The Effects of Overseas Volunteer Service Experience on Students’ Attitudes for English Learning—Focusing on Service Learning

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes of students who experienced overseas volunteer service and its influence on attitudes towards English learning and the ways of improving the quality of overseas volunteer service learning program in the future. In previous research results, related to service learning, it has been reported that service learning has a very positive effect not only on the personalities of the students involved in service learning but also on the areas related to subject learning. However, studies on the effects of service learning on English learners’ attitudes are hard to find. In this study, in order to find out the effects of overseas volunteer service on attitudes towards English learning, 41 students who participated in overseas volunteer service were surveyed before and after volunteer activities. The survey results showed that several aspects of the participants’ attitudes toward English learning changed through overseas volunteer service experience. Their interest in English learning has increased, their confidence in their use of English has also increased, and many participants answered that they felt a stronger need for English learning. These changes were statistically significant. However, this study is based on the fact that a small number of people have been selected for research, so more general research will have to be done to generalize it.