The Attitude of Curriculum Experts towards the Environmental Content within the New English Language Teaching Program in Iran

In recent years, due to significant developments in the process of authoring English Language textbooks, extensive attention has been paid to the topic of environmental education, in both theoretical and practical aspects. Although the theoretical background and the logic of approaching the topic vary across these textbooks, most of them are based on this notion that teaching English Language, as an international means of communication, is both an educational and social activity. Due to the importance of the subject, on the one hand, and the belated, yet promising, attention paid to this topic in newly authored textbooks, on the other, the present research has tried to explore the attitudes of textbook experts towards the subject, especially those involved in supplying English Language textbooks for 10th-12th grades. The analysis of the data collected through interviews revealed that these specialists, despite differences of opinion on the logic of the approach, consider environmental content as having a considerably significant status in authoring English Language textbooks, as in addition to the language skills, such content can help students with critical thinking and social development. Furthermore, the findings indicate that experts have a positive attitude towards the inclusion of environmental topics in the newly authored English Language textbooks.