1. Baran Nazami

Sustainable Educational Innovation through Digital Pragmatics: Reimagining Interactive Learning in EFL Contexts

“In an increasingly digitalized educational landscape, sustainability in language education extends beyond environmental concerns and encompasses the development of meaningful, adaptable, and learner-centered pedagogical practices. Traditional approaches to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction often focus on linguistic accuracy while paying insufficient attention to learners’ ability to communicate effectively within evolving digital environments. Consequently, there is a growing need to explore innovative educational approaches that foster both sustainable learning and authentic communicative competence.

This paper examines the role of digital pragmatics as an emerging framework for sustainable educational innovation in EFL contexts. Digital pragmatics refers to the understanding and use of language within technology-mediated interactions, where communication is shaped by social, cultural, and contextual factors across digital platforms. Integrating digital pragmatics into interactive learning environments has the potential to create more meaningful and engaging educational experiences while promoting long-term communicative development.

The study discusses how interactive learning practices, including collaborative online tasks, technology-supported communication activities, and learner-centered digital engagement, can contribute to sustainable language learning. Such approaches may encourage active participation, critical thinking, intercultural awareness, and pragmatic competence among EFL learners. Furthermore, the paper highlights the importance of moving beyond traditional instructional models toward educational practices that support adaptability and lifelong learning.

The discussion contributes to current debates on educational sustainability by proposing a conceptual framework that links digital pragmatics with innovative EFL pedagogy. The findings may offer implications for language educators seeking to design more sustainable, interactive, and human-centered learning environments in the digital era.”

2. Yeşim Üstün

Sustainability in Vocational and Technical Education: Current Approaches and Future Perspectives

“Sustainability has become one of the key priorities of modern education systems, leading to a significant transformation, particularly in vocational and technical education (VTE). Rapid changes in the labor market, digitalization, the transition to a green economy, and increasing environmental awareness have highlighted the need for vocational education to evolve beyond technical skill development and contribute to sustainable

development. This study examines the concept of sustainability in vocational and technical education from the perspective of current approaches and future perspectives. It focuses on the integration of sustainability principles into educational curricula, the use of digital technologies, the development of green skills, and the importance of collaboration between educational institutions and industry. The study is based on a comprehensive review of current national and international literature. The findings indicate that sustainability-oriented educational practices enhance students’ environmental awareness, professional competencies, and innovative thinking skills. Furthermore, the study emphasizes the importance of updating curricula in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and promoting environmentally responsible practices in practical training environments. It is expected that this paper will contribute to the development of sustainability policies in vocational and technical education and provide guidance for future educational strategies. “

Keywords: Vocational and Technical Education, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Green Skills, DigitalTransformation

3. Salma Alamassi

Beyond Saving Trees: How Going Digital Sustains Teachers and Students

“In the drive of sustainable education, we must look beyond environmental impact and consider the sustainable use of time, resources, and teacher energy. Traditional paper-based teaching often reinforces static methodologies while contributing to administrative burnout and significant physical waste. This presentation explores how transitioning to digital collaboration tools—such as online interactive boards and cloud-based documents—serves a dual purpose: drastically reducing a classroom’s ecological footprint while fostering a more balanced, inclusive, and effective learning environment.

Rather than viewing technology merely as a substitute for paper, this session reframes digital platforms as practical catalysts for everyday pedagogical innovation. By analyzing applications within education, we will demonstrate how tools like Google Docs and digital whiteboards support inclusive practices, allowing for multimodal learning, anonymous brainstorming, and real-time peer feedback. Furthermore, these tools streamline teacher workflows, minimizing preparation time and administrative burden to directly support teacher wellbeing.

Aligning with the need for lasting institutional change, the digital nature of these resources allows for seamless sharing and scaling across contexts. Attendees will move from ideas to impact, walking away with adaptable, realistic strategies that elevate student engagement while making the profession more sustainable for educators themselves.”

4. Ayşegül Sallı – Fatma Çalışkan – Yağmur Kürü – Büşra Işık

From Ideas to Materials: Designing Sustainability-Themed ELT Units with Pre-Service Teachers

“This presentation showcases a collaborative materials design project carried out with pre-service English language teachers in an ELT materials design course. The project invited student teachers to design sustainability-themed, technology-enhanced supplementary units for a real B1 instructional context, namely an English preparatory school course. It was developed in response to a need for a more coherent, context-sensitive, and pedagogically purposeful materials design process than in previous years, when students were free to choose any topic, level, and format.

The project was structured in stages. Students were first introduced to sustainability in ELT and to digital tools that could support materials design. Since many initially had limited knowledge of sustainability and its relevance to language teaching, they completed a pre-project exploration worksheet, engaged in collaborative poster discussions, and responded to a survey exploring their initial knowledge, confidence, and perceptions. They then worked in groups to select a sustainability angle, choose a B1 unit focus, submit a proposal, and develop a full materials package. The final products included learner materials, teacher notes, and a design rationale, supported by formatting and layout guidance to enable compilation into a class booklet.

The presentation highlights both the project design and the students’ journeys through it. In particular, it illustrates how student teachers moved from uncertainty to more principled materials design by learning to integrate sustainability content, digital tools, grammar and vocabulary targets, formative assessment, and mediation-oriented tasks into coherent B1-level materials. The session concludes with reflections on implications for innovation in ELT teacher education.”

5. Sesil Azra Demir

A Student’s Blueprint for Sustainability

What is sustainable living from a student’s perspective, and where do ideas about it first begin? How can we integrate sustainable living into education using examples from personal life? This in-depth analysis of this important concept will be explored from a student’s perspective, focusing on where this awareness is instilled and how it continues to develop. This presentation has been developed using examples from a student who has grown up living a sustainable life.

6. Damla Şahin – Öznur Çiçek

Embedding Sustainability in EFL: A Curriculum Development Project in an English Preparatory School

“As global challenges such as climate change, social inequality, and responsible resource use continue to shape our future, educational institutions are increasingly expected to prepare learners not only for academic success but also for responsible citizenship. In response to this need, this ongoing research project explores ways of integrating sustainable education into an English Preparatory School curriculum.

The project aims to demonstrate that sustainability can be incorporated into language education in meaningful and engaging ways without compromising linguistic objectives. Rather than treating sustainability as a separate subject, the project seeks to embed sustainability-related themes into English language learning through project-based learning, discussion activities, collaborative tasks, and real-world problem-solving experiences. Topics such as environmental awareness, responsible consumption, cultural diversity, and global citizenship are integrated into classroom activities to encourage both language development and critical thinking.

Drawing on student-centered and experiential learning principles, the project also investigates how sustainability-focused tasks influence learners’ engagement, awareness, and sense of responsibility. Preliminary observations suggest that students respond positively to opportunities to discuss authentic global issues while developing their communication skills in English. Furthermore, integrating sustainability themes appears to increase motivation by connecting language learning to real-life concerns that students perceive as relevant to their futures.”

7. Ruma Rafıq

From Dependence to Self-Regulation: AI-Mediated Academic Writing and the Sustainability of Learner Autonomy in Higher Education ELT

“Generative AI tools have entered university writing classrooms faster than the field has been able to assess their longer-term pedagogical consequences. Much of the existing evidence reports immediate gains in fluency, accuracy, and output, yet says little about what happens to learner autonomy once the tool is withdrawn. This study examines whether AI-mediated academic writing instruction strengthens or erodes self-regulated learning, and whether any observed gains endure beyond the intervention itself. Sustainability is treated here not as an environmental concern but as pedagogical durability: the capacity of learning to remain effective after external support is removed.

Adopting a quasi-experimental design, the study compares an experimental cohort receiving structured AI-supported writing instruction with a control cohort following conventional instruction over a single semester. Self-regulated learning is measured through a validated writing-specific questionnaire administered at three points: before the intervention, immediately after, and following a delayed interval. Academic writing performance is assessed through an analytic rubric applied to comparable timed tasks. Semi-structured interviews with a purposive subsample provide explanatory depth on how students manage reliance on the tool.

The delayed post-test is central to the design, allowing the study to distinguish genuine internalization of regulatory strategies from short-lived, tool-dependent improvement. Findings are expected to inform sustainable approaches to integrating AI in academic writing curricula, where the aim is to cultivate independent writers rather than proficient users of a tool.”