Ecopedagogy in Educational Research with Reflections for ELT: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Protecting the environment has become a prominent issue globally in recent years. It is now obvious that careless use of environmental resources will result in social, economic, and environmental problems. At this point, it is important to integrate environmental issues into education. Therefore, by conducting a bibliometric analysis of the literature on ecopedagogy , the purpose of this study is to review and determine the significance of ecopedagogy in the field of education, particularly language teaching. This study adds significantly to the existing research on ecopedagogy by analyzing the current situation, pointing out areas that requires improvement, and outlining potential directions for future research. The study entailed keywords related to the ecopedagogy and English language teaching during the period of 2014 to 2024 in the Web of Science platform (SSCI, SCI, SCI-E, and AHCI). Data was gathered by a data extraction table from 374 articles. This extended bibliometric analysis reveals notable insights in the field of ecopedagogy. The findings indicate that ecopedagogy is crucial for equipping students to address global challenges, including biodiversity loss, environmental justice, and climate change. The study highlights the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, and that an actual collaboration of pedagogy, environmental science, social studies and languages can contribute considerably to improvement of ecopedagogical research and practice. Nonetheless, the analysis also reveals regional and thematic gaps in ecopedagogy research suggesting a need for more studies exploring ecopedagogical theories and practices in different cultural and socioeconomic contexts. This type of research would provide further evidence for the worldwide effectiveness of ecopedagogy to encourage students to actively engage in sustainability and social justice issues in their communities.