Serving the Community and Learning a Foreign Language: Evaluating a Service-learning Programme

Abstract

A service-learning programme in Spanish, in which learners of Spanish provide various forms of social services to native speakers in local communities in the target language, was evaluated to assess its impact on learner motivation and attitudes. Qualitative and quantitative analysis indicated that there was a significant positive change in the participants' motivation and attitudes. It was concluded that the Service-learning Class could be employed as a pedagogical tool in enhancing motivation and promoting positive attitudes towards Spanish foreign-language learning and culture.