The United Nations' (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to create a sustainable world and provide permanent solutions to major social, ecological, and economic problems affecting the world. Education holds a central position in disseminating and achieving these goals with a thorough understanding. From this stance, English language teaching (ELT) lends itself to giving leeway to integrating SDGs considering students' academic purposes. With all these in mind, this study investigates EAP students' conceptualization of SDGs and derives from data collected from 360 undergraduate students enrolled in the English language and literature department at a state university in Turkey. A descriptive survey design was employed to seek answers to the research questions, and both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from participants. Results revealed divergences between qualitative and quantitative findings. Quantitative findings indicated the predominance of the systems thinking perspective among the participants, suggesting that they viewed SDGs as a complex whole, encompassing various intertwined and interconnected elements. However, qualitative findings revealed the problematic conceptualization of SDGs, providing deeper insights into the phenomenon in question. In line with these findings, this study suggests several pedagogical implications for integrating SDGs into teaching practices.