The Impact of the Environmental Documentary Movies on Pre-service German Teachers’ Environmental Attitudes

Abstract

This study examines the environmental attitudes of Turkish pre-service teachers of German as a foreign language using the German version of The Revised New Ecological Paradigm Scale (RNEP) and aims to compare New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) level of participants before and after a larger research project that uses documentary movies as a language teaching material. The comparisons were made according to demographic variables such as gender, age, education and language level when determining the NEP levels. A total of 170 pre-service German teachers (147 females, 23 males; age 17-32) contributed to the study. The findings from the present study indicate that environmental education is the most consistent factor in its relationship to levels of environmental concern, which was supported by the previous literature. The results suggest that trans-disciplinary environmental education is prior and necessary for individuals to increase their awareness and to develop abilities to reflect on their environmental responsibilities. The results of the present study also evidence that the use of environmental documentary movies have an important potential to foster environmental awareness of pre-service teachers.