DEVENONS ÉCO-CITOYENS: ENGAGING WITH ECOJUSTICE LITERACIES IN AN UPPER-LEVEL US HIGH SCHOOL FRENCH CLASSROOM

Abstract

Across the globe, 2023 has seen record heat, unrelenting wildfires, and flooding. Climate disasters are at an all-time high. When climate disasters happen, they are most harmful to minorities and socio-economically disadvantaged groups. Engaging in ecojustice literacies will allow us as humans to recognize the interrelationality we share with our planet and better understand the consequences those relationships can have on the well-being of all parties involved. It is paramount that schools play a role in this effort across content areas, including world language education. Nearly all upper-level world language textbooks and curricula include a section on the environment. Both the Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) level courses have themes that incorporate the study of the environment. Yet, there is an absence of research literature on what happens when world language teachers engage in discussions and work with their students on climate justice literacies. Gaining linguistic competence, agency, and eco- citizenship through eco-critical approaches in upper-level language instruction, notably, the IB Language classroom is something that should be further explored. This dissertation is a practitioner-researcher inquiry that examined what happens when students and their teacher engage in ecojustice literacies in the high school upper-level World Language class. Data was collected during the academic school year. Using the tools of critical incident analysis and thematic analysis, five essential mediated practices were discerned that begin with the redesign of curriculum, disruption of classroom norms, the development of an ecoconscientization, participation in cultural ecological analysis, and finally the formation of eco-citizens. Implications of this project point to patterns of teaching and learning that can challenge the status quo in the World Language classroom in ways that show how language teachers can directly support students in their eco-civic endeavors in addition to language learning with an increased focus on real world connections.