Environmental literacy in English teacher education

Abstract

This paper addresses the question of how to incorporate environmental education into initial English teacher education in Chile. A four-level heuristic and dynamic model is presented that includes environmental literacy, applied linguistics in the education of English teachers, the exosystems of governmental, economic, media and political discourses, and the macro system of cultural values and norms. The key concept of environmental literacy that includes knowledge, attitudes, and behavior was explored using a survey applied to pre-service teachers to diagnose environmental knowledge and attitudes.  Results indicate average knowledge about the environment and favorable attitudes towards environmental action. Unlike international results that mention that the school is the main source of information on the environment, our participants indicate that reading and online videos are their main sources of environmental knowledge. These study results and the heuristic model serve as the basis for the formulation of curricular proposals that include environmental literacy in the education of English teachers.