DEEP framework: Transforming language learning with UN SDGs

Abstract Recent scholarship urges language educators to reconsider the purpose of language education within broader sociopolitical and sociocultural contexts, viewing language as an empowering tool to achieve shared goals for a better world. One effective approach is integrating the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into language education, enabling students to utilize the target language to address world issues they are passionate about, such as inequality and climate change, and to activate their global citizenship. However, a clear and comprehensive framework is missing to help instructors connect language education principles with the goals of Education for Sustainable Development. This paper addresses that gap by proposing the DEEP framework: Diversity, Exploration, Expression, and Partnership. This framework offers a practical guide to help teachers weave the UN's SDGs into world language through engaging, purpose‐driven projects and tasks.