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Eco-critical language awareness for English language teaching (ELT): Promoting justice, wellbeing, and sustainability in the classroom

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Abstract

Critical Language Awareness (CLA) seeks to promote social justice by explicitly calling attention to power issues in the context of literacy development and language instruction. In this article, we assert that a CLA approach to English language teaching (ELT) which does not recognize and account for the urgency of climate change and its myriad effects on present and future generations of learners is flawed. It is time ELT extends a critical lens to the role that our practices and pedagogies serve in the (re)production of attitudes, ideologies, identities, and actions which contribute to ecological degradation and climate crisis while also engaging how we may advance ecological wellbeing and sustainability. This article outlines the rationale for this ecolinguistics-informed CLA (eco-CLA) approach to English language instruction by asserting the compatibility of ecolinguistics and CLA and the intersection of social, linguistic, and environmental justice. It then presents and discusses five principles for an eco-CLA approach to ELT that can be applied to a range of language learning contexts . Finally, it demonstrates how these principles can be operationalized within ELT by presenting a series of instructional activities.
Marco A. Micalay-Hurtado* and Robert Poole
Eco-critical language awareness for English
language teaching (ELT): Promoting justice,
wellbeing, and sustainability in the
classroom
https://doi.org/10.1515/jwl-2022-0023
Received March 16, 2022; accepted August 10, 2022; published online August 29, 2022
Abstract: Critical Language Awareness (CLA) seeks to promote social justice by
explicitly calling attention to power issues in the context of literacy development
and language instruction. In this article, we assert that a CLA approach to English
language teaching (ELT) which does not recognize and account for the urgency of
climate change and its myriad effects on present and future generations of learners
is flawed. It is time ELT extends a critical lens to the role that our practices and
pedagogies serve in the (re)production of attitudes, ideologies, identities, and
actions which contribute to ecological degradation and climate crisis while also
engaging how we may advance ecological wellbeing and sustainability. This
article outlines the rationale for this ecolinguistics-informed CLA (eco-CLA)
approach to English language instruction by asserting the compatibility of eco-
linguistics and CLA and the intersection of social, linguistic, and environmental
justice. It then presents and discusses five principles for an eco-CLA approach to
ELT that can be applied to a range of language learning contexts.Finally, it
demonstrates how these principles can be operationalized within ELT by
presenting a series of instructional activities.
Keywords: critical language awareness; eco-critical language awareness; ecolin-
guistics; English language teaching; sustainable pedagogy
1 Introduction
As the effects of climate change become ever more severe, the number of displaced
peoples forced to move from spaces no longer inhabitable will rise (Goulah 2010,
*Corresponding author: Marco A. Micalay-Hurtado, Department of English, The University of
Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA, E-mail: micalaymarco@gmail.com
Robert Poole, Department of English, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA,
E-mail: repoole@ua.edu
Journal of World Languages 2022; 8(2): 371390
Open Access. © 2022 the author(s), published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
2012, 2020; Katunich 2020). Though estimates vary, the World Bank projects 200
million people will be displaced by 2050 due to climate change (Clement et al.
2021). These climate refugees will present a new and often traumatic identity
dimensionto the many educational settings which they enter, including the
English language classroom (Goulah and Katunich 2020: 9). It is becoming
increasingly clear that the ecological crisis intersects with English language
teaching (hereafter ELT) classrooms. Therefore, ELT professionals must deeply and
meaningfully engage with the role of English and ELT in the (re)production of
attitudes, ideologies, identities, and actions which contribute to ecological
degradation and climate crisis. And in doing so, ELT researchers and practitioners
must develop, evaluate, and implement pedagogical practices that contribute to
ecological wellbeing, sustainability, and justice. Though this eco-critical turn has
begun (see Goulah and Katunich 2020), our article attempts to further contribute to
the development of practices and pedagogies within ELT that promote sustain-
ability and ecological wellbeing.
In this article, we present an eco-critical pedagogy that integrates elements of
Critical Language Awareness (hereafter CLA) (Fairclough 2001) with the frame-
work of ecolinguistics, as we assert that a CLA-informed approach within ELT does
not recognize and account for the urgency of climate change and its myriad effects
on present and future generations of language learners. Our article outlines the
rationale for this ecolinguistics-informed CLA approach (hereafter eco-CLA) to
English language instruction by asserting the compatibility of ecolinguistics and
CLA and the intersection of social, linguistic, and environmental justice. We then
present a collection of principles for an eco-CLA approach to ELT that can be
applied to a range of language learning contexts and demonstrate how these
principles can be operationalized within ELT by presenting a series of instructional
activities.
2 Critical language awareness and ecolinguistics
Since the late 20th century, critical pedagogies aimed at addressing a variety of
social justice issues have been developed and implemented within ELT (see
Kumaravadivelu [2006] for further discussion). English language teachers from
around the world (e.g. Huh et al. 2021; Rodríguez Martínez 2017; Mora 2014) have
attempted to use their unique positioningto advance social justice for language
learners in their classrooms (Kouritzin 2020: 69). One such approach, CLA is a
perspective on teaching second, additional, heritage, or other languages that is
based in values of social justice(Crookes 2021: 247) with a goal to educate critical,
ethical and politically engaged citizens(Achugar 2015: 1). More specically, CLA
372 Micalay-Hurtado and Poole
centers values of social justice(Crookes 2021: 247) through the inclusion of
explicit discussions about power issues in the context of literacy and language
instruction(Achugar 2015: 1), thereby seeking to challenge the ways through
which language contributes to the domination of some people by others(Fair-
clough 2001: 193). Briey, from an ecolinguistics perspective, such domination
extends to nonhuman animals and the environment.
Indeed, efforts to produce/empower positive social change and promote social
justice for/by learners are undeniably important. However, as the climate crisis
worsens, social justice must now encompass environmental justice (Delavan 2020;
Stibbe 2014, 2021). To state it clearly, in this era of climate crisis, social justice, and
environmental justice are inseparable (Canagarajah 2020), and thus, an attempt to
address one without recognition for its intersection with the other is awed
(Bowers 2001). If ELT is to advance a critical language pedagogy that draws upon
the life situation of the learners as expressed in the themes of their reality
(Crookes 2021: 249), climate change can no longer be absent from our curriculum
and its effects on the lived experiences of learners must be recognized within
English language classrooms. It is our belief in the intersection of environmental
and social justice and ultimately wellbeing and sustainability which motivates this
article and the pedagogical approach it forwards.
Reflecting Stibbes (2014) arguments for the synergy of Critical Discourse
Analysis (CDA) and ecolinguistics, we similarly contend that complementarity is
present between CLA and ecolinguistics. In an early elaboration of CLA, Fairclough
(1992) asserted that CLA helps learners develop into democratic participants of
their societies through a critical consciousness of key [sociolinguistic] elements
within their social and physical environment(Fairclough 1992: 6). This mention of
physical environment hints to the potential for CLA to help learners reveal and
challenge unsustainable practices and ideologies in their own communities while
likewise cultivating more harmonious relationships with the more-than-human
world(Abram 1996: 95). Fairclough later more directly references ecological crisis
in discussions of CLA. For instance, he identies social justice issues of poverty,
inequality, racism, and sexism as clear domains deserving critical investigation
but also cites the unsustainable exploitation of the worlds natural resources
(Fairclough 2001: 203) as desirous of attention as well. In a case study relevant to
this discussion, Janks (2020) shows the compatibility between a critical approach
to literacy and environmental activism. The author explores the work of Greta
Thunberg and how the young activist relies on elements of critical literacy and
anglophone resources to advance sustainability. The case study illustrates that
critical literacy is viable and effective as a way of being and acting (See Vasquez
et al. [2019] for further discussion of critical literacy as a way of being). Thus,
Eco-critical language awareness for ELT 373
according to CLA, it is not enough to read the wor(l)d critically if that does not lead
to transformative social change(Janks 2020: 571).
Ecolinguistics has long explored the role of language in the life-sustaining
interactions of humans, other species and the physical environment(Stibbe 2021:
223). Studies in ecolinguistics have investigated various discursive strategies of
multinational corporations when discussing the environment (e.g. Alexander
2009, 2013; Brown 2008; Lischinsky 2011; Lischinky and Sjölander 2014), explored
depictions of nonhuman animals in discourse (e.g. Frayne 2019; Fusari 2018;
Goatly 2002; Sealey 2018; Sealey and Oakley 2013), analyzed representations and
framings of climate change (Carvalho 2005; Fløttum et al. 2014; Grundmann and
Scott 2014; Liu and Huang 2022), and much more. Insights revealed through such
research can similarly be reached through pedagogical mediation in classrooms in
which texts and language use of ecological importance are explored by students.
Such pedagogical practices are reective of the posthumanist turn in applied
linguistics which offers a new way of thinking about our ethical responsibility to
each other and the world(Pennycook 2018: 140).
Indeed, there is an increasing sense that language use, at every level, should
be explored from a sustainable perspective. At the classroom level, ecolinguistics
facilitates such an exploration. In one such sample, Haig (2001) introduces texts
from a Japanese Whaling Institute and Greenpeace to help learners see not only
what they [texts] mean, but how they [mean](Haig 2001: 206). Similarly, in Poole
(2016), second language writers have presented keyword lists derived from a
corpus analysis of blog posts from an environmental advocacy group and press
releases from a multinational mining corporation engaged in debate concerning
the possible construction of a massive open-pit copper mine. Through the analysis
of the corpus data, learners were able to identify and analyze how the two groups
linguistic choices diverged and how distinct value systems were reected in the
messages from the two organizations. More recently, Goulah (2017, 2018, 2019) has
presented numerous pedagogical realizations of language education into the
Anthropocene(Goulah 2021: 86).
Ecolinguistics provides the means to extend CLA in order to produce sus-
tainable pedagogy for English language classrooms. In practice, an eco-CLA
approach to English language education aims at identifying and promoting lan-
guage use which contributes to ecological sustainability, justice, and wellbeing.
Additionally, ELT professionals also need to enable learners to challenge the
unsustainable stories-we-live-by(Stibbe 2015, 2021) embedded in texts and
discourses by recognizing the linguistic patterns through which these destructive
discourses are normalized and reproduced. In other words, learners should be
empowered to counteract negative messages that perpetuate environmental
destruction. Through such pedagogy, learners may cultivate eco-critical language
374 Micalay-Hurtado and Poole
awareness as they develop the ability to identify language use that favors sus-
tainability as well as language use that constrains the creation of more ecologically
sustainable ways of being.
3 Principles of ecolinguistics-informed critical
language awareness
There has been increasing interest in the development of sustainable pedagogies
for a variety of educational contexts with many studies exploring how language
use in the classroom encourages or discourages sustainability (Damico et al. 2020;
Dobrin and Weisser 2002; Haig 2001; Jacobs and Dillon 2019; Molthan-Hill et al.
2020; Prádanos 2015; Stibbe 2004, 2009, 2019). In relation to the present article, the
eld of ELT has participated in similar efforts to develop sustainable pedagogical
practices (Goulah 2017, 2018; Goulah and Katunich 2020). These studies reect a
pedagogical interpretation of ecolinguistics as they explore how language use
affects studentsperceptions of and interactions with nature. An eco-CLA
approach to ELT further examines the connection between language use and
sustainability while also seeking to make the power relationships in such con-
nections explicit, thereby enabling learners to challenge ecologically harmful
practices in favor of those which contribute to ecological wellbeing and justice. As
with CLA, eco-CLA operates with the tenets that (1) learning is participatory; (2)
teaching is the guiding of participation; and (3) language is an open and dynamic
meaning-making system (Achugar 2015). With these foundational tenets in mind,
we present ve eco-CLA principles for the English language classroom:
(1) Eco-CLA presents learning as bound to the physical world and its many
human and nonhuman animal inhabitants.
ELT classrooms have tended to discuss knowledge abstractly rather than in
connection to the physical world. However, this is not the sole nor the more
complete interpretation of knowledge-making. Aristotle, for instance, held that
philosophy was the understanding of natures processes. However, the West
moved away from this view, especially through the Enlightenment, and the
development of knowledge became an abstract exercise devoid of spatial neces-
sity the mind was separated from nature, and ecological physicality became
subordinated to the abstract intellect (Dobrin and Weisser 2002). Historically,
language classrooms focused primarily on linguistic form as separated from social
and physical interactions. However, in the second part of the 20th century, as
appreciation for interaction and context emerged and communicative methods
Eco-critical language awareness for ELT 375
gained prominence, ELT increasingly emphasized the communicative functions of
language use (Brown and Lee 2015). However, ELT has been slower to take the
additional step and see the knowledge-making aspect of language learning as
integrated not only with the interaction within/between human communities but
also as the result of the interactive patterns between humans and nature more
broadly. In contrast, eco-CLA, informed by posthumanism, holds that humans are
no longer set apart from the world distinct, inalienable creatures who control the
environment but [are] part of it, interwoven into the fabric of things(Pennycook
2018: 129). Moreover, an eco-CLA approach to ELT makes explicit that knowledge
in the West has largely failed to consider the knowledge suggested by nature. Such
disconnect has resulted in environmental destruction, species loss, and the
suffering of countless ecosystems and their human and nonhuman inhabitants. An
eco-CLA approach to ELT helps studentsto understand that interactions with nature
and nonhuman animals are integral to knowledge building and to reect upon,
identify, and challenge destructive ideologies that ignore these relationships.
(2) Eco-CLA promotes wellbeing and sustainability as common sense.
Schools play a fundamental role in normalizing and perpetuating the belief
systems present within a society. Thus, as schools (re)produce the unsustainable
ways of being widely held by society, these unsustainable stories-we-live-by
(Stibbe 2015, 2021) become part of childrens worldviews rather early in their lives.
This problem also presents an ideal window of opportunity as schools can be
reimagined and recongured into spaces where sustainability becomes common
practice and common sense. This movement to sustainability can be facilitated
through pedagogy that foregrounds sustainability and wellbeing as learning goals.
In such a context, teachers guide learners to explicitly identify unsustainable
narratives in everyday discourse and to utilize their varied linguistic resources to
challenge them.
(3) Eco-CLA promotes the development of ecological consciousness by
engaging students in localized sustainable thinking.
For some instructors, the prioritization of environmental preoccupations in the
classroom may seem as an ideological imposition on students. Kouritzin (2020)
reports that some students challenged the sustainable focus of her classes as
distracting from their goals and expectations in a college level composition class.
However, Kouritzin asserts that the environmental crisis permits educators to
promote sustainability in the classroom. From a CLA perspective, it seems coun-
terintuitive for teachers to marginalize studentsinterests and desires in favor of
their own priorities, for CLA seeks to promote educational experiences that allow
376 Micalay-Hurtado and Poole
learners to resist such ideological impositions. It follows that eco-CLA can neither
promote nor produce meaningful social change if it attempts to do so through
imposition on learners.
Educators, therefore, must seek to engage studentspersonal concerns and
lived experiences as a means of promoting sustainability by inviting learners to
reflect on how sustainability issues directly affect them, their communities, and
their geographical locations (Dobrin and Weisser 2002). In addition, they should
seek to engage learnersvalues as starting points to the development of ecological
perspectives. Similarly, teacherssustainability efforts would gain from reecting
on how sustainable issues directly affect their communities and students. Such
localization is reected in Goulah (2017) in which a pedagogical unit focuses of the
effects on climate change for refugee English language learners, enabling students
to explore how climate change has impacted their lives and their displacement. In
an additional application previously mentioned, the students in Poole (2016)
explored and analyzed the language use concerning the construction of an open-
pit copper mine in the mountains only miles from their campus. In both instances,
the learners engaged with ecological wellbeing as it related to their lives and
experiences rather than as distant and abstract conditions. And importantly,
language learning remained prominent within a pedagogy designed to cultivate
ecological awareness amongst learners.
(4) Eco-CLA advocates for students negatively affected by climate change,
especially for students from marginalized communities.
An eco-CLA language classroom explicitly explores the intersection of social (in)
justice and climate change and how these issues influence the present and future
lived experiences of learners and their communities. The neoliberal conditions and
their supporting narratives that cause social injustice and unsustainability should
be highlighted for learners. The history of civil rights struggles shows that social
change comes through advocacy, and thus, any sincere attempt to improve
learners living conditions must find space in the classroom to advocate for learners
while likewise enabling and empowering learners to advocate for themselves.
Indeed, CLA seeks to help students find and create insurgent voices that question
the reality that surrounds themin order that they may understand their lives and
the possibilities which they are presented(Valdés 1998: 16). Similarly, eco-CLA
aims to empower students to explore ecological problems that affect their com-
munities and to advocate for a more just and sustainable reality. In addition, from a
CLA perspective, educators have the responsibility to challenge and expose
curricular practices that elevate one language and one culture over other lan-
guages and cultures (Mora 2014). Extending this CLA stance, educators also have
Eco-critical language awareness for ELT 377
the responsibility to advocate for studentspresents and futures by promoting
sustainability in their pedagogy and by empowering students to advocate for a
more sustainable world.
(5) A pedagogical application of eco-CLA promotes language instruction
that presents multiple English varieties as equal.
Initially, it may be difficult to conceptualize the application of englishes in the
classroom, yet before English, there were englishes, and, before a national lan-
guage, there were multiple anglophone linguistic practices (Delavan 2020). For
Delavan (2020: 34), to teach englishes, uncapitalized and nonsingular, is to teach
them additively, helping students to add an anglophone identity while still sus-
taining their other identities. Where Englishs unsustainable ideologies imposed
their narratives, englishes seek to free learners to engage sustainability. Critical
literacy seeks to make explicit the ideological nature of language use (Janks 2014),
and consequently, englishes attempt to empower learners to use their linguistic
repertoires as a way of reshaping their identities toward sustainability. Encour-
aging multiple anglophone practices in the classroom potentially leads to various
anglophone identities, as opposed to a unied, economic-driven national identity.
Such exibility, in the context of sustainable teaching, may guide learners to
develop sustainable anglophone identities and the linguistic practices that break
from the economic associations of standard English varieties.
Englishes nds practical and pedagogical realization in interpretations of
English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). According to Jenkins (2014), ELF has the
potential to function as a linguistic practice beyond so-called native speaker
conventions and norms. In other words, in ELF, every speaker of English has the
same agentive power to follow, create, and recreate linguistic conventions, as all
language users have equal ownership of englishes. In addition, ELF and englishes
seeks to disrupt the legacies of colonialism and imperialism captured in Kachrus
(1996) three circles of English model. ELF aims at enabling communication across
physical and linguistic boundaries (Seidhofer 2009), and englishes aims at freeing
English from neoliberal, unsustainable preoccupations. Thus, a vision of englishes
realized through ELF in the classroom provides learners clear sustainable objec-
tives that they can realize, shape, and enrich by engaging one another in functional
linguistic interactions. That is to say, the success of studentslinguistic partici-
pation is not measured by their adherence to or departure from established lin-
guistic conventions and the ideologies embedded within but by their ability to use
language in diverse ways that foster wellbeing and sustainability. As learners
create and modify language to meet ecological goals, they also construe their
interpretation of the world in sustainable ways (Delavan 2020).
378 Micalay-Hurtado and Poole
The realization of englishes and ELF is supported by recent trends in social
media. As noted, Kachrus three circles model points to the historical effects of
colonialism and the power struggle between nation states as a determinant of the
power of certain English varieties (Kachru 1996). However, such a model obscures
the natural uidity that English varieties realize through social media in which
varieties become detached from nationalistic conventions and standards (Seid-
lhofer 2009). As a result of social media, previously marginalized versions of
English have at times gained wider linguistic inuence than historically privileged
standardized English varieties (Mair 2017). Media is enacting a democratization of
English, and this trend, already at hand, offers a linguistic landscape for the
enactment of englishes within eco-CLA.
4 Illustrating ecolinguistics-informed critical
language awareness
As an initial pedagogical example, we present an assignment designed for a
composition course for second language writers of English in an English for Ac-
ademic Purposes (EAP) context. The assignment tasks learners with crafting and
compiling a portfolio of texts from social media platforms such as Instagram,
TikTok, Twitter, and new media such as podcasting. Through this assignment,
learners have the opportunity to engage critically with multiple texts of environ-
mental relevance, advocate for a cause of interest, identify and share possible
solutions, and call others to act. Ideally, learners should have the opportunity to
engage with such an assignment and its supporting activities for numerous
classroom meetings. Through such an assignment, learners engage with a variety
of environmental issues and have the space and support to explore issues mean-
ingfully. We present this first activity as an assignment sheet that can be directly
delivered to learners (Table 1) and the subsequent activities as lesson plans
(Tables 2 and 3).
The social media portfolio assignment fulfills the five eco-CLA principles
previously enumerated. The assignment assumes that online spaces do not permit
knowledge creation separate from the physical realities of learners. Thus, online
reflections of sustainable issues are promotions of natural physical experiences.
This point is rather important for interaction in online spaces is often seen as
distinct and separate from real lifephysical spaces. It is important to explicitly
address the role of the internet not as an escape from reality but as a space to
negotiate more sustainable interactions with the physical world. In addition, for
learners to fulfill the assignment expectations, they need to identify and be aware
Eco-critical language awareness for ELT 379
of unsustainable narratives in order to effectively challenge their reproduction.
Moreover, learners themselves choose multiple localized sustainability issues to
discuss in their assignments. Learners also get to advocate for themselves or for
others as part of the assignment. And finally, the nature of online genres allows for
the realization of englishes and ELF as the language employed by students exists
beyond reied academic genres in a space where conventions and norms are ever
in ux.
The second pedagogical example (Table 2) aims at encouraging learners to
engage with nature experientially. As with the previous example, this activity was
designed for a composition course for EAP learners. However, the activitys
simplicity makes it particularly easy to adapt to a wide range of learning contexts
Table :Eco-CLA activity : Using online genres to promote sustainability.
Social Media Portfolio
This assignment engages wi th social media as a way of promoting sustainabilit yand wellbeing.
The rst step is to select a topic of environmental relevance and interest. While you may explore
issues such as deforestation of the Amazon,the development andadoption of renewable energies,
the conditions of climate change refugees, you are encouraged to localizethe issue to our com-
munity. For example, while you could explore the topic of renewable energy, you could localize it by
connecting the topic to how our school, community, or region engages with renewable sources of
energy. Once you have selected and investigated your topic, you will completethree of the following
social media tasks:
1. Advocacy on Instagram: This is your chance to advocate for more sustainable practices within
your community. For the task, you will compose an Instagram post that raises awareness and/
or proposes solutions for your topic. Your post must include an image related to your cause
and a caption of 250 words or less that has a clearly articulated goal.
2. TikTok Solutions: This is your opportunity to conceive a solution for a sustainable issue related
to your topic. Through a TikTok post, briey introduce the issue and offer a practical solution.
For this mini project, you may rely on TikToks many tools for developing a problem-solution
narrative.
3. Informational Podcast: As you have now researched your topic, you are now our expert on the
issue. This podcast is your opportunity to inform your listeners about the ins and outs of your
topic. In a 5 min mini-podcast, inform your listeners about the facts and details that make your
topic relevant in todays world.
4. Call-to-action Tweet: This is your opportunity to leave a lasting impression on our audience. In
a tweet, formulate an inspiring call to action that is related to your topic.
The goal of your social media portfolio is to help you explore different online genres and under-
stand their potential for making public arguments concerning issues of environmental relevance.
A successful portfolio creatively maximizes the features of each genre to promote interest, raise
awareness, and prompt action regarding your issue.
380 Micalay-Hurtado and Poole
Table :Eco-CLA activity : Promoting an experiential understanding of nature.
Scientic Writing versus Nature Poetry
This activity aims at helping learners distinguish between experiencing nature versus quantifying
nature. The activity asks learners to compare messages about nature embedded in nature poetry
and those communicated in scientic news articles and how each genre suggests a different way
of relating to the natural world. The activity follows these basic steps:
1. Theteacher pairs students andasks each pair to read a scientic news article and a nature poem.
Ideally, both texts should discuss the same topic. For instance, we recommend the article How
Rivers Regulate Global Carbon Cycle from Science Daily and the poem Autumn River Song by Li
Bai as good ts for the EAP context. However, a more informal source of scientic writing may
help the success of the activity in other pedagogical contexts. Students should have at least
10 min to read the assigned texts.
2. The teacher then asks the student pairs to discuss for 5 min what each respective text has to
say about nature. The teacher shows learners a set of questions to guide discussions through
the different perspectives exemplied in each text. We suggest the following questions:
What ideas are discussed in the poem/scientic news article?
What is the purpose of the poem/scientic news article?
What audiences are more likely to read the poem/scientic news article?
How would you describe the language used in the poem/scientic news article?
3. As a transition, the teacher says something in the lines of as we can see, both texts, while
discussing the same topic, communicate different things about it. It is important that
educators explicitly raise awareness about the different types of nature messages common to
each genre.
4. At this point, through a class discussion, the teacher should guide students to the realization
that scientic articles tend to communicate about nature in non-experiential ways and how
this perspective tends to be dominant in the way people engage with the natural world. In
addition, the teacher should explain how poems are often experientialgenres as they engage
the readersfeelings and that poems can help us get closer to nature and experience it.
Moreover, the teacher should encourage learners to problematize understanding nature
only in taxonomical ways rather than also interpreting nature through our senses.
5. The teacher, if possible, invites learners on a walk to a nearby location, such as a park or garden,
where learners can focus on the natural world. The teacher then invites them to focus on how one
of their senses interprets nature, for instance, the feeling of holding a blossoming ower. The
teacher then invites learners to write a haiku about this experience. For simplicity, haikus
could be described as short three-line poems that focus on the impact of a single moment. To
exemplify the exercise, the teacher can read the haiku An Ancient Pond! by Matsuo Basho.
Students should have at least 15 min for this activity. Alternatively, in case mobility is limited,
the teacher can bring plants to the classroom or ask learners to write the haikus based on
previous experiences with nature.
6. After the activity,and back in the classroom, the students andthe teacher will discuss together
the many ways in which writing haikus helped the class experience nature.
Eco-critical language awareness for ELT 381
and for a variety of language prociency levels. While the present activity consists
of a comparison between scientic writing and nature poetry, likely most appro-
priate for high intermediate and advanced prociency students, texts could be
differently selected to reect the needs of other settings and learners.
At the heart of the activity is the comparison of how two text types commu-
nicate differently about the same topic. In this sample, the teacher leads a simple
genre analysis of the poem and scientific news article about the same topic. Af-
terward, the teacher and learners evaluate how each text communicates different
qualities about the same topic. The goal is for learners to realize that scientific
writing often nominalizes and thus commodifies and quantifies the natural world
while different forms of language use may promote more experiential qualities
through their presentation of the physical world through actions and processes.
This invites learners to consider nature beyond the taxonomical discourse most
often presented to them in academic and science texts. In addition, it invites
learners to commune with nature and to experience it more closely, a delight aptly
communicated by poetry. While the first activity illustrated an actual assignment
to be delivered to learners, the following presents an activity along with sugges-
tions for instructors on how to implement or adapt them for their specific class-
room contexts.
The second activity also fulfills the eco-CLA principles discussed in this article.
The activity promotes the physical epistemology outlined in the first principle by
asking learners to rely on their senses to experience nature and write poetry about
it. In addition, the assignment encourages the notion that understanding nature
through experience is common sense. In part, the assignment accomplishes this by
challenging the taxonomical epistemology of scientific writing. Moreover, poetry
offers learners creative freedom and allows them to localize the activity by writing
about their own experiences with nature. Finally, the creative allowances of poetry
encourage learners to extend their language use beyond Standard American
English and practice englishes. This should be highlighted in comparison to the
communicative affordances that scientic writing offers learners.
The last pedagogical illustration (Table 3) focuses on presenting sustain-
ability as common sense and challenging unsustainable narratives. As with the
previous two activities, this illustration was designed for an EAP context, but,
once again, this activity may be easily adapted to t different learning contexts.
The activity targets the notion that humans are inherently separate from the rest
of the natural world, as humanity is often conceptualized outside of the animal
kingdom, and human affairs are seen as separate from those of nature. To
counter this narrative, the present activity aims at helping learners see them-
selves and humanity in general as part of the circle of life. In addition, to high-
light the creative potential of art-related genres, learners will adapt a well-known
382 Micalay-Hurtado and Poole
Table :Eco-CLA activity : Challenging unsustainable narratives.
The Circle of Life
This activity asks learners to study the message and genre characteristics of Elton Johns song The
Circle of Life.InThe Lion King, the song, as interpreted through the movie, introduces birth as a
special event that connects the animal kingdom. The goal of the assignment is to help learners
notice the interdependency between nonhuman animals referred to in the moviessong.The
assignment also prompts students to realize that humans are missing from the movies depiction
of the circle of life. From this realization, learners can reframe the message of the song to t the
sustainable understanding that humans are part of nature, and their lives should sustain, rather
than destroy, the lives of nonhuman animals. Moreover, this assignment offers learners the
opportunity to challenge anthropomorphic depictions of nonhuman animals in popular media and
to consider the effects of such representations on the way humans think about and interact with
other animals.
1. The teacher plays The Circle of Life scene from The Lion King or the Broadway performance.
Then, the teacher asks students to take 5 min to discuss in pairs the message of the song and
how the video or Broadway performance helps to communicate this message. The teacher then
asks students to share their ideas with the class.
2. Once the students have interpreted the songs performance, the teacher builds on students
ideas to show them that the song and its performance portrays the sustainable message that
the animal kingdom is interconnected and interdependent. At this point, the teacher also dis-
cusses with learners the elements in the song and its performance that help to communicate the
sustainable message; the goal is to help learners understand the rhetorical characteristicsthat
make the songs message effective. In addition, the teacher mentions that the songs perfor-
mance is partly compelling becauseit assigns human characteristics to nonhuman animals.The
class then discusseswhy this is an appealingrhetorical move, but that it potentially represents
nonhuman animal life in a problematic way through anthropomorphizing nonhuman animals.
This activity could be adapted to other learning contexts by deemphasizing rhetorical charac-
teristics and by emphasizing lexicogrammatical elements in the content material.
3. The teacher explains that genres such as songs, music videos, and Broadway performances
allow for great creative exibility. The teacher mentions The Circle of Life as an example of how
genres, despite their formal characteristics, can allow for a great degree of creativity.
4. The teacher points out that the songs video does not include humans as part of the circle of
life. The teacher discusses with learners the effects of messages that separate humans from
nature and nonhuman animals. At this point, the goal is to show how human separation from
nature has had terrible consequences for the environment. This is also an opportunity to dene
and introduce the concept of the Anthropocene as anera in which human enterprisehas failed to
see the need for harmony between humans and nature.
5. Learners are placed in small groups and asked to re-write TheCircle of Life in a way that includes
humans into the circle of life. Of course, the new version must reect the genres creative
potential and, thus, encourage linguistic exibility. Learners should have at least 15 min for
this activity. In the end, the teacher asks the groups to share their new version of the song
with the rest of the class.
Eco-critical language awareness for ELT 383
song to t the sustainable perspective advanced through this activity. Thus, the
activity promotes a more sustainable interpretation of the relationships between
humans and nature.
The last activity also fulfills eco-CLA principles outlined in this article. The
activity presents birth, life, and death as physical realities that bound every
creature, humans included. Thus, the activity introduces an epistemology of
physicality as necessary to understanding the role of humanity in the world and to
understanding how humans relate to other creatures. Moreover, the assignment
seeks to make sustainability common sense. It tries to show learners that what they
do directly affects nature and that they depend on nature for their survival.
Moreover, it encourages a symbiotic relationship between humanity and nature, a
logic often contrary to human action. In addition, the assignment is localized by
engaging a popular movie and a popular song, appealing to learnersinterests, and
giving them the opportunity to problematize this popular depiction of nonhuman
animal life. Finally, the creative nature of the genres engaged in the activity pro-
motes englishes and the development of sustainable anglophone identities.
Though diverging in some sense from the previous assignments, there is also
the potential to implement corpus-assisted activities within the eco-CLA frame-
work. Such activities would enable students to identify and critique prevailing
language patterns deemed destructive to ecological wellbeing and sustainability.
Corpus-assisted activities could serve as platforms for a range of conversations of
ecological relevance, as students are able to visualize how certain patterns of
language use, whether deemed positive or negative for ecological wellbeing,
function broadly within discourse. For example, in Poole (2022), students engage
in activities focused on the use of climate change and global warming. In the
activity, learners view an excerpt of the climate change documentary An Incon-
venient Truth, read an article from The Guardian regarding the change in use of the
two terms, and then explore within the Corpus of Contemporary American English
(Davies 2008) how the frequency of use of the terms has shifted since the 1990s.
Through identifying, analyzing, and reporting ndings, students engage with how
language use can shape our perceptions of issues of environmental importance.
In an additional contribution, Poole (forthcoming) more fully asserts the case
for corpus-assisted eco-pedagogy. In the corpus-assisted activities, learners
explore the varying representations of wilderness by identifying common adjective
collocates used with the term; such an investigation could be reproduced through
investigations of other eco-keywords such as trees, forests, animals, etc. The
chapter also suggests means for exploring terms such as disposable that reect
single-use consumerist culture that contributes to ecological degradation. Finally,
the chapter demonstrates how nominalizations such as pollution can be explored
by learners to highlight language use practices that obscure and/or diffuse
384 Micalay-Hurtado and Poole
responsibility for ecological harm. Such language-focused activities as made
possible through corpus-assisted activities provide a platform to engage in eco-
critical analysis and reection of language of ecological importance.
5 Conclusion
The proliferation of English and its associated ideologies have an undeniable
impact on the environment. As Delavan (2020) asserts, the current sustainability
crisis speaks English. While we are certainly not the rst to make such a call, we
contend there is an urgent need for ELT to extricate itself from practices which
perpetuate ecological degradation and to seek more eco-conscious practices and
pedagogies that contribute positively to ecological wellbeing, sustainability, and
justice. Without new forms of sustainable education, the stories-we-live-by
(Stibbe 2015, 2021) which have manifested the present climate crises will continue
to proliferate. As Halliday (2001 [1990]) once asserted, applied linguists (in which
we include language educators), not just the chemists, biologists, and physicists,
have a role to play in the formation of a more sustainable future. Language edu-
cators are well positioned to make meaningful contributions (Delavan 2020), and it
is time for ELT practitioners to implement eco-critical pedagogical approaches to
enable and empower language learners to shape a more just and sustainable
future.
We acknowledge that as English language teachers we participate in and are
embedded within the systems which have produced climate change and are
therefore implicated in the crisis. Undeniably, we have operated within the stories
enumerated by Stibbe (2015, 2021), yet we seek new ways of being in our personal
and professional lives which can contribute positively to ecological wellbeing.
Such work begins with ourselves as individuals and as language teachers. We, the
authors, also recognize that as language teachers in the US we reside in a country
whose citizens have contributed signicantly to the ecological crisis, yet which has
the economic resources to somewhat adapt to the effects of climate change.
Additionally, the climate change refugees and language learners who would
possibly be present in the classrooms in which such an eco-CLA pedagogy would
be implemented in contrast have most likely contributed little to the crisis while
being immensely impacted. We are cautious not to present ourselves as saviors, as
possessors of the answers, as having the solutions to the crisis. We do though aim
to acknowledge this positionality, recognize our role in regard to the crisis, and
contribute in some positive way to a more sustainable and just world in which all
humans and nonhumans can experience wellbeing. By operationalizing our
background as applied linguists, ecolinguists, and language teachers, we hope to
Eco-critical language awareness for ELT 385
bring our collection of skills and knowledge to a problem requiring contributions
from all. Finally, we acknowledge that we draw mainly from US-based scholars.
This is a shortcoming of our present work and one which we aim to address as we
move forward in this space.
The pedagogical integration of ecolinguistics and CLA outlined and illustrated
in our article offers a potential framework for realizing a sustainable approach to
English language learning and use. The sample pedagogical activities illustrate the
possibility of a more ecologically sustainable approach to English language
teaching and learning. Indeed, many other eco-CLA activities that foster language
acquisition while heightening learnersecological awareness are possible. The
activities presented in this article utilize the affordances of various technologies
from social media to corpora to encourage learners to engage critically with the
issues and language use of ecological importance. However, the use of technolo-
gies for the development of sustainable pedagogy merits further empirical and
theoretical exploration. At times, pedagogical discussions about technology praise
the affordances of online spaces for achieving a range of language learning out-
comes as if technology were the simple solution to all our educational challenges.
Generally absent is careful consideration of how such implementation of tech-
nology in the classroom affects perceptions of and interactions with the natural
world by learners. We are mindful that technology must be implemented with
much care and thought, and we are wary that by promoting technologies and
online worlds we simultaneously distance learners from the physical spaces of the
natural world in their communities. In future research, we aim to further explore
how online spaces and physical realities may be imagined as symbiotic ecosystems
in which ecological awareness can be heightened and developed.
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... In one assignment, students compared scientific writing with nature poetry on the same topic about nature to contrast the ideas, purposes, audiences and language based on the use of literary languaging (Micalay-Hurtado and Poole, 2022). This resulted in students perceiving how poetry connects them directly with nature rather than scientific writing. ...
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Article
Purpose This paper posits the need for English language arts (ELA) teachers to foster students’ use of languaging about their relations with ecosystems and peers, leading to their engaging in collective action to critique and transform status-quo systems impacting the climate crisis. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviews the current theory of languaging theory and research that focuses on the use of languaging to enact relations with ecosystems and others and voice emotions for transforming communities and reducing emissions contributing to climate change. Findings This review of languaging theory/research leads to identifying examples of teachers having students critique the use of languaging constituting status quo energy and community/transportation systems, respond to examples of characters using languaging in literary texts, using languaging in discussing or writing about the need to address climate change, critiquing languaging in media promoting consumption, using media to interact with audiences and using languaging through engaging in role-play activities. Originality/value This focus on languaging in ELA classrooms is a unique perspective application of languaging theory, leading students to engage in collective, communal action to address the climate crisis.
... This is in accordance with the concept built by Micalay-Hartodo, Poole, Saiful that combining English language learning with the environment can be an alternative learning solution that increases knowledge, English language skills and environmental By strengthening environmental literacy in senior high schools, this research has the potential to have an instructional and long-term impact in shaping students' attitudes, knowledge and behavior towards the environment in Dompu regency in particular, and Indonesia and the world in general. Thus, this study aims to fill the gap in academic literature and teaching practice by presenting concrete solutions to improve environmental literacy through the development of innovative and relevant teaching materials that are valid, practical and effective (Micalay-Hurtado & Poole, 2022;Saiful, 2023). Therefore, it is possible for students to learn English while increasing knowledge about environmental issues that are relevant to the regional context and the environment where students live. ...
... Students need constructive feedback on their progress in learning English through environment-based activities. Regular evaluation can help identify students' strengths and weaknesses, so that teachers can adjust teaching methods and materials according to students' needs (Micalay-Hurtado & Poole, 2022). This approach will ensure that every student gets the attention and support needed to achieve proficiency in English while understanding the importance of protecting the environment. ...
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This research aims to analyze the need for developing English teaching materials using the Eco-ELT (Ecological English Language Teaching) approach to increase environmental literacy among high school students in Dompu Regency. There are three main focuses in this research: (1) students' English learning characteristics, (2) students' English learning needs, and (3) obstacles faced by teachers in implementing environment-based learning. The research method used is a qualitative descriptive method, with data collection through interviews. The research results show that students have various learning characteristics which are influenced by motivation, teaching methods, and the availability of learning resources. Students need relevant, contextual and interactive learning materials to improve practical skills in English. In addition, it was found that teachers face a number of obstacles, including a lack of adequate facilities, resources and professional training. Thus, this research concludes that there is an urgent need to develop English language teaching materials based on Eco-ELT. This approach not only helps in improving students' English language skills but also fosters environmental awareness and literacy among high school students in Dompu Regency. The implications of these findings can be the basis for developing more effective and sustainable curriculum and learning strategies.
... Younger generations are increasingly concerned about the future of life on Earth and vigorously demand that world leaders focus on the implementation of solutions to the problem (Gjersoe et al. 2020). This has inspired movements toward centering environmental education, intercultural awareness, and connection with nature in English language teaching d (ELT), often by specifically addressing the issue of climate change in the second language (L2) curriculum (Appleby 2017;Micalay-Hurtado and Poole 2022;Mueller and Pentón Herrera 2023). And while both climate change education (CCE) and social-emotional learning (SEL) have been recognized as effective strategies for developing learners' ecoliteracy, intercultural empathy, and emotional awareness, these critical approaches are not often prioritized in the classroom (Goff 2018;Kwauk and Casey 2021;Ojala 2023). ...
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