Teaching in context: Integrating community‐based service learning into TESOL education

Abstract

Interest in service‐learning within TESOL has increased in recent years. Teacher‐scholars have described multiple uses of such pedagogy in programs for students of English as a second language (ESL) and in courses of ESL teacher education. This article employs action research to focus on an introductory TESOL class at a U.S. university for which students volunteered as ESL tutors and teachers at local community‐based organizations. By describing the course design and implementation, and by drawing on a data set comprising both student writing and interviews with community partners, the article highlights an undertheorized value of service‐learning in TESOL: its potential to raise novice teachers' awareness about the sociopolitical contexts of language education and, in turn, to help them recognize the importance of attending to such dynamics in pedagogic decision making. In this way, the course offers a case study that can support TESOL educators who want to help teachers‐in‐training situate second language learners in larger contexts. Two specific recommendations that emerge from the study are the need to move beyond the traditional content areas of TESOL/second language acquisition in designing such courses and the importance of collaborating with community‐based organizations as true partners.

Preservice Teachers’ Experiences on Becoming Culturally Responsive Educators: An Action Research Case Study

“…Additionally, we as researchers collaborated with one another by sharing our experiences with the courses we were teaching at the time of the study and tapping into each other's expertise for language acquisition and cultural competence topics. Because of our trust and willingness to be vulnerable with each other, we honed our critical reflection skills as we collaborated together (McNiff, 2016;Norton, 2019;Schneider, 2019). To us, this reflective process is the core component of action research.…”

Engaging the Neighborhood: Multilingual Community Peace Leaders Curriculum

“…Recent use of service-learning as a tool has started to take root in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classrooms, particularly in Intensive English Programs (IEP) for students matriculating into higher education, where it is presented as a beneficial addition to IEP classrooms (Douglas, 2017). Outside of higher education, recent arguments have been made for servicelearning elements to be incorporated into adult education as it increases the development of problem-solving skills and critical thinking in students' additional languages while also creating reciprocal, authentic relationships in a space that is conducive to socialization and language acquisition (Riley & Douglas, 2016;Schneider, 2019). Meanwhile, some critics of service-learning argue that Service-Learning classes focus to strongly on student outcomes and meeting classroom goals and not on long-term community impact and sustainment (Burth, 2016).…”

ESL curriculum with a heuristic anchorage: Tokenist discourses and the epistemology of community service education

“…Some scholarly publications have recognised the burgeoning multiculturalism and the need for appropriate curricula for integrating CSE to sustain intercultural awareness (e.g., De Leon, 2014; Hutchinson, 2011). Closely linked to this aspect are the teacher training programs catering to CSE (e.g., Alexandtowicz, 2001; Boyle‐Baise & Sleeter, 2000; Schneider, 2019).…”