Affiliation:
1. Department of English City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR (PRC)
2. Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR (PRC)
3. Department of Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick Coventry UK
Abstract
AbstractThis paper aims to understand the state‐of‐the‐art of research on sustainability discourse in applied linguistics. The paper adopts a systematic two‐stage review approach. In the first stage, 114 articles were classified into environment, social, and governance (ESG) according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) categories. The second stage involves annotating the dataset using an open‐coding system based on data types explored in the studies, methodologies used, findings, and implications. The findings lead to a comprehensive review of diachronic changes in the investigation of sustainability topics, data types, sampling, frameworks, analytical tools, findings, and implications to ultimately set the grounds for future research on sustainability discourse in applied linguistics and related disciplines—for example, communication studies.