Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Studies of foreign language pedagogy have shown that exposure to meaningful subject matter phrased in the foreign language increases both content and linguistic mastery. The question, then, is determining a subject area to import to the classroom that is comprehensible yet universally meaningful for students, and that provides exposure to vocabulary that will lead to an overall increase in foreign language fluency. This study, based on Chinese language courses taught at a community college in California, tests the hypothesis that conservation and environmental topics can serve this purpose. Environmental subjects incorporate biological, physical, and social sciences as well as daily activities in a context that matters greatly in the everyday life of today and the future. As such, environmental content contextualizes Chinese language learning and provides a means for communicative competence acquisition. This study discusses the pedagogical methods of incorporating environmental knowledge and sustainability literature into the foreign language education to simultaneously achieve both sustainability awareness and language proficiency. It shows that an environmental content-based approach substantiates students’ interest, accelerates students’ acquisition of a foreign language, and propels learners to higher levels of language proficiency and environmental competency. Moreover, instructional materials concerning environment and sustainability and reflecting the viewpoints of native Chinese intellectuals help students gain understanding of and perspective on environmental problems central to the Chinese experience.