With the attempt of empowering English language learners (hereafter ELLs) and
encouraging them to become active participants in the society, scholars have
called for the need of incorporating civic participation into English education.
Researching how ELLs learners exercise their agency in civic participation in
English education and evolve into active members in the society is of great
importance. The purpose of this research is to investigate ELLs’ engagement in
civic participation for environmental sustainability. Through an investigation of
their making and publishing of English YouTube videos for environmental
sustainability to the online content creators and audiences, this project aims to
understand how ELLs navigate civic activities through digital multimodal
composing. The theoretical frameworks of new literacy studies, literacy as social
practice, and affinity space are used to ground this study.