Education for Sustainability: Developing Ecocritical Literature Circles in the Student Teacher Classroom

Autor/in	Guanio-Uluru, Lykke
Titel	Education for Sustainability: Developing Ecocritical Literature Circles in the Student Teacher Classroom
Quelle	In: Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education, 10 (2019) 1, S.5-19 (15 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2255-7547
DOI	10.2478/dcse-2019-0002
Schlagwörter	Sustainability; Sustainable Development; Preservice Teachers; Teaching Methods; Group Activities; Reading Instruction; Program Effectiveness; Student Attitudes; Teacher Competencies; Competence; Intervention; Teacher Education Programs; Science Fiction; Adolescent Literature; Language Teachers; English (Second Language); Second Language Instruction; Foreign Countries; Norway + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Nachhaltigkeit; Nachhaltige Entwicklung; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Gruppenaktivität; Leseunterricht; Schülerverhalten; Lehrkunst; Kompetenz; Adolescent; Adolescents; Literature; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; literatur; Language teacher; Sprachunterricht; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Ausland; Norwegen
Abstract	How can student-teachers learn efficient ways to encourage sustainability thinking in their pupils and fulfil the competence aims on sustainability outlined in national subject curriculums as a response to UNESCO's programme on Education for Sustainable Development, ESD? The core hypothesis of this project was that tailored literature circles, focused on the ecocritical aspects of literary texts, would make student-teachers aware of how they can use literature as a process to reflect on sustainability. This would enable them to incorporate sustainability thinking into their own teaching practices. The project's tailoring of the standard literature circle roles (Daniels 1994, 2002, 2006) involved the design of reading roles that highlighted ecocritical and generic aspects of the studied texts and the application of an analytical matrix developed by literary scholars researching the representation of nature in children's and young adult literature. This article presents the results of a small-scale study testing the ecocritical literature circles approach and its impact on student-teachers' conception of their own ability to meet the competence aims on sustainability in their teaching. The intervention included lectures on ecocriticism and on the posthuman debate prior to the literature circles and student feedback through pre- and post-circle questionnaires. It was implemented in the teacher-training classroom, working with dystopian science fiction texts for young adults. These texts present the reader with visions of the future. The study showed that the ecocritical literature circles, and in particular the ecocritical reading roles, were considered useful by the participating student-teachers. The participants also reported a significant increase in confidence relative to their own ability to discuss sustainability issues with their pupils. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Sciendo, a company of De Gruyter Poland. 32 Zuga Street., 01-811 Warsaw, Poland. Tel:+48-22-701-5015; e-mail: info@sciendo.com; Web site: https://www.sciendo.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01