TEACHERS PERCEPTION OF INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH CLIL AT THE PRIMARY LEVEL ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS IN BANGLADESH

Being one of the signatories of the United Nations (2015) Sustainable Development Goals, Bangladesh is committed to achieving the goals which is also the demand of time in this 21st century. To attain sustainability for a habitable future, teaching sustainability is a mustthat is possible to achieve in the English language classroom.The research paper aims to find teachers perceptions of ensuring teaching sustainability in the English language classroom at the primary level of education in Bangladesh. It analyses the contents of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) approved English textbook of Class-V to see how many of them align with the criteria of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). It also tries to identify the pedagogy of English language teaching at the primary level from the teachers perspectives so that the researchers can also comprehend their perceptions of students current learning outcomes. The study grounded on the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach is mixed method research that is descriptive in type. Content analysis, surveys, and interviews of teachers are done to collect the data. The research involves 4 primary school teachers in Bangladesh to understand their perception of teaching sustainability and students sustainability awareness along with their language skills. In this research, the purposive sampling of non-probability sampling has been used. The study finds teachers positive approach to ensuring teaching sustainability following the existing textbook. However, their mixed perception is uncovered about integrating CLILfor building an advantageous situation for both teachers and students to result in order toachievesustainable goals and prepare students better for the future.