Transformative Language Teaching for Sustainability From Theory to Practice

This edited book is centred around the novel didactic model of Transformative Language Teaching for Sustainability. The contributing authors discuss the uses and possibilities of the model, as well as other sustainability-related aspects of language education, such as Education for Sustainable Development, transformative language teaching methods, and ecolinguistics. The book consists of a combination of theoretical review articles and practical research articles drawing on findings from a variety of contexts and educational settings. While there are many practical examples of pedagogical approaches and methods for transformative education for sustainability, this book presents a thorough framework based on academic research, designed to be useful to language teachers, teacher trainers, policy makers, and curriculum designers, as well as academics working in fields such as applied linguistics, language learning, language teaching, language education policy, environmental education, and sustainability education.

Chapter 1. Introduction – Towards transformative language teaching for sustainability(Minna Maijala, Salla-Riikka Kuusalu, and Riikka Ullakonoja).- Part I : Theoretical considerations.-Chapter 2. Education for Sustainable Development in subject-specific education and the contribution of language teaching (Niklas Gericke).- Chapter 3. Linking Education for Sustainable Development globally with language learning (Salla-Riikka Kuusalu).- Chapter 4. Unsustainability and ecolinguistics (Attila Krizsán).- Part II : Pedagogy and practices.- Chapter 5. Future visions and pedagogical practices in pre-service language teachers’ reflections on sustainable development in language teaching in Finland and Namibia (Salla-Riikka Kuusalu, Meameno Aileen Shiweda, Minna Maijala, Minna Maunula, Minna Maunumäki, and Soila Merijärvi).- Chapter 6. Sustainability content in German language coursebooks in Europe (Minna Maijala, Mareen Patzelt, and Friederike Delius).-Chapter 7. Transformative language teaching practices for sustainability among adult L2 learners of Swedish in a German university: The case study as a teaching method (Marianne Broermann, Salla-Riikka Kuusalu, and Minna Maijala).- Chapter 8. Materials for Transformative Language Teaching for Sustainability model – Students’ perspectives (Minna Maijala, Mareen Patzelt, Päivi Laine, and Soila Merijärvi).- Chapter 9. The social aspect of sustainable development in language teaching and learning – Pre-service language teachers’ perceptions of multilingualism (Leena Maria Heikkola, Minna Maijala, Maarit Mutta, and Päivi Laine).- Chapter 10. Integrating plurilingual repertoires in a multi-ethnic school – Addressing sustainability issues in Amazonia (Santiago Sánchez Moreano).- Chapter 11. Ecolinguistic Learning Modules for English language and linguistics (Arran Stibbe, and Salla-Riikka Kuusalu).

Minna Maijala is professor of language teaching and learning at the School of Languages and Translation Studies at the University of Turku, Finland. She is the principal investigator of sustainability-related projects EKKO, SustainLANG, and SeedLING. Her areas of expertise include research on the teaching and learning of foreign languages, culture teaching, language teaching materials and their reception, language teacher education, and sustainability in language teaching and learning.

Salla-Riikka Kuusalu is a postdoctoral researcher at EKKO-project at the School of Languages and Translation Studies, a university teacher at the Department of Biology, and a teaching coordinator at a forest conservation and restoration focused Nature2100 Fund at the University of Turku. Her recent focus on interdisciplinary research on language teaching for sustainability and ecolinguistic research builds on her background in ecological research.

Riikka Ullakonoja is a researcher at EKKO-project and holds the title of Docent at the School of Languages and Translation Studies at the University of Turku. She also works in project AASIS on automatic assessment of oral interaction. Her expertise on language learning, teaching and assessment has been used in studies involving the use of experimental and phonetic methods in several different languages.