Student-student cooperation promotes diversity, inclusion, and the SDGs in language education

Language learners are diverse in many ways. These differences include country of origin, ethnicity, gender, religion, social class, past achievement, sexual identity, neurotype, mother tongue, age, physical and mental disabilities, and previous education. Everyone deserves respect and the right to a learning environment in which their needs, both physiological and psychological, are met. This article explores how inclusion, diversity, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can meet these needs. Inclusion brings together diverse language users to benefit from what each can contribute based on their uniqueness, to empower others to do the same, and to use their language proficiency and other skills to make the world a better place. Various approaches in language education seek to support “unity in diversity” among students by facilitating student-student cooperation. Cooperative learning is one such approach. Since the 1970s, cooperative learning has established itself as a well-researched approach with a strong and wide theoretical grounding. Furthermore, scholars have linked cooperative learning to many other elements of the student-centered paradigm, including work that urges education to play a role in making society a better place rather than focusing solely on enhancing individuals’ own careers and lifestyles. The SDGs present a well-known example of how education can serve the greater good and build a world in which everyone, regardless of background, can be included in a grand effort to make the planet a place where everyone feels at home and can contribute to making that home a place where everyone can thrive.