Abstract
This exploratory study investigates the effects of integrating education for sustainable development into language instruction. Data from 24 students enrolled in a sustainability-based, sixth-semester Spanish course were analyzed. The data corresponded to a four-week pedagogical unit on climate change and climate migration framed around the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The study used a mixed-methods design. First, data from pre- and post- surveys measuring students’ self-reported achievement of sustainability-oriented learning outcomes and progress in developing key sustainability competencies were quantitatively analyzed. The analysis suggested significant gains in students’ perceptions of their attainment of learning outcomes, and growth in systems thinking, normative, and global citizenship competencies. Additionally, a thematic analysis of students’ reflective journal entries was conducted. The results were consistent with the quantitative findings regarding gains in emerging sustainability competencies. Reflections showed patterns of progression from an environmentally focused understanding of climate change to a more systemic perspective that connected environmental and social dimensions; a developing normative competence, as students connected climate change to its ethical and human implications (inequity, injustice, migration); and an expansion of global and intercultural perspectives on climate migration. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that sustainability-integrated language instruction can serve as an effective context for supporting students’ sustainability literacy and their progress in developing sustainability-related competencies.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4079/gbl.v26.6
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