The Potential for Integrating Education for Sustainable Development into Reading Comprehension Instruction through Early Twenty-First-Century East Asian Literary Texts in Upper Secondary Literature and Language Arts Textbooks

Abstract

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is an important orientation for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In Vietnam, ESD integration into teaching and learning has received increasing attention. Literature and Language Arts offers favorable conditions for implementing this orientation. In particular, the upper secondary Literature and Language Arts textbooks developed under the 2018 General Education Curriculum include early twenty-first-century East Asian literary texts that address contemporary issues and show cultural proximity, creating favorable conditions for ESD integration. This qualitative study analyzes documents on ESD integration in education and early twenty-first-century East Asian literary texts included in upper secondary Literature and Language Arts textbooks under the 2018 General Education Curriculum. The texts were examined to identify representation of sustainable development issues based on the interpretive possibilities of the texts. These issues were then linked to the corresponding SDGs among the 17 goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015. On this basis, the study identifies the potential for ESD integration in reading comprehension instruction for each literary text according to how sustainable development issues are represented. The findings were used to assess the potential for ESD integration in reading comprehension instruction through these literary texts. The study contributes to providing a scholarly basis for integrating ESD into the Literature and Language Arts, and clarifies the potential of early twenty-first-century East Asian literature for achieving interdisciplinary educational goals in schools.