International Journal of Literacy and Education

Eco-linguistics has been developed as an interdisciplinary subject, which analyses dynamic interaction of language, ecology, and environmental sustainability. The paper under review examines the influence of the English language in creating, propagating and challenging the environmental discourse within the social, educational, political, and media practices. Based on some of the essential theoretical frameworks including ecological discourse analysis, critical discourse studies, and linguistic ecology, the paper brings to our attention the manner in which linguistic decisions made in English affect environmental awareness, values, and behaviors. The review shows that English as a global lingua franca is at the core of framing environmental issues, creating discourses of climate change, destruction of biodiversity, and sustainability, as well as justifying certain ideologies and power relations. Special care is taken in relation to metaphors, evaluative speech, framing approaches, and story lines that either facilitate ecological accountability or support anthropocentric and exploitative perceptions of the world. Moreover, the review also mentions increased usage of eco-linguistics in the English language education, where the environmentally-oriented material is employed to improve the linguistic and ecological literacy. Empirical research findings in recent past show that incorporation of eco-linguistic principles in learning English can help learners develop critical thinking and pro environmental attitudes. Although it is becoming more relevant, the discipline encounters issues to do with methodological diversity, less cross-cultural attitudes, and the prevalence of Global North discourses. The verdict of this review is that eco-linguistics within English offers an effective approach to the analytical and pedagogical approach to studying and re-structuring environmental discourse, and that more context-provocative, multilingual and action-based research is needed to aid the cause of global sustainable actions.