Service-Learning and LEAP: Increasing Respect for Diversity Through Campus-Community Collaboration in Advanced Spanish Courses

Abstract

This paper provides a case study that looks at the learning outcomes associated with the addition of a service-learning component to an advanced Spanish grammar course at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, a University of Wisconsin System comprehensive campus. This article will first illustrate the ways in which service learning serves various educational objectives valued at both the departmental and university level. It will then demonstrate how service learning, as a recognized high-impact practice helps students achieve several specified outcomes of the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative related to diversity and global perspectives. Finally, through a qualitative analysis of feedback and reflection activities from 70 service-learning participants regarding their campus-community collaborations in a recent semester, this study will highlight how service learning is an ideal pedagogical method for teaching language students about diversity, focusing specifically on learning outcomes in the realms of linguistic, cultural, and racial diversity.