Development of Sustainability Communication in EFL Classroom at Higher Education

Abstract

The article aims to introduce the role of foreign language teaching in fostering sustainability communication (SC) in higher education (HE). institution. Foreign language learning enable students to analyze actual topics about sustainable development, to discuss problems, to share personal emotions and experiences. On one hand, English as a foreign language (EFL) curriculum aims to build students’ basic language communicative skills with the focus on sustainability communication when students recall gained information. The present paper analyzes the problems of SC development in EFL studies in the system of HE. The article overviews the importance of the SC development on the theoretical level as well as introduces the challenges of SC development in foreign language classes on the empirical level. The research was planned and performed in 5 universities of Lithuania, in which the respondents studying English (average age of participants was 22 years old) expressed their opinions on the SC ideas and usefulness of SC. The results of the research demonstrate that students are more engaged in topics and materials on SC and it is challenging for pedagogues to constantly update their materials, to apply innovative EFL teaching strategies related to SC in foreign language classroom. Therefore, the research findings with the embedded elements for SC development encourage educators to search for innovative ways of EFL teaching in HE.