Environmental Education in Pre-service English Teacher Training: Choice or Obligation

Par Izabela DANKIC
Publication en ligne le 26 avril 2025

Table des matières

Introduction

1The aim of environmental education (EE) is to prepare the individual and the society for their duty to protect the environment by raising the level of environmental knowledge, understanding, responsibility, and ethics. EE promotes acquisition of environmental knowledge that leads to revision of existing and introduction of new behavioural patterns and practices. On the other hand, environmental literacy (EL) represents a set of competencies and skills accompanied by appropriate behavioural strategies necessary for adoption of relevant decisions in a wide range of environmental contexts and it also encompasses the knowledge and understanding of environmental concepts, issues, challenges, affective and cognitive/social dispositions (Hollweg at al., 2011, p I-I). The role of language in development of EL is scientifically studied by ecolinguists as ecolinguistics is “the scientific study of language in the life-sustaining interactions of humans with other species and the physical environment » (Ha, 2023, p. 231). It aims to develop linguistic theories looking at people and language as elements of larger life sustaining ecosystems and explores how linguistics as a science that studies language and communication can be used to respond to key ecological and environmental issues ranging from climate change, loss of biodiversity, food waste to environmental justice.

2The first discussions on inclusion of EE into teacher training have started almost fifty years ago and the importance of EE in teacher training has been recognized. Based on scarce research in this area, Alvarez et al. offered a literature review of existing evidence on environmental education in pre-service teacher training in 2015 and their findings emphasized the lack of environmental competences among pre-service teachers and missing components and methodological limitations in the teacher training curricula. They also stated that the studies they analysed undeniably support the infusion of EE into schools as a tool to environmentally educate future citizens. Pre-service teachers need training to become both environmentally educated persons and environmental educators at the same time and these qualifications and professional competences should be included in teacher education programs for effective EE in schools where these teachers are to be professionally engaged (Alvarez et al., 2015). They should improve their environmental literacy and promote acts in favour of the environment (Abramovich and Loria, 2015) and be trained to introduce it.

3Pre-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers should also be ready to accept their role of not only being prepared to teach the English language and culture, but also to contribute to raising of environmental awareness of their students and communities where they work and live. As formal pre-service EFL teacher training in Bosnia and Herzegovina does not include environmental education we decided to conduct a field research on whether environmental education should be offered to the future English teachers in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and to contribute to advancement of foreign language teacher education in BiH.

4Thus, the first objective of the study is to find answers provided by pre-service English language teachers whether environmental education should become a part of EFL study programs by adding aspects of environmental and ecological education to the formal pre-service English teacher education.

5The second objective is to assess the general needs for improvement of environmental literacy and ecolinguistic knowledge of preservice teachers. This objective is achieved by a descriptive qualitative analysis of students’ position on environmental education and environmental literacy in BiH based on the situation at University of Mostar, BiH. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a complex higher educational system defined by 13 laws on Higher Education: two at the level of entities and District Brcko and 10 cantonal laws as a direct result of the post-war government organization. University of Mostar is one of eight public universities offering master’s degree in EFL teaching. There are no national qualification standards directly aimed at EFL teachers, and knowledge and competencies from the qualification standards for teachers in elementary and high schools (Feden et al., 2018; Asic and Dankic, 2022).

Methodology

6We have decided to investigate data from a specific group of pre-service teachers - graduate EFL students and conduct a field research in order to listen to their voices on whether EE should become a mandatory part of formal EFL teacher training. The researcher examines the phenomenon based on data obtained from the observed population and there is “an inseparable link between the objective world and the subjectivity of the subject that cannot be translated into numbers” (Fontelles et al., 2009, p. 9). It is qualitative and descriptive as it describes the characteristics of the researched population and assumes that descriptive quantitative research does not allow for hypothesis testing although postulates could be formulated inductively because the researcher is the key instrument when data are collected directly from the natural environment (Junger et al. 2023).

7We used a convenience sample of pre-service English teachers consisting of all graduate students enrolled in 2023/2024 in the English language and literature program at the University of Mostar, BiH. They were all full-time students and were taking a mandatory general methods course. They had microteaching experience and very limited field experience as they were just starting their teaching practicums.

8The target preservice teachers (PT) were informed about this study by the professor of the methods course during lectures and e-invitations with research questions were sent to all of them (20 first year and 28 second year students) using the University of Mostar G-Suite e-classroom platform.

9First, they were asked to respond to the following questions/tasks:

1. their perceived environmental literacy (Research question – RQ 1),

2. whether environmental literacy should become mandatory for the future English teachers, (RQ2)

3. to write about their understanding of the following terms: environment, ecology, ecolinguistics, (Research Task-RT1)

4. to offer their personal perspective on environmental education. (RT2)

10The first part was followed by a questionnaire consisting of twelve questions to descriptively assess the subjects’ environmental literacy. We used the questionnaire Dias et al. used in their study in 2021 and followed suggestions on assessment of environmental literacy provided by Zoido (2011).

11At the end, pre-service teachers were offered a chance to reflect on the topic, questions, and anything they would like to share with the researcher in the form of a long answer on the research question e-form.

Findings and Discussion

12Although e-invitations were sent to all 48 students and they were also invited to participate in the study during the in-class meeting, only 8 or 16.67% subjects responded. Subjects are one male and seven females aged between 22-26. The decision why other invited students (40) decided not to participate might be a result of their non-reflective, detrimental attitude as it was presented in the previous study on students from the University of Mostar by Dankic (2011). She wrote that if these reflective assignments are not a part of the coursework or if students do not need to complete them to pass courses they are not open to reflection and are not willing to share personal perspectives because of sociocultural reasons. It could also be assumed that the preservice teachers who decided not to participate in this study did not have the required time or they lacked reflective skills to self-evaluate their knowledge and their position regarding EE. The repetitious nature of the process, a lack of reflective skills and the time are some of the most common challenges related to undertaking of reflective tasks (Kis and Kartal, 2019).

13Majority of the pre-service teachers participating in this study (5 or 62.5%) responded negatively to the question whether they consider themselves to be environmentally literate (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Self-perceived environmental literacy (RQ1)

14The same 5 students or 62.5% are not sure whether EE should be mandatory for future English teachers and 2 or 25% would make EE mandatory and one student ( 12.5%) disagrees (Figure 2).

Figure 2: EE as a mandatory requirement for future English teachers (RQ2)

15The third research task (RT1) was used to examine how the observed pre-service EFL teachers comprehend the meaning of these terms: environment, ecology, and ecolinguistics. All subjects (PT1, PT2, PT3, PT4, PT5, PT6, PT7, PT8) responded and wrote about how they understood and defined them:

Environment is like where we live and what surrounds us, ecology is about how living things and their surroundings interact, and ecolinguistics looks at how language talks about nature. (PT1)

Environment: It's everything around us, from the air we breathe to the plants and animals we share the planet with. Ecology: Think of it as nature's relationships class—it's all about how living things interact with each other and their surroundings. Ecolinguistics: This is like studying how the words we use affect how we think about and treat the environment. (PT2)

Environment - something we are surrounded by, ecology - science about environment, ecolinguistics - don't know (PT3)

Environment is everything that surrounds us, ecology is the science of the relationship between organisms and their environment, ecolinguistics would be a branch of linguistics that studies the interactions of humans and the physical environment. (PT4)

The environment is the nature we live in, ecology is the study of living beings living in the environment, ecolinguistics is the study of how languages interact and where they are spoken (PT5)

environment is everything around us, in nature, in school,... ecology is the study of living organisms and how they influence the environment around them. Ecolinguistics explores the role of language in the life-sustaining interactions of humans, other species and the physical environment. (PT6)

Enviroment- nature and people around it, socialization, ecology - environment around organisms, ecolinguistics- role of language around people and environment (PT7)

Environment is the surroundings in which living beings live in and operate. Ecology is the scientific study of environment and environmental changes. Ecolinguistics is a scientific study of language according to the environment. (This is the first time I've heard of this linguistic branch so I am unsure of my answer.) (PT8)

16Based on the replies they provided, the subjects understand two of the general terms: environment and ecology. One participant admitted that she does not know the meaning of ecolinguistics (PT3) and one (PT8) guessed the meaning of the same term and stated that this was the first time she heard about it. The analysis of RT1 responses suggests that the subjects require additional training in understanding what ecolinguistics is.

17All subjects also provided comments related to their personal perspective on EE (RT2) and their responses varied from short declarative sentences (PT2 and PT5) to a 109-word reflective commentary (PT8):

If we teach/learn about environment and nature, we could make our towns/cities/states a better place. Learning about the environment helps us understand how we affect nature and it also teaches us a lot about how to take care of it better, so it stays healthy for everyone. (PT1)

There is no environmental education program at the university. (PT2)

I think that is making people understand environmental situation nowadays (PT3)

I believe that such times have come, when it is no longer a question IF someone should be educated on the environment but rather how soon can it take place (PT4)

I did not have much of it (PT5)

I'm not quite sure what environmental education exactly means, so I don't have a particularly defined perspective on it. (PT6)

I think it is about learning about environment that surrounds us, and I believe we should have more of it. (PT7)

I've never had environmental education myself, and if I did I do not remember it. I think learning about the environment should be mandatory in every schooling facility. I'd like to be more environmentally friendly and I think others should aim to be environmentally friendly as well. I am aware that climate change is a serious threat to our society, and perhaps having an opportunity to experience environmental education would be beneficial to us, as implementing the smallest steps to reduce environmental damage is better than doing nothing. Mandatory environmental education would inspire us and make us more aware of the changes and damages we're doing to our planet. (PT8)

18The analysis of the responses shows that some of the pre-service teachers’ perspectives could be understood as engaging and proactive since they emphasize the importance of EE and its introduction to formal teacher education (PT1, PT4, PT7, PT8). Respondents PT2, PT5, PT6 declare lack of knowledge regarding the matter to be able to offer their perspective and PT3 writes about her understanding of the meaning of EE. If we are to look at responses of PT1, PT4, PT7, and PT8 from the perspective of two dimensions along which people make interpretations of the environment (Gough, 2002), we can observe their perception of the importance of collective action of making EE part of formal teacher education and its importance for the future of our society and the planet. The individualistic attitude can be detected in the statement of PT8 when she writes that she would like to be more environmentally friendly and that “implementing the smallest steps to reduce environmental damage is better than doing nothing”.

19The second part of data collection instrument contained a set of twelve statements and the students were asked to express their opinion concerning environmental topics. A Likert scale with five levels (strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree and I don’t know) was used to elicit data. Figure 4 shows the statements used in the environmental literacy questionnaire. There were three statements matching a topic and there were four topics: air pollution, water pollution, global warming, and energy resources.

Figure 4: Statements used in the environmental literacy questionnaire

20Figure 5 shows the frequency of answer to the statements in the environmental literacy questionnaire. The preservice teachers made choices to express their views related to 12 statements (Figure 5) on air pollution (S1 - S3), water pollution (S4 - S6), global warming (S7 - S9), and energy resources (S9 - S12).

SA- Strongly Agree A- Agree D-Disagree SD- Strongly Disagree IDK- I Don’t Know

Figure 5: The answer frequency to the statements in the environmental literacy questionnaire

21It is suggested that agreement with the statements (responding strongly agree or agree) corresponds to the environmental literacy regarding the topic. Based on the answer frequency (Figure 5), the environment literacy of the observed pre-service teachers should be improved. They are familiar with some of the environmental issues related to industrial waste (S6) and global warming (S8), but at the same time they are not sure or disagree with statements within the same topics (S4 and S7). The lowest frequency is measured for S4 and S11 suggesting that the subjects are not familiar with the usage of microorganisms for water purification and the usage of biogas as an energy source. If we examine all responses of the group, thirty percent (30%) of the responses are IDK suggesting lack of knowledge related to the environmental issues.

22Individual student responses based on topics are presented by Figure 6. Only one preservice teacher (PT1) provided all expected responses to suggest that she is environmentally literate. PT1 is the only student who agreed with S4, and only three agreed with S7 and S8. Figure 6 suggests that students as a group need to improve their environmental literacy related all four topics.

Figure 6: Preservice teachers’ responses related to topics in the environmental literacy questionnaire

23At the end, pre-service teachers were offered to reflect on the topic of inclusion of environmental education into the EFL training and write any additional comments they wanted to share with the researcher in the form of a long answer on the research question e-form. When asked about making environmental education mandatory, only 2 (25%) students agreed, but upon the completion of the questionnaire it can be seen that additional comments were made supporting its inclusion into the curriculum.

24Three subjects wrote their final comments:

By incorporating environmental topics into English teacher training, we could inspire students to care for the planet more and create a brighter future for both learners and the environment. (ST1)

We should be more aware of environmental protection and encourage learning more about it in school. (ST7)

I am now interested in this topic after taking the survey, and aware of how little I know. I will try to educate myself better on the issue in the future. (ST8)

25It is interesting to observe that ST1 is a student and a pre-service teacher who scored all points on the environmental literacy test and students and pre-service teachers ST7 and ST8 scored 6 and 5. Although ST7 and ST8 declared at the beginning that they are not sure whether EE should be mandatory for future English teachers, their later responses suggest their proactive position regarding introduction of EE into formal education. The reflective comment of ST8 also points to a positive effect of taking the survey as she is now aware of her limited knowledge and that she will try to correct this situation and educate herself.

Conclusions and Recommendations

26The results of this field research study show that pre-service English teachers at University of Mostar need training to become both environmentally educated persons and environmental educators at the same time. Their environmental literacy and ecolinguistic knowledge should be improved and EE qualifications and professional competences should be included in EFL teacher education programs. Since Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of 192 United Nations Member States committed to Agenda 2030, the educational reform and policies on teacher education should make it an integral component of global citizenship education and education for sustainable development (UNESCO, 2005).

27Environmental education in the ESL classroom should lead towards engaged citizenship. Curricular changes are necessary if we want pre-service teachers to develop critical language awareness needed to be able to empower their learners to resist environmentally unacceptable discourse that leads to destructive or ignorant behaviour. Environmental education should not only be taught in biology and science classrooms but should also become an integral part of teaching humanities. Teachers must be prepared to teach and make their contribution in this new eco-reality by teaching about nature, semantic engineering and green washing, eco-advertising, animal representation in discourse, discourse of genetic modification/engineering climate change, food, health, energy, waste, and other topics within EE.

28Although with limitations (a small sample, qualitative and descriptive nature of data analysis) this qualitative study examined current situation within the context of preservice teachers with implications for possible micro-ecological approach (Borge and Mercier, 2019) for future teacher professional development in BiH. The results of this field research involving one public university in BiH could be a starting point for more comprehensive study of EE and foreign teacher training programs in BiH and in the region. Particularly, in the light of recent catastrophic natural disasters that have permanently altered lives of residents in Bosnia and Herzegovina, they could also serve as a point of reflection to provoke discussions on current educational goals in a form of a panel or a conference where experts and professionals could examine roles of foreign language teachers in EE of young people in BiH and the region and how to apply ecolinguistics in the foreign language classrooms and introduce new eco-behavioural patterns and practices.

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