*Corresponding Author P-ISSN: 1978-8118 E-ISSN: 2460-710X 191 Lingua Cultura, 15(2), December 2021, 191-198 DOI: 10.21512/lc.v15i2.6825 EFL TEACHER’S BELIEFS ABOUT SOCIOLINGUISTIC COMPETENCE: A QUALITATIVE CASE STUDY IN INDONESIAN FORMAL ENGLISH PEDAGOGY Edi Ramawijaya Putra* Department of Buddhist Education, Sriwijaya State Buddhist College of Tangerang Banten Edu Town BSD City, Serpong Tangerang, Banten 15339, Indonesia edi.ramawijayaputra@gmail.com Received: 25th November 2020/Revised: 29th September 2021/Accepted: 29th September 2021 How to Cite: Putra, E. R. (2021). EFL teacher’s beliefs about sociolinguistic competence: A qualitative case study in Indonesian formal English pedagogy. Lingua Cultura, 15(2), 191-198. https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v15i2.6825 ABSTRACT The research aimed to explore beliefs of sociolinguistic competence from Indonesian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers. Two teachers were carefully chosen to participate in the research. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, analyzed, and interpreted using the critical descriptive method. The research finds that EFL teachers express their beliefs in various terms, ideologies, and perspectives. The result indicates that the EFL teachers’ beliefs about sociolinguistic competence are equivalent to the concepts of spatial repertoire, principled-polycentrism, resourceful speakers, and sociolinguistics as mobility. It also indicates that EFL teachers’ pedagogical affordances in determining learning objectives, selecting materials and media for learning, implementing classroom strategies, and choosing appropriate evaluation for their teaching are influenced by their beliefs of sociolinguistic competence. The research suggests that Indonesian EFL teachers should be awarded the freedom to develop sociolinguistic competence based on their classroom context and learners’ heterogeneity. With the presence of a national curriculum (known as K13) that gives more spaces for sociolinguistic competence to take place, teachers should transform their paradigm of seeing classroom interaction in EFL classroom to be more sociolinguistically-aware to transform the static, pre-determined, and motionless definition of sociolinguistic competence to a more dynamic, fluid, and varying. These transformations can be made by imparting sociolinguistic competence in teachers’ education and teachers’ professional development programs. Keywords: teachers’ beliefs, sociolinguistic competence, EFL pedagogy INTRODUCTION Despite its foremost prominence as a goal for learners studying a foreign language, the term sociolinguistic competence has never been clearly clarified in the ELT (English Language Teaching) context. However, the notion of sociolinguistic competence has been intensely adopted in the curriculum of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) in Indonesia. The insertion of real-life communication practices, orientation to contextual interaction, emphasis on communicative-oriented tasks, and environmentally-used language skills set as teaching objectives in the EFL curriculum related to the significance of sociolinguistic competence. Thus, the efforts to fathom the operational and observable indicators for the purpose of teaching sociolinguistic competence as a learning output are inevitably urgent. Although sociolinguistic competence has been largely discussed in the literature, language teachers must be able to interpret those conceptual definitions based on their own classroom context. More importantly, teachers need to raise their awareness of the paradigmatic shift of sociolinguistic competence, which has been no longer viewed as the immobile repertoire of language use, in which communication 192 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol. 15 No. 2, December 2021, 191-198 is formed by linguistic resources and communicative opportunities affected by mobility (Blommaert, 2014). This claim implies that the teaching of language should move forward to giving more spaces for multiple semiotics and multiliteracies to take place in the heart of EFL pedagogy instruction. It subtly alters the classic views on sociolinguistic competence, which assumes that it simply deals with appropriateness and sociocultural context (Canale & Swain, 1980). As the teaching of EFL shifts from merely targeting accuracy to promoting learners’ agency, the teacher should facilitate more activities that aim to invite interaction and provide more opportunities for learners to produce the language (Li, 2020). Pedagogical strategies, on the other hand, need to be improved, especially when linking between inside and outside classroom contexts, as a resourceful language-learning landscape. At the same time, EFL teachers also need to recontextualize the principles of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach throughout the implementation as it has to be merged with the current trends of language development. To do this, EFL teachers have been suggested to analyze learners’ daily communication and interaction styles. Another contributing factor that may hinder today’s global speakers in communication practice using English is the appropriateness of utterances in social situations (Xamidullaevna, 2020). Hence, the aspects on the contemporary perspectives of language teaching such as linguistic diversity, recovery of local needs, learners’ experiences are vital to reconsider for creating a productive and effective class for EFL learners (Richards, 2006; Savignon, 2006; Pennycook, 2014). Teachers’ predominant role in transforming language teaching is still the key issue due to the agenda to accommodate sociolinguistic competence. Components such as culture, lifestyle, general norms, history, and social situations are essential to be covered for future English teachers’ education and professional development (Sarimsakova, 2021). Consequently, teachers’ beliefs of the notion become crucial to adhere to the implementation in formal EFL context. Teachers who have been equipped with sufficient beliefs of sociolinguistic competence will find it much easier to manage their classroom and students to attain the competence. Current research by Munandar and Newton (2021) shows that EFL teachers are vigilant to keep abreast of their pedagogic beliefs addressing culture and interculturality in teaching and learning. The possession of beliefs will help teachers conceptualize their work necessary to carry out duties, which must be operated based on understanding the principles and appropriate underlying concepts (Richard, Gallo, & Renandya, 2002). Therefore, teachers’ beliefs of sociolinguistic competence must not be put aside. It becomes an intellectual and pedagogical base for EFL teachers to be able to interpret, integrate, and evaluate sociolinguistic competence in their classroom. Moreover, having such beliefs will help teachers to improve their factual, conceptual, and procedural knowledge, which are important for teachers’ professional cycles (Putra, 2019). The connection between beliefs and practices can affect teachers’ creativities and affordances to cover sociolinguistic competence in implementing Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Strategies such as showing cultural differences between students’ daily spoken language and target language, translating polite expressions to the target language, role- playing in an actual communication are examples of EFL classrooms designed to acquire sociolinguistic competence. In relation to the strategies mentioned, Littlewood (2013) has suggested developing context- sensitive communication-oriented language teaching. The CLT approach should be seen as a paradigm that aims to develop communicative competence through meaningful learning experiences. Thus, activities and drills must be developed based on the existing curriculum and should be viewed as an inseparable part of the teaching and learning process (Littlewood, 2013). Based on this view, EFL teachers in Indonesia need to include sociolinguistic competence in the lesson plan as well as the strategies, activities, tasks, and evaluation. For Indonesian formal EFL education, the emergence of Curriculum 2013 (widely known as K-13) has provided a wide-open opportunity for sociolinguistic competence. Previous studies have shown teachers’ interest in investigating sociolinguistic issues in their practice of EFL teaching. See, for example, Zaenul (2016) has listed four politeness strategies performed by his students in coping with polite expressions when interacting with older people or respected ones. The challenge remains if the teachers, as subjects of the curriculum, stay idle or reluctant to the changes. In fact, the transformation within EFL pedagogy can only be done if the orientation to sociolinguistic competence is carried out throughout the teaching and learning processes. The intersection between sociolinguistic competence and English pedagogy has been acknowledged as one of further agenda that needs to be investigated for the sake of accomplishing the primacy of language learning output (Zhang & Wang, 2016). The research aims to answer the questions (1) What beliefs do EFL teachers’ have about sociolinguistic competence? (2) What are the theories of sociolinguistics that best explain EFL teachers’ beliefs about sociolinguistic competence? METHODS The research applies a qualitative approach with a case study design. Two participants are carefully chosen as the respondent who represents two English Teachers’ Associations (MGMP) from the East and South Jakarta regions. The participants are the EFL teachers (pseudonyms as Clara and Alex), who are full-time English teachers at two junior high schools in Jakarta. Data are collected through semi-structured 193EFL Teacher’s Beliefs about.... (Edi Ramawijaya Putra) interviews. Teachers’ responses obtained from the semi-structured interview are analyzed, interpreted, and discussed using the interpretive-descriptive method. The interpretation and discussion are compared against the theoretical framework in order to synthesize underlying theories with the existing data. In a semi-structured interview, the researcher intends to probe the interviewee elaborating the original response produced by the subjects that follow their line of inquiry (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2006). Ten questions are used as a prompt to elicit EFL teachers’ beliefs (Table 1). It is expected that using this instrument; the teachers can freely express their understanding of sociolinguistic competence. The interview is conducted in English for both of the participants. The participants are familiar with English-medium interviews, well-experienced in attending English-medium conferences, workshops, teachers’ professional development programs. Moreover, the selected participants are initially confirmed earlier to have the interview fully in English. This is the way to ensure no language barriers during the session. The interviews are scheduled based on EFL teachers’ availability at school. This is very important to be arranged in advance due to research execution conducted during the regular school-year period. The researcher needs to ascertain the data collection that would not interrupt EFL teachers’ everyday activities in each school. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Table 1 shows the responses from the semi- structured interviews of the two participants. Each excerpt displays the actual responses from the two subjects when answering the direct prompt questions. The results indicate that there are similarities in conceptualizing sociolinguistic competence conveyed by the teachers. The response shows that the beliefs about sociolinguistic competence are kept long but expressed through different phrases and some technical terms. Interestingly, the choice of words to represent their beliefs gives a sign that the EFL teachers are trying to explain in a more working perspective based on their daily duties as educators. However, though EFL teachers preserve their belief in a distinguished way, the essence of involving sociolinguistic competence in their teaching practice is still inevitably concrete as a learning output. Belief number 1 constitutes a direct word to define sociolinguistic competence, which refers to social skills. Numbers 2 and 3 show a mutual relationship between teachers and learners, which explains sociolinguistic competence that must be taught and learned in a formal instruction context. Belief 4 explains the possibility of accommodating sociolinguistic competence in the EFL pedagogy. Belief number 5 shows that EFL teachers are relatively confident to distinguish between sociolinguistic competence and grammatical competence. Beliefs number 6 and 9 show the possible effects of whether the absence and the presence of sociolinguistic competence may cause several pragmatic problems in communication. Beliefs number 7 and 8 show EFL teachers’ belief about the method used to teach sociolinguistic competence and predict difficulties. Lastly, belief number 10 elicits the personal testimonies about sociolinguistic competence. The results in Table 1 indicate that EFL teachers believe that sociolinguistic competence is a part of English oral production skills for social purposes. Although the teachers described sociolinguistic Table 1 Semi-Interview Responses Clara’s responses Alex’s responses 1. Sociolinguistic competence is a skill. 1. Sociolinguistic competence is a social skill to use English. 2. Sociolinguistic competence enables speakers to speak appropriately. 2. Sociolinguistic competence makes the use of English rightfully. 3. As learners, sociolinguistic competence can be learned. 3. English learners can learn sociolinguistic competence. 4. As EFL teachers, sociolinguistic competence can be taught. 4. Sociolinguistic competence can be included in the teaching English. 5. Sociolinguistic competence and grammatical competence are very different. 5. Sociolinguistic competence is different with grammatical competence. 6. Lack of sociolinguistic competence will cause disability to talk in good manner. 6. Sociolinguistic competence can make someone lost in social interaction, perceived rude, and not-connected. 7. Teaching sociolinguistic competence must be difficult. 7. To teach sociolinguistic competence in EFL context will be so difficult. 8. Practice to speak is the best way to train sociolinguistic competence. 8. Speaking is the most effective way to teach sociolinguistic competence. 9. Learners will be able to use English correctly if they have sociolinguistic competence. 9. Learners will have many partners to talk with if they are capable in sociolinguistic competence. 10. Sociolinguistic competence help learners to use English in social context appropriately. 10. Sociolinguistic competence is useful to be socially accepted by the community. 194 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol. 15 No. 2, December 2021, 191-198 competence in unpretentious words and phrases, it seems that they have tried to link between skills of using English to social purposes and situations. The importance of having sociolinguistic competence for English learners, both subjects expressed that sociolinguistic competence would be beneficial to create appropriate interaction of using English in a variety of social contexts. The current research in the EFL pedagogy conducted by Darmajanti (2018) has addressed this caveat. The teaching of speaking should involve learners’ strategic competence through interaction to cope with limited linguistic competence and cultural factors, which usually become a dilemmatic constraint in the EFL setting. This finding also aligns with Canagarajah’s (2017) claim, which states that communication activity requires not only verbal resources but also non-verbal, multisemiotic, and modality to mediate and shape language use. Proficiency of language used does not refer to fluency and accuracy but also depends on diverse semiotic resources such as gestures, visuals, body language, and other media (Canagarajah, 2017). Furthermore, these responses also indicate that sociolinguistic competence plays a vital role in producing appropriate utterances. It proves by the appearance of the phrases “speak appropriately”, “not only smart in grammar and having a lot of words”, and “talk with different characteristics and time”. Inasmuch, sociolinguistic competence is believed as one of the important skills to teach in EFL pedagogy. Therefore, every learner must learn sociolinguistic competence in the EFL classroom. Work from the Romanian context, for instance, could be a good lesson to follow. They start to provide drills for children on sociolinguistic competence from preschool education. It is to be developed for the purpose of material design of the national curriculum (Lesenciuc & Lesenciuc, 2017). The data confidently show that EFL teachers believe that sociolinguistic competence is possible to be achieved by every learner as long as the impacts of classroom interaction and driven-teaching are effective. Learners’ attitude toward their predetermined objectives of studying English will have them be more aware and motivated to tackle communicative problems, skills, and functional activities that they may encounter in the future (Anvarovna, 2017). The findings also prove that EFL teachers’ beliefs about sociolinguistic competence are influenced by their views of sociolinguistic as mobile resources. This construct encompasses the concepts of what Blommaert (2010) has described as the phenomenon of semiotic transformation, which involves scale, indexicality, and policentricity. Another indication of sociolinguistic competence from the responses is teachers’ testimony of making an effort to integrate sociolinguistic competence into their pedagogic planning. When asked about their pedagogic plan to teach sociolinguistic competence, EFL teachers have mentioned that they have been integrating sociolinguistic competence into their formal teaching procedures. As seen, Clara believes that the teaching of sociolinguistic competence cannot be separated from formal and regular activities of English lessons. Meanwhile, Alex strengthens the possibilities of teaching sociolinguistic competence as an impact of the K-13 curriculum, requiring teachers to integrate more communicative features such as transactional and interpersonal communication indicators throughout lessons. Interestingly, EFL teachers are also able to distinguish between the notion of grammatical competence and sociolinguistic competence. Teachers’ confidence in distinguishing the two terms in pedagogical perspectives are important, especially in doing self-transformation from conventional, top- down methods to more egalitarian and bottom-up approach in ELT practices. This view is important to keep by EFL teachers in order to avoid insufficiency of communicativeness within foreign language education. Conversely, lacking sociolinguistic competence will affect the way speakers of English determine the most appropriate manner in conducting utterances during the speaking. The findings have shown that manner becomes the most prominent element to establish appropriate speech. Meanwhile, raising more awareness of local contexts in using English is also needed. To avoid those constraints, the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence as a part of a foreign language learning objective should be a must- to-do list. Understandably, despite the importance of sociolinguistic competence, EFL teachers have also stated that the teaching of sociolinguistic competence is more difficult compared to the teaching of other aspects of English, such as grammatical or lexical competence. These caveats must be anticipated by EFL teachers to make the teaching possible. Nevertheless, EFL teachers’ confidence and positive attitude towards sociolinguistic competence, as shown from the responses, will become helpful knowledge to create an active and engaging EFL learning atmosphere. As identified in the research, activities such as understanding the contexts of speaking and role- playing would effectively develop sociolinguistic competence. To make this possible, learners are expected to have more awareness and experience in evaluating circumstances when making utterances suitable for certain context communication. Baralt and Gomez (2017) have discussed how English pedagogy should be maintained in an online classroom context, utilizing images, videos, diagrams, and other semiotic resources to develop more sociolinguistic activities. In essence, both subjects could state their beliefs about sociolinguistic competence in various ways. The EFL teachers highlight the outcomes of having sociolinguistic competence to understand the nature of communication. Clara presents her definition by acknowledging social context as the keyword. Meanwhile, Alex gives more expansion on how sociolinguistic competence will be used for communication purposes. Alex also mentions that 195EFL Teacher’s Beliefs about.... (Edi Ramawijaya Putra) the community where the target language is used will affect the way communication takes place through interactional and interpersonal communication. In order to identify what key concepts of EFL teachers’ beliefs refer to, the answers from the two respondents are synthesized. Each of the responses is merged into (1) sociolinguistic competence is a social skill to use English; (2) It is important for English learners to learn sociolinguistic competence in order to be able to speak appropriately and rightfully; (3) For English learners, sociolinguistic competence must be learned; (4) For English teachers, sociolinguistic competence must be taught; (5) Sociolinguistic competence is different from grammatical competence; (6) If someone does not have sociolinguistic competence, he/she will not be able to talk in a good manner to avoid rudeness and lost in interaction; (7) As EFL teacher, teaching sociolinguistic competence must be difficult; (8) The best way to teach sociolinguistic is the practice to speak; (9) If someone has sociolinguistic competence, he/she will be able to use English correctly to partners they talk to, and (10) EFL teachers describe sociolinguistic competence as competence to use English in the social context in the community. Within these beliefs, the tincture of the current trends that addressed sociolinguistic competence from contemporary scholars in sociolinguistics can now be explained. The EFL teachers’ beliefs about sociolinguistic competence such as “a social skill to use English”, “it is important for learners to be able to speak appropriately and rightfully”, and “learners will be able to avoid bad manner, rudeness, and lost in interaction” are the grounded beliefs of what Canagarajah (2017) has called as the moves from language to spatial repertoires. According to this principle, speakers’ ability to put words to use in a situated activity and specific locations is a key to implementing sociolinguistic competence in communication. The utterances are constructed based on the indexicality of the spatiotemporal process in which meaning always sediment over time to develop grammatical status and norms. However, Canagarajah (2017) does not deny the possible changes of norms of which words may participate in semiotic assemblages to construct meaning. Indeed, the data indicate that EFL teachers’ beliefs about sociolinguistic competence align with the principle of resourceful speakers (Pennycook, 2014). The beliefs about sociolinguistic competence such as “will be able to use English correctly to partners they talk to”, and “as a competence to use English in the social context of the community” are the evidence that EFL teachers believe in the notion of resourcefulness. The wellspring of Pennycook’s points is the possibilities of practices, registers, and discourses that can be generated from multimodal semiotics and principled polycentrism. Proficiency is not based on a particular drop-off standard from a certain hegemony or nation-based vernacular, instead of bringing the variety of linguistic resources to the communicative field. From this base, sociolinguistic competence is believed as mutual intelligibility shared by speakers to complete their communicative intentions. In terms of beliefs about sociolinguistic competence and its relations with English pedagogy, Pennycook (2008) has long been associated with the term translingual English. Therefore, EFL teachers’ beliefs such as “sociolinguistic can be learned”, and “sociolinguistic can be learned through speaking” can be addressed using this theory. This view insists that language relies much on social activity, whose outcomes may be generated from communication. Consequently, individuals should incorporate themselves in communication and practices in order to build their communicative repertoires. Based on the findings, EFL teachers believe that the teaching of English in the EFL context requires ‘transidiomatic’ practices rather than English as the norm/system. The researcher can assume that EFL teachers would let their students converse with a wide range of fluidity using current English competence incorporated with the locality, non-verbal, and semiotic resources. Although EFL teachers do not deny the difficulty of teaching sociolinguistic competence as drawn in a belief “teaching sociolinguistic competence will be difficult”, it does not mean they cannot do it. In fact, the rest of the beliefs show EFL teachers’ self-assurance as the high possibility to implement sociolinguistic competence for EFL learners. The challenges lie in EFL teachers’ willingness to transform their approach from traditional grammar-translation and CLT to English as local practice. This is very crucial since the practices themselves are the processes in English pedagogy. In relation to this, Canagarajah (2017) has pointed out the interrelationship between English as a lingua franca and locality as an embedded locality with constant changes by semiotic resource (Pennycook, 2008). Drawing on the beliefs clustered above, the beliefs look normative, general and indicate several commonalities derived from the lexical definition of the word ‘socio’. It can be understood that EFL teachers’ beliefs about sociolinguistic competence are constructed from various sources. It probably comes from non-formal experiences, personal opinions, and other unassigned references such as exposure to the current classroom context. The EFL teachers in the research define and believe sociolinguistic competence as a language skill. Though there are differences of instances mentioned by the two participants, the essence is identical. Clara and Alex agree that the term ‘skill’ enables the speaker to engage in communication appropriately and socially- accepted way. Two participants stress the long-term objectives of English learning, which aim to emerge at worldwide interaction among people. Thus, having a global awareness is inevitably needed. This finding aligns with research conducted by Estaji and Rahimi (2018). They suggest that the intercultural competence for foreign language teachers needs to be imparted to increase teachers’ global perspectives about the culture and specific elements of intercultural competence. 196 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol. 15 No. 2, December 2021, 191-198 The teachers’ beliefs about the importance of sociolinguistic competence are expressed in homogenous responses. However, all of the findings demonstrate that sociolinguistic competence is important to be able to speak rightfully and appropriately in the context. EFL teachers also express the consequences of violating social norms and interaction when speaking. If speakers lack sociolinguistic competence, they will not be able to achieve communicative purposes. Rudeness, bad- mannered speeches, impoliteness, and disrespect can be avoided by having sociolinguistic competence. Based on these findings, EFL teachers are aware of the importance of sociolinguistic competence and how it is helpful to develop learners’ proficiency in foreign language learning. Furthermore, in evaluating learners’ accomplishments, teachers need to be more egalitarian to view English as a Multilingual Franca. English language assessment needs to focus more on the ability to negotiate diversity in contact (Jenkins, 2015). Essentially, the participants involved in the research seem to have a congruent voice about the effectiveness of developing speaking activities to implement sociolinguistic competence. This claim can be seen from teachers’ responses which repetitively mentioned the importance of the appropriateness and contexts. For Indonesian language teachers like Zaid (2014), the importance of covering sociolinguistic competence is highly recommended to determine the local discourse of English. The drills such as politeness, euphemism, taboo language, gender- biased discourse, terms of address, and privacy can be implemented through explicit speaking practice in the EFL classroom. EFL teachers’ interest in giving sociolinguistic competence is also noticed in the way EFL teachers warn of several pragmatic problems caused by lacking sociolinguistic competence. For example, one may unintentionally make mistakes during a conversation due to cultural and social constraints. On the contrary, the one who can speak appropriately and rightfully to the contexts will have many friends and partners to talk with. The findings of the research reinforce the positioning state of sociolinguistic competence as one of fundamental competence in language learning. Two major studies are currently conducted in this area by Rahman, Singh, and Pandian (2018) and Maestre and Gindidis (2016). Rahman, Singh, and Pandian (2018) have found that beliefs about sociolinguistic competence stated by EFL teachers cover the issue of oral and written proficiency. They also mention that activities such as getting involved in meaningful interaction and collaborative work in the classroom are grouped into the environmental incubator to exercise sociolinguistic competence (Rahman, Singh, & Pandian, 2018). Meanwhile, Maestre and Gindidis’ (2016) findings on Philippines EFL teachers’ belief about sociolinguistic competence complement this data as a congruent identification. They identify that the teaching of communicative approach is meant to put more emphasis on interaction among pupils in the classroom where the teacher facilitates, and students do most of the talking. Based on these vignettes, it can be claimed that EFL teachers’ beliefs about sociolinguistic competence are deductively formulated from the views of English as negotiated performance and English as an activity indicated by the coverage of perspectives such as spatial repertoires, resourceful speakers, and a translingual practice. Hence, the teachers’ role as the agent transformation of English as a tool to expand identity is crucial, especially when problematizing the presence of English against norms of the diverse local languages in multicultural Indonesia (Lie, 2017). Tanasale (2017) has delivered an excellent example of designing a translingual practice for English writing activities of which sensitivity to local culture is submerged with the awareness of literacy in creative writing. EFL teachers’ beliefs about sociolinguistic competence denote several grounded beliefs with emerging trends on sociolinguistics as remarked by sociolinguistic scholars (Canagarajah, 2018; Pennycook, 2014; Pennycook, 2008). CONCLUSIONS The research concludes that EFL teachers’ affordances in integrating sociolinguistic competence in their teaching plan documents are greatly influenced by their beliefs about sociolinguistic competence. These beliefs become a foundation for EFL teachers to establish learning procedures, methods, and evaluations for ELT pedagogical purposes. This finding confirms the claim that teachers’ beliefs towards ELLs (English Language Learners) can influence students’ achievement (Kim, 2021). The research also proves that EFL teachers’ efforts teaching sociolinguistic competence are motivated by the belief that sociolinguistic is important for learners. It shows that the internal-driven beliefs help teachers transform themselves to the contemporary EFL pedagogy paradigm, from traditional grammar- based to competency-based orientation prepared for contextual communicative purposes. Gorter and Arocena (2020) prove from their research that the change can be made to transform teachers’ beliefs and professional development to embrace the insights towards sociolinguistics issues such as multilingualism and translanguaging. They recommend further that sociolinguistics issues (e.g., translanguaging) need to be introduced and gradually adapted for professional purposes. Therefore, EFL teachers should be well-informed and well-educated about the notion of sociolinguistic competence and its relation to successful English learning. The research confirms that having beliefs and knowledge can help teachers to tackle problems in the classroom. As reflected through teachers’ performance during the teaching period, it shows that EFL teachers are able to contextualize the beliefs 197EFL Teacher’s Beliefs about.... (Edi Ramawijaya Putra) about sociolinguistic competence in the real teaching processes. Although previous research by Tootkaboni (2019) has argued that the link between beliefs and practices is less important than teachers’ abilities to adjust the situation, inconsistent pedagogical processes and misinterpretation of the learning objectives will always be a caveat caused by the mismatch. Hopefully, the research’s results would imply that the authorities and educational stakeholders should consider giving EFL teachers sufficient training to upgrade their knowledge and performance, especially on the specific themes about sociolinguistic competence. EFL teachers have to be more professional, absorbing current trends and issues, which are relevant for teaching. Renandya, Hamied, and Nurkamto (2018) have suggested that language teachers should engage themselves in professional development activities. Teachers must allocate time attending seminars, sharing-session, conferences, and workshops to keep updated and consistent messages and innovations in EFL pedagogy. The research has several limitations. First, it reflects the variable of the research from two selected teachers to gauge beliefs. Therefore, the findings restrict themselves from the subjective views of the participants. Second, the interpretation of the notion’ sociolinguistic competence’ might be so diverse based on the practices, experiences, theoretical underpinnings, and linguistic approaches. It probably gives a bias for the readers to conceptualize the term and understand it from the key construct of the research. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend my gratitude to the English teachers who were involved in this research. 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