Voices from the Community: A Case for Reciprocity in Service-Learning

Few studies have directly examined how recipients of service view the service. This qualitative study presents the results of interviews and observations of nine community members who participated in a service-learning language exchange program, Intercambio, in which Spanish-speaking Latino immigrants were paired with English-speaking university students to teach each other their native language and culture. The development and study of Intercambio was formed by Freire's theory of critical consciousness and results supported his assumptions. Findings include: community members changing views of university students (i.e., from admiring them to seeing them as imperfect equals), as well as changing views of social issues (i.e., from impossible to solvable). Results favor a service-learning class format where community recipients can have expert roles (i.e., teach Spanish, too, rather than only being tutored), knowledge is assumed to be co-created and multi-directional, and ample time is devoted to dialogue about current social issues. (authors)