Huang Ruihong
School of Foreign Studies, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, China.
Front Psychol. 2023 Feb 16;14:1124909. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1124909. eCollection 2023.
Education for sustainable development (ESD) in the higher education context plays a critical role in advancing the cause of sustainable development. However, previous research on university students' perceptions of sustainable development is limited. This study used a corpus-assisted eco-linguistic approach to investigate students' perceptions of sustainability issues and responsible actors to address these issues. This quantitative and qualitative study is based on a corpus of 501 collaborative essays on sustainability written by ~2,000 Chinese university students collected with their permission. The results show that the students had a comprehensive perception of the three dimensions of sustainable development. Environmental issues have received the most attention from students, followed by economic and social issues. With regard to perceived actors, students were inclined to view themselves as active participants in the cause of sustainable development, rather than as observers. They called for coordinated action of all relevant parties, such as the government, business sectors, institutions, and individuals. On the other hand, the author also noticed a tendency toward superficial green talk and anthropocentrism in students' discourse. This study aims to contribute to sustainability education by integrating findings into English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. Implications for sustainability education in the context of higher education are also discussed.
高等教育背景下的可持续发展教育（ESD）在推动可持续发展事业方面发挥着关键作用。然而，以往关于大学生对可持续发展认知的研究较为有限。本研究采用语料库辅助生态语言学方法，调查学生对可持续发展问题的认知以及解决这些问题的责任主体。这项定量与定性研究基于一个语料库，该语料库包含约2000名中国大学生在获得许可后撰写的501篇关于可持续发展的合作论文。结果表明，学生对可持续发展的三个维度有全面的认知。环境问题受到学生的关注最多，其次是经济和社会问题。关于认知到的责任主体，学生倾向于将自己视为可持续发展事业的积极参与者，而非旁观者。他们呼吁政府、商业部门、机构和个人等所有相关方采取协调行动。另一方面，作者还注意到学生话语中存在表面的绿色言论和人类中心主义倾向。本研究旨在通过将研究结果融入外语（EFL）课程，为可持续发展教育做出贡献。同时也讨论了高等教育背景下可持续发展教育的启示。
