Lived Experiences of BIPA Teachers with International Exposure in Fostering Foreign Learners’ Motivation at UPNVJT’s Bridge Joint Courses 2025

This phenomenological study aims to explore and interpret the lived experiences of Bahasa Indonesia bagi Penutur Asing (BIPA) teachers with international exposure in fostering foreign learners’ motivation within the Bridge Joint Courses 2025 at Universitas Pembangunan Nasional “Veteran” Jawa Timur (UPNVJT). Situated within an intercultural collaboration between Indonesian and Thai lecturers, the study views BIPA teachers as language instructors and cultural mediators navigating diverse learning expectations and communicationstyles. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, classroom observations, and reflective journals involving six BIPA teachers with prior international teaching or academic exchange experience. The data were analyzed thematically to capture the essence of teachers’ lived experiences in intercultural classrooms. The findings reveal three main themes: (1) international exposure reshapes teachers’ pedagogical orientations toward intercultural sensitivity and adaptive motivational strategies; (2) it enhances classroom management through intercultural mediation, differentiated communication, and relational trust; and (3) learner motivation emerges as relational and empathy-driven, grounded in teachers’ emotional and cultural engagement with students. These findings demonstrate that international exposure fosters teachers’ reflexivity, intercultural empathy, and professional identity as global educators, contributing to the discourse on intercultural pedagogy in Indonesian language education.