Voices Behind the Code: Teachers' and Students' Perspectives on Coding Literacy Integration in ELT
Abstract
Coding literacy is increasingly framed as a cross-disciplinary competency, yet how it is perceived and experienced within English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms in Indonesian junior high schools remains underexamined. This qualitative descriptive-exploratory study investigated English teachers' perceptions of, and students' experiences with, coding literacy integration at a public junior high school in Tanjung Morawa, North Sumatra. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with two English teachers and a questionnaire administered to seventeen seventh-grade students who participated in an English-medium, coding-based learning activity. Data were analyzed using the Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña model of data condensation, display, and conclusion drawing. Findings show that teachers perceived the activity as fostering strong student engagement, expanding instructional vocabulary, and prompting early signs of computational thinking, while framing English itself as a natural bridge into coding because programming languages and interfaces are predominantly English-medium. Students reported near-unanimous enjoyment, motivation, and a sense of achievement, alongside a more uneven picture of instructional comprehension, in which a meaningful minority experienced confusion despite persisting independently rather than disengaging. These findings suggest that coding-integrated English learning cultivates authentic, purposeful language use and rudimentary computational reasoning simultaneously, even as it exposes uneven readiness in reading English instructions. The study contributes an empirically grounded account of how coding literacy and language development mutually reinforce one another in an under-researched Southeast Asian secondary setting and offers implications for EFL pedagogy, teacher preparation, and curriculum design.
Downloads
References
Bers, M. U. (2018). Coding as a playground: Programming and computational thinking in the early childhood classroom. Routledge.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Delal, H. (2022). Teachers' experiences with integrating coding into language teaching: A qualitative study. Education and Information Technologies, 27, 12381–12403.
Dewi, S. L., Misnar, M., Syahid, A., Rahma, R., & Syahrin, A. (2025). Integrating digital reading module to enhance computational thinking skills via lesson study for EFL beginners: Case study of a public senior high school in Indonesia. World Journal of English Language, 15(7), 69.
Dong, Y., Xu, C., Chai, C. S., & Zhai, X. (2020). Exploring the structural relationship among teachers' technostress, technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), computer self-efficacy, and internet usage. Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 29(2), 147–157.
Fullan, M. (2007). The new meaning of educational change (4th ed.). Teachers College Press.
Hsu, T. C., Chang, C., & Liang, Y. S. (2023). Sequential behaviour analysis of interdisciplinary activities in computational thinking and EFL language learning with game-based learning. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 16(2), 256–265.
Kafai, Y. B., & Burke, Q. (2014). Connected code: Why children need to learn programming. MIT Press.
Li, X., Sang, G., & Valcke, M. (2024). Computational thinking integrated into the English language curriculum in primary education: A systematic review. Education and Information Technologies, 29, 17705–17762.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. SAGE Publications.
Little, D. (1991). Learner autonomy: Definitions, issues and problems. Authentik Language Learning Resources.
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). Free Press.
Thibaut, L., Ceuppens, S., De Loof, H., De Meester, J., Goovaerts, L., Struyf, A., & Depaepe, F. (2018). Integrated STEM education: A systematic review of instructional practices in secondary education. European Journal of STEM Education, 3(1), 02.
Tikva, C., & Tabak, I. (2022). Revisiting computational thinking as a competency: Existing evidence and the way forward. Computers & Education, 188, 104580.
Voogt, J., Fisser, P., Good, J., Mishra, P., & Yadav, A. (2015). Computational thinking in compulsory education: Towards an agenda for research and practice. Education and Information Technologies, 20(4), 715–728.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
Warschauer, M., & Kern, R. (Eds.). (2000). Network-based language teaching: Concepts and practice. Cambridge University Press.
Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 33–35.
Copyright (c) 2026 Anggraini Thesisia Saragih, Ade Aini Nuran, Safrida Lubis, Ariatna Ariatna
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
By submitting the article/manuscript of the article, the author(s) agree with this policy. No specific document sign-off is required.
License
The use of the article will be governed by the Creative Commons Attribution license as currently displayed on Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Author(s)' Warranties
The author warrants that the article is original, written by the stated author(s), has not been published before, contains no unlawful statements, does not infringe the rights of others, is subject to copyright that is vested exclusively in the author and free of any third party rights, and that any necessary written permissions to quote from other sources have been obtained by the author(s).
User/Public Rights
Under the Creative Commons license, users are allowed to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work. Users will also need to attribute authors on distributing works in the journal and other media of publications. Unless otherwise stated, the authors are public entities as soon as their articles got published.
Rights of Authors
Authors retain all their rights to the published works, such as (but not limited to) the following rights;
- Copyright and other proprietary rights relating to the article, such as patent rights,
- The right to use the substance of the article in own future works, including lectures and books,
- The right to reproduce the article for own purposes,
- The right to self-archive the article,
- The right to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the article's published version (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
Co-Authorship
If the article was jointly prepared by more than one author, any authors submitting the manuscript warrants that he/she has been authorized by all co-authors to be agreed on this copyright and license notice (agreement) on their behalf, and agrees to inform his/her co-authors of the terms of this policy. The journal will not be held liable for anything that may arise due to the author(s) internal dispute. The journal will only communicate with the corresponding author.
Royalties
Being an open accessed journal and disseminating articles for free under the Creative Commons license term mentioned, author(s) aware that the journal entitles the author(s) to no royalties or other fees.
Miscellaneous
The article will be published in the journal if the article’s editorial process is successfully completed. The editors may modify the article to a style of punctuation, spelling, capitalization, referencing, and usage that deems appropriate. The author acknowledges that the article may be published so that it will be publicly accessible and such access will be free of charge for the readers.
