Towards 21st century citizenship through sustainable development goals in foreign language education

Abstract

Since learning, literacy, and life skills have become essential for individuals in the information age, the focus on education has shifted to preparation of students for the knowledge society. This is valid for all levels and spheres of education including but not limited to foreign language teaching in higher education. With this in mind, a new English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Course aiming to equip freshman level university students with necessary learning skills has been launched. A particular emphasis has been given to developing the students’ English language skills so as to facilitate their communicative competence both in their academic and professional lives. The course adopts a challenge-based learning approach, which provides students with a meaningful framework for learning as it is based on solving real-world problems. In the course, the students work on real world challenges based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN) while using the learning skills (the four C’s) of the 21st Century, namely critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication. During the course, the students work together on the issues highlighted as challenges in United Nation’s report on Turkey’s state regarding the 17 SDGs, and offer solutions in groups in the form of poster presentations, academic papers and oral presentations. The course has been implemented since fall 2021. In this concept paper, the researchers will share their experiences and research plans about the evaluation of the course based on Stufflebeam’s Context (C), Input (I), Process (P), Product (P) (CIPP) Evaluation Model.