Foreign languages for sustainable development: Spanish for Norwegian Business Students at NHH

Abstract

This article starts from the idea that multilingualism is a prerequisite for sustainable development and analyzes how our teaching activity can reflect this fact. Existing studies examine how texts with environmental topics can be used in foreign language classrooms to elevate environmental consciousness, but there is a lack of research into how the teaching activity may reflect the relation between language and sustainability in other ways than the mere use of environmental texts in language teaching. This empirical study aims to fill this gap by exploring how Content and language integrated Learning (CLIL) combined with Flipped Classroom may be used to acquire skills and learning outcomes in both disciplines. Here, we analyze the pedagogical strategies used to foster the learning outcomes of sustainable development on the one hand, and foreign language on the other, in a course of Spanish as a foreign language for Norwegian business students. The results indicate that this approach successfully promotes many of the learning outcomes stipulated in the existing literature.