Green Minds, Local Hearts: Weaving Eco-ELT with Community Wisdom

Abstract

Environmental sustainability is now a central concern in education, and English Language Teaching (ELT) can play a vital role in promoting ecological awareness. This study explores how English teachers in Aceh integrate environmental perspectives and local wisdom into their teaching practice, aligning with the idea of Eco-ELT. Using a quantitative descriptive approach, data were collected through a structured questionnaire distributed to 35 English teachers from various junior and senior high schools across Aceh Province. The questionnaire focused on teachers’ understanding of Eco-ELT, attitudes, the implementation in classroom activities. The results show that teachers demonstrate very strong ecological awareness, reflected in an overall Eco-ELT perception mean of 4.42. Their appreciation of local wisdom as a pedagogical resource is likewise high, with an overall mean score of 4.51, indicating that teachers strongly value the integration of cultural knowledge into English lessons. In terms of classroom practice, teachers reported moderate-to-high implementation of eco-cultural activities, with an average practice score of 3.86, showing that many already incorporate elements such as local stories, folklore, and ecological themes into their lessons, although not yet consistently across all instructional activities. The study concludes that English teachers in Aceh already embody sustainable education values through their cultural context, even without formal policy frameworks. Strengthening teacher training and curriculum development in Eco-ELT can further integrate green-and-local perspectives, nurturing environmentally conscious learners rooted in their own cultural identity.