Manifesting sustainability values through teaching English

Abstract

Manifesting Sustainability Values through English Teaching is a prime ingredient in sustainability, both in challenging the present situation to enable it to become more eco-sensitive and establishing new paradigms of thinking and behaviour which will stem from that. It can also engage youth in the prospect of their future by making them central to its design. Considering the connection of English Language Teaching and Education for Sustainability, it is important to reflect on the mission of the English language in manifesting sustainability values. International discourse in English on sustainability helps enrich students’ global perspectives and confidence in becoming active leaders and global citizens. Developing sustainability competence implies overall understanding of the concept sustainability, learning about sustainability strategies, the importance of promoting social and environmental justice both in students’ communities and abroad, in other words “thinking globally, acting locally“. The present paper aims at exploring the development of sustainability competence via English. The attempt has been made to draw the parallels between sustainability and language learning, sustainability and teaching and to answer the questions how and why we teach sustainability at the tertiary level. We also believe that building the capacity of teachers on Education for Sustainability, reformulating the curricular to reflect an ecological world view, integrating green issues of the local level in teaching material are of great importance. Being aware of the fact that promoting sustainability strategies in the English classroom is a must for raising the generation who will live in a sustainable future, we have done the survey among the VMU students of different faculties. [...]