The events during the past few years have made it drastically clear that sustainable development cannot happen without a common agreement of values. The United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030 with its 17 goals is an ethical statement which was adopted by all the Member States in 2015. The goals may work as guidelines but to transform the thinking in the world, education for sustainable development (ESD) is needed. Interaction through language is in a key role when humanity tries to solve the problems of the world. Language education has been awakening to sustainability education in various ways (Maijala et al., 2021). It has been acknowledged that there is a need to consider ethics and linguistic equality in ESD.
In this presentation, I will discuss and describe the potential of practicing Bohmian dialogue through English as a lingua franca to contribute to transformative learning and well-being (cf. UN Agenda 2030, goal 3) in the context of a higher education (HE) English course. Practicing ethical dialogue concepts in a shared foreign language may raise students' awareness of ethical communication and contribute to their well-being. This is needed when working for the ethical goals on the Agenda 2030. Without ethical communication and well-being reaching the goals of Agenda 2030 is difficult if not impossible.
I will report a theory-based content analysis of a reflection data collected from 100 students who took the course Dialogue: Constructive Talk at Work at Tampere University, Finland, in 2018-2020. Dialogue can be a way to promote well-being starting from the individual participating in ethical dialogue, thinking together, and becoming part of a whole (cf. Bohm, 1996; Kakkuri-Knuuttila, 2015). The course was based on David Bohm's (1996) and his followers' (e.g., Ellinor and Gerard, 1998; Isaacs, 1999) approach to dialogue. I will show how Bohm's holistic and ethical dialogue philosophy is in line with the Agenda 2030 goals and will report results from the content analysis of students' course reflections.
Raising awareness of ethical dialogue through English as the shared language, lingua franca, has potential to contribute to sustainable development in a way that could be considered in all language education. As dialogue skills are transferrable, the dialogue approach could have far-reaching effects in education.
References
Bohm, David (1996). On dialogue. Edited by Lee Nichol. London: Routledge.
Ellinor, Linda & Glenna Gerard. (1998). Dialogue: Rediscover the transforming power of conversation. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Isaacs, W. (1999). Dialogue and the art of thinking together. (First ed.) New York: Currency.
Kakkuri-Knuuttila, Marja-Liisa (2015). Kaksi dialogimuotoa ja niiden eettinen merkitys [Two dialogue forms and their ethical significance]. Ajatus, Suomen Filosofisen Yhdistyksen Vuosikirja [ Philosophical Society of Finland Yearbook] 71. 203-260.
Maijala, M., Heikkola, L. M., Laine, P., Mutta, M., Mäntylä, K., Rose, J. & Vaakanainen, V. (2021). Eettisyys ja kestävä kehitys kielten opetuksen ja kielten opettajien koulutuksen tulevaisuuden haasteena. [Ethics and sustainable development as a future challenge for language education and language teachers' education]. Kieli, koulutus ja yhteiskunta, 12(2). Available at: https://www.kieliverkosto.fi/fi/journals/kieli-koulutus-ja-yhteiskunta-maaliskuu2021/eettisyys-ja-kestava-kehitys-kielten-opetuksen-ja-kielten-opettajien-koulutuksen-tulevaisuudenhaasteena
