Jessie L. Moore
Assistant Professor, English
Elon University
jmoore28@elon.edu

In my Introduction to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) course, I require students to complete an extended service-learning project. Students volunteer in local ESL classrooms and regularly reflect on their experiences and connections to course content; I facilitate these reflections through both written assignments and oral discussions. In addition, students develop materials for their cooperating ESL teachers, applying what they have learned about TESOL theories and research to fill expressed needs in the classrooms in which they volunteer. Although I had spent considerable time developing the service-learning component of the class, even working twice with students to re-imagine the service-learning project and its connections to the broader course goals, I had not spent much time formally assessing the student learning outcomes of the project. In this research project, I hoped to examine those outcomes.

Student Profile

The Introduction to TESOL course is required for English Education majors, but it also attracts students from other Education programs, as well as students who are interested in teaching English abroad. Students typically are sophomores or juniors when they enroll in the course, but the only prerequisite is a first-year writing course required of all Elon University students.

Service-Learning Projects

In addition to volunteering in the ESL classrooms for 18 to 20 hours a semester, TESOL students complete several activities and projects that help integrate the service-learning field experience into the course:

• Students write weekly reflections about their service-learning experience and address prompts designed to help them connect those experiences to the week's course materials.

• The class devotes one day a week to discussing the students' service-learning experiences and to relating them to TESOL theories and practices.

• Students write profiles of the ESL classrooms/programs, analyzing them as rhetorical situations. They investigate the learners' characteristics, the goals of other stakeholders (i.e., teachers, administrators, parents, community members, etc.), the languages represented in the classroom, the purposes for learning/teaching English, and other contextual factors that might shape the learning experience.

• Students create materials for the ESL classrooms based on real needs they and their cooperating teachers have identified. In addition to giving a copy of the materials to the ESL teachers, students post their materials and corresponding reflections on a TESOL @ Elon wiki resource accessible by current and former students, as well as cooperating teachers.

Community Partners

In the last two years, students have volunteered exclusively in ESL classrooms in the Alamance-Burlington School System. Placements have included elementary, middle-grades, and high-school ESL classrooms. Although students often are placed in the grade level they anticipate teaching, alternate placements sometimes are necessary to meet the needs of our service-learning partners and to accommodate students' schedules and transportation options.

Research Question

Although I identified several research questions about the learning outcomes associated with the service-learning experience, this report focuses on my overarching question:

• What are students' perceptions of a service-learning field experience in ENG 206: Introduction to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and

• What do their perceptions suggest about learning outcomes associated with the experience?

Research Methods

To investigate my research question

What are students' perceptions of a service-learning field experience in ENG 206: Introduction to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and what do their perceptions suggest about learning outcomes associated with the experience?

I collected multiple forms of data (see table) during the Fall 2008 semester. I hope to supplement this existing data with additional focus groups and an additional administration of the Volunteer Functions Inventory, next year, when I plan to follow-up with the student participants.

Normal class assignments and discussions: These assignments and activities were required to successfully complete the course. Some, like the midterm and final, were not specific to the research project, but include student references to their service-learning experiences. Collected through Blackboard, a class wiki, and a class blog, these materials reflect changes in studentsÕ perceptions over the course of the semester and often include specific connections students have made between their service-learning experiences and the course content.

Normal class assignments and discussions: These assignments and activities were required to successfully complete the course. Some, like the midterm and final, were not specific to the research project, but include student references to their service-learning experiences. Collected through Blackboard, a class wiki, and a class blog, these materials reflect changes in studentsÕ perceptions over the course of the semester and often include specific connections students have made between their service-learning experiences and the course content.

Focus groups: Currently enrolled students were asked to participate in up to three focus groups, including one that occurred in-class at mid-semester; this in-class focus group enabled my students and me to identify concerns or struggles with the service-learning field experience in time to address them during the second-half of the semester. In the next two years, these students will be asked to participate in up to two follow-up focus groups to explore how studentsÕ perceptions of the service-learning field experiences change as they continue their studies and begin their careers. The first focus group was conducted by a colleague and videotaped.

Volunteer Functions Inventory: Students completed a survey on perceptions about volunteering, both before and after their service-learning field experience. I will ask students to complete the survey once more at a follow-up focus group.

Videotaped Class Discussions: Students were required to participate in weekly class discussions which are an instructional component of the service-learning field experience. As a classroom teacher, I participated in the discussions, helping students draw connections between their service-learning field experiences and the course content; as a researcher, the video recordings enable me to reexamine the discussions with a focus on studentsÕ perceptions of the field experiences. Students had the option not to be videotaped by sitting outside the scope of the camera angle.

To protect student participants, I did not analyze any data for research purposes until after I submitted course grades.

Modified Volunteer Functions Inventory for TESOL

Students completed a volunteer functions inventory (VFI) both before their service-learning experience started and after they had completed 20 hours of service. The results are simply descriptive; my n is too small to calculate significance. Trends:

• Perceptions of volunteer functions for career purposes increased following the service-learning experience. Students didnÕt think volunteering helped them explore different career options (although blog data suggests that several students did use the experience to confirm or rule out a career option), but they thought volunteering would help them succeed in their chosen career, get their foot in the door, and network. (Career)

• StudentsÕ perception of the social value of volunteering increased slightly, with students noting that service is important to people they know best and to whom they are close. (Social)

• Students indicated less interest in learning about other cultures following the service-learning experience, although there also was a decrease in the perception that others would be happier if they lived like people in the studentsÕ cultures. Nevertheless, blog data suggests a change in perception about and an increased advocacy on behalf of ESL students so this VFI finding should be taken with a grain of salt. (Cross-Cultural Understanding)

• Although studentsÕ assertions that volunteering made them happy increased slightly post-service, other perceptions of volunteer functions for self-enhancement remained unchanged or decreased slightly. (Enhancement, Protective)

• Post-service, students perceived less connection between volunteering and exploring their own strengths, learning how to deal with a variety of people, or gaining new perspectives on things, although these inventory findings are inconsistent with their comments in their blog entries. (Understanding)

• StudentsÕ perceptions that volunteering allows them to learn through hands on experience increased following their service experiences. (Understanding)

Two prevalent themes have emerged as I have tracked studentsÕ perceptions of service-learning across their pre-service, mid-term, and post-service blog entries:

• Students' Perceptions of TESOL Methodologies Changed During the Experience: At the beginning of the semester, students were concerned about their own preparation to volunteer in an ESL classroom. By mid-semester, as they learned more about current research and practices in TESOL, students began to critique their cooperating teachers' methodologies if they did not coincide with the practices in the Intro to TESOL course readings. Post-service, though, students praised their cooperating teachers' methods and identified additional connections to the course readings.

• Students' Perceived Benefits of Service-Learning: At the beginning of the semester, TESOL students described service-learning as beneficial but anxiety producing. By mid-semester, their tone shifted; they labeled service-learning as fun and rewarding and repeatedly noted that it "brings content to life." Post-service, students indicated that the service-learning practicum was crucial to the course; they noted that it challenges future teachers' assumptions about English language learners and illustrates the need for ESL programs.

Early Reflection

While I still have an abundance of data to examine, my early analysis reinforces my enthusiasm for service-learning pedagogy in Introduction to TESOL and sparks additional questions for future research.

I still have 10 sets of blog entries, 11 videos of Friday service-learning discussions, a focus group video, and 5 other data sources, which I can analyze to trace emerging themes through the class discussions and TESOL student projects.

Already, though, emerging themes demonstrate that studentsÕ perceive service-learning as an integral part of the Introduction to TESOL course.†Bbeyond illuminating course content, students suggested that service-learning countered or tested their assumptions about English language learners and illustrated the importance of ESL programs in K-12 school systems.

These outcomes suggest that several of my major goals for the service-learning component are being met, and I look forward to tracing studentsÕ development towards meeting these goals as I continue to examine the remaining data sources.

Additional Questions

Based on these early results, interesting comments in students' blogs, and my own initial questions for the project, I also plan to reexamine the data with the following additional questions in mind:

• During their service-learning classroom visits, what strategies do TESOL students identify or develop for working with English language learners?
  

• How do TESOL students' attitudes about English language learners Ð and their own preparation to teach this student subgroup Ð change as a result of their SL experiences?
  

• How does the service-learning experience reinforce and/or extend student learning about supporting English language learners in content classrooms?
  

• How do experiences vary across the grade levels in which TESOL studentsÕ volunteer?