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Re-envisioning English Language Teaching in a Post-COVID World: Using Language Education for Sustainable Development

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Abstract

Few aspects of our daily lives, from our local commutes to the prices of international products, are unaffected by the climate crisis. The climate crisis is complex and nuanced, and thus, we need students equipped with the knowledge to contribute future solutions and resilience. At present, English Language Teaching (ELT) has invested minimally to address this issue. However, the field can play an instrumental role in shaping our future citizenry through Language Education for Sustainable Development (LESD), which is a reimagining of the goals of ELT to include meaningful content that challenges student beliefs, values, and norms. This is especially critical in a post-pandemic world, where the crisis opens opportunities to teach languages differently by incorporating sustainable development (SD) as essential content. English, for better or for worse, plays an important role in local, regional, and international policies around the climate crisis, and the field of language teaching has a vital role in shaping these future leaders. This chapter introduces the new field of LESD, how LESD can be utilized in the language classroom, and how it can be used to re-envision ELT contexts in a post-COVID world. LESD offers a path to resilience in the face of future crisis.

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Correspondence to Joshua John Jodoin .

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Jodoin, J.J. (2022). Re-envisioning English Language Teaching in a Post-COVID World: Using Language Education for Sustainable Development. In: Khan, R., Bashir, A., Basu, B.L., Uddin, M.E. (eds) Local Research and Glocal Perspectives in English Language Teaching. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6458-9_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6458-9_16

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