Education for Sustainable Development: Mapping Socio-legal and Eco-cultural Sustainability Topics in English Learning

Abstract

This research aimed to identify socio-legal and eco-cultural values through the participatory mapping (PM) of local wisdom in supporting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in higher education, which can potentially be applied to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning. The research involved 14 English students at a private university in Bali, Indonesia. The participants were selected to take part in participatory mapping (PM) with community members at a remote village. The results of this study are documented in two major findings. First, with their collective knowledge gained from PM, the English students were able to identify socio-legal and eco-cultural values and utilize them contextually in their report writing. Second, undertaking participatory mapping prior to completing writing tasks in their EFL course could help students to better express their ideas and strengthen their English writing skills. The insertion of two aspects of sustainability in the EFL tasks involved incorporating local values into EFL learning. Through English students experiencing PM prior to completing their writing task, EFL learning can be conducted more authentically with the students paying greater attention to the local culture and values. By exploring socio-legal and eco-cultural sustainability as the core activity of PM in this research, the study contributes to our understanding of the way in which the integration of local values into EFL activities in Indonesia makes a tangible contribution to ESD.