EFFECT OF ECO-LINGUISTIC ACTIVITIES ON ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND VOCABULARY ACQUISITION OF EARLY-AGE SCHOOL CHILDREN IN LAGOS STATE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20414/jtq.v23i1.14701Keywords:
Eco-Linguistic, Environment, Vocabulary, Early Childhood, EducationAbstract
This study investigated the impact of eco-linguistic activities on environmental awareness and vocabulary acquisition in early-age children. Justified by the need for innovative educational strategies, it employed an experimental mixed-methods design. Forty children (5-7 years) from a Lagos nursery school underwent a 12-week intervention of eco-storytelling, songs, and drama. Pre- and post-tests using a reliable instrument (Cronbach’s ?=0.78) quantified results. Findings demonstrated a statistically significant improvement. A paired-samples t-test revealed a substantial mean gain of 18.50 points in vocabulary scores (t (9) = -4.585, p = 0.001). Environmental knowledge also increased markedly; understanding of terms like "reuse" rose from 34% to 85%. The study concludes that eco-linguistic activities are highly effective. It recommends integrating these practices into early childhood curricula and providing teacher training to foster a generation that is both linguistically proficient and environmentally responsible.
Downloads
References
Agbeleoba, S., Orebe, O., Adekunle-Ojo, G., & Owolabi, O. (2025). Ecolinguistic and Critical Discourse Analysis of Environmental Narratives in Sustainable Development Goal Communications. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 13(5), 195–202. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20251305.12
Chawla, L. (2016). Growing up in an urbanizing world. Routledge.
Chawla, L. (2021). Knowing nature in childhood: Learning and well-being through engagement with the natural world. Nature and psychology: Biological, cognitive, developmental, and social pathways to well-being, 153-193.
Davari, H., & Ghorbanpour, A. (2025). Ecolinguistics and environment in education: Language, culture and textual analysis: By Emile Bellewes, London: Bloomsbury, 2024, 264 pp., ISBN 978-1-3502-2934-1 (hbk): £85.50, ISBN 978-1-3502-2936-5 (ebk): £59.85. Language and Education, 39(4), 1055–1059. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2024.2399090
Drabløs, J., & Stave, J. T. (2023). The discourse of environmental children’s literature–teaching environmentalism and sustainable thinking in the classroom (Master's thesis, Høgskulen på Vestlandet).
Ebim, M. A. (2021). The depiction of environment in literary texts: An eco-linguistic study of Chinua Achebe’s things fall apart. Journal of Education Research and Behavioral Sciences, 10(1), 1-7.
Katunich, J. E. (2019). Convivial English language teaching amid the crisis of sustainability: Reclaiming a “language-as-commons” orientation in English language teaching. The Pennsylvania State University.
Korenetskaya, I. N., Lantikova, O. V., & Semenova, N. S. (2020). Integrating Sustainable Development Issues in the English Language Classroom and Developing Eco-Linguistic Competence of University Students. In Digital Future Economic Growth, Social Adaptation, and Technological Perspectives (pp. 311-319). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Leek, J. (2019). Teachers perceptions about supporting youth participation in schools: Experiences from schools in England, Italy and Lithuania. Improving Schools, 22(2), 173-190.
MacGregor, R., (2019). Thematic instruction for vocabulary growth in young learners: Insights from eco-linguistics. Language Teaching Research, 22(4), 507-526.
Mihai, M., Albert, C. N., Mihai, V. C., & Dumitras, D. E. (2022). Emotional and Social Engagement in the English Language Classroom for Higher Education Students in the COVID-19 Online Context. Sustainability, 14(8), 4527. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084527
Nation, I. S. P. (2015). Learning vocabulary in another language (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Prastio, B., Santoso, A., Roekhan, Maulidina, A., Numertayasa, I. W., & Suardana, I. P. O. (2023). An ecolinguistic study: The representation of forest conservation practices in the discourse of Anak Dalam Jambi tribe, Indonesia. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 10(1), 2262788.
Sobel, D. (2004). Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities. The Orion Society.
Sobel, D. (2013). Place-based education: Connecting classrooms and communities. Orion.
Steffensen, S. V., & Fill, A. (2014). Ecolinguistics: The state of the art and future horizons. Language Sciences, 41, 6–25.
Tatin, I. A. G., Triyono, S., Jacobs, G. M., Trett, S., Bangsa, A. A. S., & Zhu, C. (2024). An Analysis of Environmental Education in Indonesian EFL Elementary School Textbooks. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 12(3), 3-16.
Umansky, I. M., Thompson, K. D., Soland, J., & Kibler, A. K. (2022). Understanding newcomer English learner students’ English language development: Comparisons and predictors. Bilingual Research Journal, 45(2), 180-204.
Wells, N. M., & Lekies, K. S. (2006). Nature and the life course: Pathways from childhood nature experiences to adult environmentalism. Children, youth and environment
Yu, J., & Sim, N. (2023). The Study of Yi Minority Language in Mengzi from the Perspective of Eco-Linguistics. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 12(6), 81. https://doi.org/10.36941/ajis-2023-0155
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Adewale Peter Sanjo , Fidelix Queensley Ifeoluwa Kusimo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Tatsqif Journal is an open access journal under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Authors and readers may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, as well as remix, alter, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, but they must give appropriate credit (citing the article or content), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. If you remix, alter, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contribution under the same license as the original.
Copyright Transfer Agreement
Authors submitting manuscripts with the understanding that if accepted for publication, the copyright of the article will be assigned to Jurnal Tatsqif Faculty of Tarbiyah and Keguruan Universitas Islam Negeri Mataram as the publisher of the journal. Copyright includes the exclusive right to reproduce and transmit the article in all forms and media, as well as translations. The Editor and Board of Editors of Jurnal Tatsqif, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Keguruan, Islamic State University of Mataram make every effort to ensure that no false or misleading data or opinions are published in the journal. In any way, the content of articles published in Tatsqif Journal is the sole and exclusive responsibility of the respective authors.
