Developing soft skills for sustainable development in environmental engineering students through foreign language learning

Abstract

The paper focuses on education for sustainable development (ESD) as an integral part of the sustainable development program with its main principles defined by UNESCO. The key competencies that must be developed in accordance with ESD are outlined. Learning a foreign language is considered from the point of view of its contribution to the process of attaining ESD goals in general and developing soft skills in environmental engineering students in particular that is closely connected with students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) and integrated with their expectations. The research is done on learners’ beliefs and expectations concerning studying a foreign language at the beginning of the academic year in order to choose the most appropriate teaching strategies for developing soft skills, WTC in L2 within the framework of ESD.