Exploring the Long-term Impact of Service-Learning: Former Students of Spanish Revisit their Community Engagement Experiences

Abstract

Service-learning (SL), as a pedagogy that promotes reciprocal partnership building between campus and community through meaningful service and critical reflection, can provide language students with not only valuable language and cultural immersion experience, but also civic learning opportunities. Although SL research has revealed numerous positive outcomes on students’ academic and civic learning, most studies have focused on short-term effects. In particular, in the context of language classrooms, there is a dearth of research examining the lasting impact of SL pedagogy. This study explores the long-term benefits of SL on students of Spanish, two to seventeen years after their SL experience. Former students who participated in various types of SL projects across different levels of Spanish courses at a public university in the Midwest completed surveys (n = 60) and interviews (n = 15) identifying aspects of the SL experience they consider valuable. The majority of former students in the study noted SL participation as one of the most significant educational experiences in college, leading to positive gains in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors for interacting with target language communities. The study also explores the value respondents placed on engaged learning, relationship building, and language learning for community engagement.