Environmental education through language: environmental attitudes in primary school Chinese language textbooks

Jingxue Ma and Chenguang Chang ()
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Jingxue Ma: Sun Yat-sen University
Chenguang Chang: Sun Yat-sen University

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2025, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract This study investigates the contribution of language education to environmental education by analysing the construction of environmental attitudes in primary school Chinese language textbooks under the guidance of the Appraisal framework (Martin and White 2005), with insights drawn from the biophilia hypothesis (Kellert and Wilson 1993). Utilising a mixed-methods approach, the research systematically examines how attitudinal resources—including Appreciation, Affect, and Judgement—are strategically deployed to shape environmental consciousness. Analyses reveal that biophilic tendencies embedded in these discursive practices significantly enhance the transmission of environmental knowledge and foster ecological awareness. The findings demonstrate that language education plays a pivotal role in cultivating children’s emotional affinity with nature and deepening their environmental cognition through the semiotic mediation of textual resources. Furthermore, this study highlights the implications for the ecologically oriented compilation of language textbooks and the interdisciplinary development of environmental education within language disciplines. These findings may provide suggestions to education policymakers to develop institutional mechanisms for embedding ecological semiotics into language curricula through strategic curriculum redesign, teacher competency frameworks, and standardised assessment protocols.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-06006-0

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