The Impact of Global Education on the Attitudes and Values of EFL Egyptian Students

• In Event: Diverse Perspectives on Language Education in the Middle East and Beyond

Proposal

Many universities worldwide are advocating the embedment of Global Education into different undergraduate courses, including English as a Foreign language (EFL) courses. Global Education can be defined as" a vehicle for integrating multiple disciplinary perspectives and weaving together existing commitments to explore diversity, build capacity for civic engagement, and prepare students to take responsibility for common global problems" (Hovland, AAC&U, 2009). Following a global learning framework, the purpose of this research was to find out to what degree embedding global learning into an EFL curriculum enhanced students' knowledge of global issues – such as diversity, sustainability, and social justice – and added to their agency and role as active global citizens and whether or not the experience had a positive impact on the attitudes and values of the students. To answer the aforementioned questions, an integral, multi-layer project was designed in which the students read, researched, discussed, evaluated, and designed material to investigate the implementation of one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The purpose of this project was mainly to raise their awareness and encourage them to have an active role as global citizens. Given the upper hand in choosing what to do, students came up with the idea of creating an awareness-raising campaign to end poverty, which aligns with SDG 1: "No Poverty." The students created an advocacy video and poster and built a website and social media pages. At the end of the project, students were surveyed, and their feedback on the global learning experience was collected. Data from the survey were qualitatively analyzed and showed some significant results, especially in relation to students' values and attitudes toward their global learning experience and having an active role in making a change in the world.

Author

• Laila Mohamed AbdelRahman ElSerty, The American University In Cairo