SERVICE LEARNING AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN THE L2 CURRICULUM
Service-learning and community-engaged (SLCE) courses offer language students ways to interact with and learn with local communities. SLCE courses offered in world language programming provide key opportunities to develop communicative language competencies, to deepen an understanding of the lives of different community members, and to explore diverse socio-political themes. There may be no better strategy for helping our students acquire the skills, perspectives, and knowledge of global citizens than to ensure that our foreign language curricula are well-designed and effectively implemented. Through the interweaving of academic knowledge, community experiences, and analytical reflection, community-based language learning (CBLL) provides unique opportunities for transformative learning. In this chapter we provide an overview of CBLL in post-secondary institutional settings, examining its practices, challenges, and opportunities for development and expansion within language programs.
