Supporting Student Learning Outcomes Through Service Learning

IntroductionService learning (SL) is increasingly embraced across the K-16 spectrum due to its potential to extend students' learning beyond the classroom and launch them, either virutally or in face-to-face situations, into the world beyond. By means of these more challenging and meaningful experiences and relationships, it is believed that students have opportunities to increase their language skills, develop deeper cultural sensitivity, and apply knowledge from other content areas. Furthermore, students learn to mindfully and systematically reflect on their actions and consider the extent to which their service meets the needs of their community partners, both by carefully evaluating the impact of their work and by making adjustments to ensure its efficacy and excellence. Because of the potential opportunities for rich and meaningful student learning, the ACTFL selected community engagement and service learning as one of six research priority areas.Supported in part by an ACTFL Research Priorities grant, this study explored one key assumption about the goals and results of SL: that SL offers students meaningful benefits and contributes to the achievement of stated student learning outcomes (SLOs) that cannot be otherwise experienced in their programs of study. Because there is a need for additional evidence of the types of student learning that are actually taking place at the SL site, this study sought to critically and systematically assess the SL experience and to document its impact on student learning. Specifically, data were gathered to determine the extent to which students who had Intermediate Low to Mid proficiency in Spanish engaged in service activities that supported coursespecific learning outcomes and also met additional learning outcomes that were not specific to the course.Review of LiteratureService Learning: An Approach to Language LearningService learning, broadly defined as "a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities" (National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, 2013) is a transformative pedagogy with numerous applications in foreign language education. Scholarship in this area is expanding rapidly, with a primary focus on identifying benefits to students, as is evident in the numerous studies exploring the impact of SL on students' attitude toward civic engagement, diverse cultural communities, and language learning (Astin, Vogelgesang, Ikeda, & Yee, 2000; Elorriaga, 2007; Jorge, 2011; Pellettieri, 2011; Zapata, 2011). Other studies have identified positive changes in students' motivation, confidence, leadership skills, sense of social responsibility, and cognitive and critical thinking skills (Bringle, Phillips, & Hudson, 2004; Carney, 2013; Eyler & Giles, 1999; Long, 2003; Medina & Gordon, 2014; Nelson & Scott, 2008). SL has been shown to provide students with a limited immersion experience without actually leaving the country (Lear & Abbott, 2008; Weldon & Trautmann, 2003). In fact, Pellettieri (2011) reported that, prior to participating in SL, 39% of her students had never spoken Spanish to a native speaker (p. 294). Two recent, notable studies described previously unexplored applications of SL: CarracelasJuncal (2013) examined the positive impact of SL in graduate-level, online courses for teacher education on students who were heritage speakers of Spanish, and King de Ramirez (2015) reported on a Culture for the Professions course whose curriculum was designed around three pedagogies: the cultural intelligence model, community SL, and Language for Specific Purposes.Of particular relevance to the current study is the symbiotic relationship that existsbetweenSLandtheACTFLWorldReadiness Standards for Learning Languages (National Standards Collaborative Board, 2015). Researchers have found that SL pedagogy supports the Standards, also referred to as the five "C" goal areas, by providing students with opportunities for communicative language use in authentic situations (Standards 1. …