As Japan works to integrate Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into curriculums, the goals have also been adopted into English courses. However, there are 17 goals, concerning diverse topics, and addressing all of them in a single course is often unrealistic. Therefore, this study seeks a way to carefully tailor topics to students’ interest in sustainability, based on Yashima’s (2002, 2009) International Posture (IP) Scale, and additional questions to ascertain SDG importance, relation to career, relation to studies, and the perceived necessity of English for SDG achievement. A survey was given to 266 first-year university students (141 male, 125 female) in general education English classes. A separate multiple regression analysis was conducted for each SDG for the target variable, "Interest in Studying SDG in English", to determine how effects and significance of variables differed for each goal. Results showed that the perceived necessity of English for SDG achievement was significant for all 17 goals. The IP subscale, "Intergroup approach tendency", was significant for 12 of the goals. Personal importance and relationship to future career were each significant in 9 of the goals. These results suggest that curriculum design in the English classroom should not only consider students’ majors and careers, but also work to include SDGs that are positively influenced by student attitudes toward the international community.

Authors:
Kira Adams, Yamaguchi University, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Professor Kira Adams is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Yamaguchi University in Japan

See this presentation on the full schedule – Monday Schedule

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