Climate Literacy in Education

Rethinking English Language Teaching for the More-Than-Human World

Jessica Fundalinski

Syracuse University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24926/cle.v3i1.6418

Keywords: English Language Teaching, Settler-Colonialism, Ecolinguistics, Translanguaging, ecocentrism

Abstract

This essay examines a grammar lesson conducted within an English language teaching (ELT) classroom, in which a student teacher urged the class to refer to a pet bird using the pronoun "it" rather than "she." This seemingly minor event reveals deeper implications about how language shapes our relationships with the more-than-human world, reinforcing settler-colonial ideologies. Reducing non-human beings to "it" perpetuates human exceptionalism and enables environmental exploitation. This essay advocates for reimagining ELT through decolonial and critical pedagogies, like translanguaging and ecolinguistics-informed awareness, to recognize the agency of the more-than-human world. It suggests that altering our linguistic practices in the classroom language can transform our values and relationships with nature, fostering ecocentrism and sustainable ecological consciousness.