingly popular topic in the literature as a solution to Indonesia's surface-level learning outcomes. However, little is known about how teachers turn this pedagogical approach into everyday, technology-mediated EFL practice. Using a qualitative multiple-case study design, this study examined how four Indonesian senior high school EFL teachers and eight students across two public senior high schools enacted deep learning through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. Findings show that technology worked as an interactional interface between teachers' pedagogical goals and students' engagement. This extends the HCI perspective in educational technology by showing that technology's mediating role depended not only on tool affordances, but also on task design, interaction demands, and feedback patterns. Four technology-mediated functions were found. Pen pal platforms repositioned English as an authentic communication tool. ChatGPT helped reduce speaking anxiety through low-pressure practice. Padlet and Facebook expanded the audience for students' writing and provided space for peer feedback. YouTube brought language learning into contact with global media and critical engagement with it. Pedagogy, rather than technology, established the level of cognitive involvement in the learning process. These factors impeded it: large class sizes, administrative pressure on teachers, an exam-based learning culture, and unequal access to technology. The results further our understanding of technology's role as a pedagogical medium in language teaching from a Human-Computer Interaction perspective.