Abstract
<p style="text-align:justify">Despite its well-documented benefits for training a wide range of professionals, including teacher candidates in almost all content areas, the incorporation of service-learning into foreign language teacher education is relatively new, and most research only dealt with narrative accounts of non-work-related charitable activities. Consequently, this study sought to investigate the impact of the 20-hour peer-tutoring project on the teaching beliefs, community service attitudes, personal and professional development of 14 Turkish EFL teacher candidates. A comparison between their pre- and post-service metaphors revealed a conceptual shift not only in their teaching perspectives from the behaviorist to constructivist paradigm for knowledge acquisition, but also in their community partnership approaches from the unidirectional to reciprocal pattern of altruism towards their tutees. The classification of their written reflections into six types of significant learning demonstrated that despite a relatively greater focus on expressing their foundational knowledge and application practices, a more balanced distribution of learning gains was achieved between the two overarching spheres of academic learning and personal growth, when coursework engagement and multimodal reflections were co-implemented. They reported developing effective teacher dispositions, interpersonal skills and social responsibility, valued intrinsic rewards for their contributions to the youth well-being, and also appreciated the informal professional learning opportunities the peer-tutoring service offered, though without establishing their own learning agendas.</p>
Highlights
Service-learning involves a wide variety of educative experiences, ranging from cleaning the neighbourhood to developing solutions with community partners for social problems, and its practices differ in the nature of interaction with community members, quality of academic connections, and extent of impact on student learning (Eyler, 2000; Eyler & Giles, 1999; Jacoby, 2015)
This study sought to investigate the impact of the 20-hour peer-tutoring project on the teaching beliefs, community service attitudes, personal and professional development of 14 Turkish EFL teacher candidates
A comparison between their pre- and post-service metaphors revealed a conceptual shift in their teaching perspectives from the behaviorist to constructivist paradigm for knowledge acquisition, and in their community partnership approaches from the unidirectional to reciprocal pattern of altruism towards their tutees. The classification of their written reflections into six types of significant learning demonstrated that despite a relatively greater focus on expressing their foundational knowledge and application practices, a more balanced distribution of learning gains was achieved between the two overarching spheres of academic learning and personal growth, when coursework engagement and multimodal reflections were co-implemented
Summary
Service-learning involves a wide variety of educative experiences, ranging from cleaning the neighbourhood to developing solutions with community partners for social problems, and its practices differ in the nature of interaction with community members, quality of academic connections, and extent of impact on student learning (Eyler, 2000; Eyler & Giles, 1999; Jacoby, 2015). 2) or “a teaching and learning strategy” (National Service-Learning Clearing House, 1993), service-learning should be classified as a participatory approach because it rests on Dewey’s philosophy of experiential education, and advocates educational processes where students engage in meaningful problem-solving activities to cater for community needs, develop personalised knowledge through reflection on the lived experiences, and get prepared for community life as responsible citizens (D’Rozario, Low, Avila & Cheung, 2012; Giles & Eyler, 1994; Jacoby, 2015).
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