Postgraduate EFL instructional models in Indonesia: aligning student perceptions with lecturer rationales

Postgraduate EFL instruction must balance clarity, autonomy, academic relevance, and technology use. While prior studies often examined student perceptions or lecturer rationales in isolation, this study integrates both to provide a more comprehensive view of instructional models in Indonesian postgraduate contexts. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was employed: 125 postgraduate students from diverse programs across five universities, not limited to English departments, were surveyed on perceptions of clarity, engagement, academic relevance, and technology integration, followed by semi-structured interviews with 17 EFL lecturers on their instructional rationales. Findings showed that students valued structured delivery and opportunities for participation but reported limited feedback, insufficient oral communication support, and uneven technology use. Lecturers confirmed reliance on structured models (e.g. PPP, GTM) to manage diverse cohorts, while acknowledging difficulties in promoting autonomy, sustaining engagement, and using technology transformatively. Institutional constraints such as rigid syllabi, accountability requirements, and limited infrastructure shaped these practices, with teacher agency emerging as critical but constrained. The study concludes that effective postgraduate EFL instruction requires balancing structure with autonomy, incorporating discipline-sensitive tasks, strengthening feedback literacy, and moving from functional to transformative technology use. Broader implications include curriculum flexibility, professional development, and enabling policy frameworks to support sustainable innovation.