A central challenge for ecological civilization education (ECE) is translating students’ ecological knowledge, affective dispositions, and awareness into autonomous, sustained, and developmentally appropriate ecological civilization behavior. Existing surveys have reported generally favorable responses on several non-behavioral items, alongside distinct response patterns on selected behavior-related items and across educational stages. Taking these descriptive patterns as an empirical point of departure, this conceptual study examines the conditions that shape the translation of ecological civilization literacy into behavior. Drawing on the Model of Responsible Environmental Behavior, Self-Determination Theory, and the action competence approach, the study develops a framework linking literacy foundations, motivational conditions, action-related capabilities, contextual supports, ecological civilization behavior, and behavioral feedback. The framework proposes that behavioral translation may remain incomplete when ecological norms are not sufficiently internalized, ecological understanding is not developed into action-related capabilities, or educational and everyday contexts lack adequate support and feedback. Differences across educational stages may therefore reflect developmental misalignment among these conditions rather than declining ecological civilization literacy. Stage-differentiated ECE should accordingly coordinate motivation, action-related capabilities, contextual support, and feedback rather than merely increase the complexity of ecological knowledge. Because the available evidence is cross-sectional, primarily self-reported, and based on indicators that are not directly comparable across constructs and grades, these propositions require longitudinal, multi-source, and context-sensitive examination.
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