Representing Environmental Issues in Eco-ELT: An Ecocritical Analysis of a Senior High School English Textbook
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.v14i2.12264Keywords:
environment, Eco-ELT, English TextbookAbstract
This study investigates the representation of ecological concepts in the SPLASH English textbook by Anik Muslikah Indriastuti (2022), Erlangga, used by Grade X senior high school students in Indonesia, and considers their relevance to Eco-ELT. Employing a qualitative content analysis approach, this research applies Greg Garrard's (2004) ecocriticism theory to analyze ecological concepts embedded in the four report texts of Unit 6. The six ecocritical concepts examined are Pollution, Wilderness, Apocalypse, Dwelling, Animals, and Earth. A total of 25 data were identified: 5 for Pollution (20%), 3 for Wilderness (12%), 3 for Apocalypse (12%), 5 for Dwelling (20%), 3 for Animals (12%), and 6 for Earth (24%). The findings show that all six ecocritical concepts are represented to varying degrees, with Earth as the most frequent category, followed equally by Pollution and Dwelling. These findings indicate that the SPLASH textbook contains substantial environmental content that has the potential to support ecological awareness in English-language instruction, suggesting the potential of English textbooks as a resource for integrating environmental education into ELT in Indonesian secondary schools.
References
Beigel, F. (1996). The sense of wonder: Nature in the language arts classroom. Christian Schools International.
Bangay, C., & Blum, N. (2010). Education responses to climate change and quality: Two parts of the same agenda? International Journal of Educational Development, 30(4), 359–368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2009.11.011
Bowden. (2020). Green issues in ELT: A global context. Humanising Language Teaching (HLT Magazine), 12(1).
Cho, J. Y., & Lee, E.-H. (2014). Reducing confusion in inventing qualitative research: Qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis. The Qualitative Report, 19(32).
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Cunningsworth, A. (1995). Choosing your coursebook. Heinemann.
Garrard, G. (2004). Ecocriticism. Routledge.
Gorden, I. N., & Poems, J. L. R. S. (2021). An analysis of the relationship between human and nonhuman using ecocriticism in Gorden J.L Ramel's poems. Seminar Sastra, Bahasa, Dan Seni (Sesanti), 341-349.
Hauschild, S., Poltavtchenko, E., & Stoller, F. L. (2012). Going green: Environmental issues in the English as a foreign language classroom. English Teaching Forum, 50(2).
Hsieh, H.-F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277-1288.
Indriastuti, A. M. (2022). Splash: Smart path to learning English (SMK/MAK Grade X). Erlangga.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. SAGE Publications.
Mercer, S., Talbot, K. R., & Wang, Y. (2022). ELT and the environmental crisis. ELT Journal, 76(2).
Nadhlah, S. (2024). Eco-ELT in junior high school English textbook: A Garrardian ecocritical analysis. (Unpublished thesis).
Saiful, S., Kweldju, S., & Suryati, N. (2023). Incorporating ecopedagogy in English language teaching: A framework for fostering ecological awareness. International Journal of Language Education, 7(3).
Saiful. (2023). Integrating environmental education into English language teaching: Cultivating ecological consciousness in Indonesian EFL classrooms. Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (JELTAL), 5(1).
Steffen, W., Broadgate, W., Deutsch, L., Gaffney, O., & Ludwig, C. (2015). The trajectory of the Anthropocene: The great acceleration. The Anthropocene Review, 2(1), 81–98. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019614564785
Tanner, T. (2010). Shifting the narrative: Child-led responses to climate change and disasters in El Salvador and the Philippines. Children & Society, 24(4), 339–351. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1099-0860.2010.00316.x
Widyaiswara, T., Luthfiyati, D., Nurman, M., & Nadhiah, S. (2024). English and nature: An ecocritical study in English textbook. English Teaching Journal: A Journal of English Literature, Linguistics, and Education, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.25273/etj.v12i2.20825
Xiong, T. (2014). ICT or ISEE? Ideology, culture, and textbooks: The construction of environmental discourses in Chinese primary school English textbooks. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 22(3).
BNPB. (2026). Buletin Info Bencana Januari 2026. Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana. https://www.bnpb.go.id/informasi-bencana/buletin-info-bencana-januari-2026
Deepublish. (2020). Pengertian buku teks, fungsi, dan perannya dalam pembelajaran. Deepublish Store.
Rosalina, M. P., Krisna, A., & Wisanggeni, S. P. (2023). Anak-anak yang susah bernapas. Kompas.id.
Tatik, A. (2013). An analysis of human-nature relationship in children's book Julie by Jean Craighead George (an ecocritical study). Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta.
Webmaster. (2020). The impact of environmental destruction on biodiversity.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Citation Check
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Tiara Widyaiswara, Moh Nurman, Hidayatus Syifa
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See the Effect of Open Access)
