To address unprecedented challenges and collaborate to solve emerging issues in today's globalization, university students, as global citizen, are required to develop various skills including diverse cultural literacy, knowledge at a high international standard as well as critical thinking, problem solving and intercultural communication skills. English for global citizenship (EGC) is a four-credit language course required for sophomores in an international liberal arts department in a university in Tokyo. In this department, after completing this course, students choose their concentration from intercultural communication, global society and global health services.
As one of the curriculum-designers since the department's establishment and a current lead curriculum coordinator, the author of this paper reflects on the process of incorporating sustainability in the EGC curriculum in the past eight years. The paper first reviews the program's theoretical background from a Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) perspective, how the course initially started back in 2015 by covering international English and intercultural communication based upon a principle of plurilingualism, and how the course gradually transformed by incorporating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a principle connected to individual global module themes (e.g., peace and conflict, global warming, poverty, gender inequality). The paper then reports results of student feedback surveys conducted regularly in the curriculum to monitor student needs, ensure the quality of teaching and to develop the curriculum further. As one of the products of the course evaluation, the paper introduces recent initiatives of increasing opportunities for joint learning events (e.g., petition letters to world letters, poster presentations on action plans for 2030, refugee film festivals). Finally, this paper emphasizes the importance of teacher collaboration to put theories in practice. For example, to teach sustainability and global issues and content to build academic English skills in a CLIL-like language program, 10 to 12 teachers responsible for all 20-class section together created and updated in-house materials and meet for the curriculum regularly. In addition, a group of faculty members from different disciplines beyond language courses meet regularly to establish shared understanding of global citizen, international liberal arts and contents of individual courses.
As implications, the paper suggests what language teachers could do when they incorporate sustainability into their teaching while meeting other requirements to cover academic language skills. The paper will also explore strategies to further develop the curriculum by overcoming some dilemmas to meet demand from the university to connect the content of each course with liberal arts education further to nurture humanity. At the same time, we are motivated to include corporate-levels' ESG initiatives to prepare students for future career. This paper concludes by discussing how teaching of sustainability at university language programs can enhance students to prepare for skills required in communications happening in this globalized world.
