ISSN 2329-9843
International Journal of Educational Research and Reviews ISSN 2329-9843 Vol. 3 (6), pp. 373-378, August, 2015. © International Scholars Journals
Review
Introducing environmental education in teaching foreign language to young learners
*Gökhan Çetinkaya, Emre J. Öztürk and Eray S. Ismail
Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, Kocaeli University, İzmit, Turkey.
Corresponding Authors. E-mail: g_centin@gmail.com
Accepted 20 June, 2015
Abstract
Due to growing environmental problems, the need for increased environmental awareness becomes necessary. One of the ways to help people increase their awareness is via education. It is often argued that the outcomes of environmental education are positive if it started at an early age. However, when such an education is given limited to the content of certain courses (e.g. science, biology) the benefits will be restricted. The current study highlights Turkish efforts for environmental awareness and it aims to shed some light into ways to integrate environmental education to English as a foreign language lessons which are offered at the primary level. The paper argues when environmental education is given as a constituent of foreign language lessons at the primary school, children will gain multiple benefits such as developed environmental awareness and meaningful second/foreign language learning.
Keywords: Environmental education, environmental awareness, children, young learners, ELT, content-based instruction.