University students' sustainability development awareness in an embedded course design

The main aim of the research is to demonstrate the "sustainability development awareness" level and learner opinion on a possible sustainability education program of university students (N= 386) taking sustainability embedded ENG 101 (English 101) course at a foundation university in Istanbul, Türkiye in Fall 2021, Spring, 2022 and Fall 2022. A mixed design combining qualitative and quantitative methods was used in the research. "Sustainability Development Awareness Scale" by Atmaca et al. (2019) was used, and 386 student responses were collected also, semi-structured interviews were used for the qualitative research conducted with 14 in 7 sessions. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient for the scale is 0.886. The results were analyzed via Statistical Package for Social Sciences 27 (SPSS 27) and NVivo qualitative analysis package. The students exhibited a high level of sustainable development awareness (N = 386, M = 149. 09, SD = 14.09). Sustainable development awareness shows significance concerning gender. Females exhibit higher level of sustainability development awareness (M = 151.83, SD = 12.92) compared to males (M = 146. 39, SD = 14.70, t (3.86) = 384, p = <.001). There is also a significant difference considering students' faculties (F = (5, 379), 2.38, p = .038). There is variation in economic awareness based on gender. For females, it is higher (M = 57.07, SD = 5.42) compared to males (M = 54.80, SD = 5.96, t (3.90), p = <.039.), and faculty is significant (F (5, 379) = 2.53, p = .015). As in line with the overall sustainability development awareness scores, social awareness also proves significant concerning gender. For females, it is higher (M = 42.83, SD = 4.56) as opposed to males (M = 40.43, SD = 5.72, p = <.001) as well as faculty (F (5, 379), 2.84, p = .015), and learner majors (F (18, 367) = 1.88, p = .016). Similarly, environmental awareness seems significant regarding gender. Females showed higher environmental awareness (M = 51.92, SD = 4.35) than males (M = 51.14, SD = 4.83, p = .002). This research highlights the importance of sustainability education at higher education institutions as a separate course or a certificate program. Students appreciate the current practice of embedding sustainability into an undergraduate English course (ENG 101) due to the course's interdisciplinary nature. In addition to university practices on sustainability, the ENG 101 course has proven to be instrumental in raising awareness and fostering positive dispositions and sustainability practices at university. The ENG course proves useful in leading awareness and helps develop positive dispositions. The support of governing bodies and non-governmental organizations addressed a fair world along "inequity" as the biggest concern. Gender issues and sexist attitudes come to the fore as influential problems. Being knowledgeable on environmental issues does not tell the learners to put this knowledge into action. Individuals need a change of behavior and attitude at early ages as far as sustainability is concerned. Keywords: Education for Sustainable Development, English for Academic Purposes (EAP), Sustainability Development Awareness, Sustainability-Embedded Courses, Sustainability