Incorporating Global Citizenship Education into the ESL Instruction: Evidence from Undergraduate Learners

Abstract

This study investigates the integration of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) themes within a university-level English as a Second Language (ESL) course to foster both global citizenship awareness and English proficiency. Grounded in transformative pedagogy and Kolb’s experiential learning cycle, the course engaged first-year undergraduates in GCE-themed modules and collaborative activities. Outcomes were assessed through pre- and post-course questionnaires, automated linguistic analysis (Coh-Metrix) of pre/post reflection video transcripts, supplemented by focus group interviews. While no statistically significant changes were observed in global citizenship awareness as measured by the questionnaire, qualitative feedback indicated positive shifts in students’ attitudes and behaviors, including increased ethical engagement. Coh-Metrix analysis revealed substantial improvements in syntactic complexity, textual cohesion, and the use of concrete vocabulary, alongside a shift toward a more objective, academic style in oral reflections. These results suggest that embedding GCE themes in ESL instruction fosters multidimensional language development and behavioral engagement, even when measurable gains in global citizenship awareness are modest.