Document Type
Article
Abstract
The article discusses the methodology of the College of William and Mary's Modern Language and Literature's Summer Institute in Nicaragua, a service-learning course designed for current and prospective teachers of English as a Second or Foreign Language. The leaders of the course were a doctoral student in Social Sciences and Comparative Education and an associate professor in Hispanic Studies with a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction. The multidisciplinary training of the course leaders and Paulo Freire's concept of conscientização informed both the academic content of the three-week course and their process approach to mentoring students' independence as they conducted their fieldwork in Nicaraguan schools. The authors analyze the trajectory of the students' thinking about their field experience and participatory action research as revealed in reflection essays, academic papers, and through post-experience interviews. Implications for the expanding interest in international service-learning in higher education are clear; brief reflection exercises that are common in service-learning are an insufficient method of ensuring deep learning. We conclude that only with careful mentoring can students in international service-learning courses acquire the necessary knowledge base to theorize about problem-solving with subaltern communities, hone their intercultural communication skills, and develop the confidence to engage in collaborative and ongoing action research projects abroad.
Repository Citation
Jones, Lauren, and Jonathan Arries. "Searching for Conscientização: Mentoring Fieldwork in International Service-learning." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 9, no. 1, 2009, pp. 1–25. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol9/iss1/8