A CLIL Approach to Integrating Sustainability Issues Into Junior College Nursing (Associate Degree Level) EFL Curricula

In response to the increasing emphasis on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) within English language teaching (ELT), this study explores the integration of sustainability issues into Junior College Nursing (Associate Degree Level) EFL curricula through a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach. CLIL, which fosters both content mastery and language acquisition, provides an effective pedagogical framework for embedding sustainability-related knowledge and critical thinking skills in EFL classrooms.

This research examines how CLIL-based instruction enhances nursing students’ engagement with sustainability concepts, particularly in relation to cultural, human, and material aspects of aging—an essential theme in nursing education. The curriculum incorporates thematic instruction, featuring topics such as “Cultural Aging and Innovation” (文老、創新老), “Human Aging and Care” (人老、護活老), and “Object Aging and Preservation” (物老、維護老). Through content-driven English instruction, students engage in interactive discussions, problem-based learning tasks, and reflective writing, allowing them to develop both linguistic proficiency and a deeper understanding of sustainability in their field.

Methodologically, this study follows a literature-based qualitative analysis, drawing from ESD and CLIL pedagogical research to propose a structured framework for sustainable nursing EFL curricula. It outlines learning challenges faced by EFL students, including the complexity of acquiring interdisciplinary knowledge in a foreign language, the cognitive demands of processing content and language simultaneously, and the constraints of limited instructional hours in vocational education. The findings emphasize the importance of communicative, hands-on, and problem-solving activities to foster sustainable awareness and professional competencies.

This study contributes to the discourse on ESD in vocational EFL education, demonstrating how CLIL can serve as a transformative pedagogical model for equipping future healthcare professionals with both language proficiency and sustainability literacy. It highlights the potential for EFL courses to function as interdisciplinary spaces, where English learning transcends linguistic goals to address critical global challenges in nursing and beyond.