CONSTRUCTING LITERACY AND NUMERACY THROUGH KEMENDIKDASMEN'S DEEP LEARNING DISCOURSE: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS USING FAIRCLOUGH'S THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODEL

Abstract

This study investigates how the Indonesian Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) constructs the discourse of deep learning in relation to literacy and numeracy through policy-related media texts. Employing Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the research examines textual features, discursive practices, and broader social practices embedded in the policy discourse. A qualitative research design was adopted, with data drawn from two online news articles published in 2026 that reproduce official statements from Kemendikdasmen regarding deep learning as a strategy to address low literacy and numeracy outcomes. The analysis reveals that literacy and numeracy are framed as urgent national problems through deficit-oriented language and repeated references to international assessments such as PISA. Deep learning is discursively positioned as a modern, logical, and inevitable solution, while teachers are constructed as the primary agents responsible for policy implementation through professional training. Conversely, students are largely depicted as passive recipients of reform, and structural factors such as socioeconomic inequality and regional disparities receive limited attention. These findings indicate that deep learning discourse functions not merely as pedagogical guidance but as a technology of governance that redistributes responsibility and normalizes neoliberal and managerial ideologies within Indonesian education policy. The study highlights the importance of critically engaging with policy language to uncover the power relations and ideological assumptions shaping educational reform.