The Impact of Service Learning on Academic, Professional and Physical Wellbeing Competences of EFL Teacher Education Students

Eeva-Maria Hooli, Silvia Corral-Robles (), José Luis Ortega-Martín, Antonio Baena-Extremera and Pedro Jesús Ruiz-Montero
Additional contact information
Eeva-Maria Hooli: Department of Didactics of Language and Literature, Faculty of Education, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
Silvia Corral-Robles: Department of Didactics of Language and Literature, Faculty of Education, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
José Luis Ortega-Martín: Department of Didactics of Language and Literature, Faculty of Education, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
Antonio Baena-Extremera: Department of Didactics of Musical, Plastic and Body Expression, Faculty of Education, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
Pedro Jesús Ruiz-Montero: Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, 18011 Granada, Spain

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 6, 1-16

Abstract: In response to the challenges of the 21st century, the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has been committed to the development of a training model that focuses on the acquisition of cognitive, physical, and social competences, among others, rather than the mere acquisition of knowledge. This approach has gained momentum in recent years, where the learners are the protagonists of their own learning process. This change of approach requires a change in methodology and involves a renewal of the methodological approach in Spanish universities. Service learning (S-L) is an active methodology that is gaining ground across universities due to its experiential, community-based and reflective characteristics. The present study aimed to provide an overview of the impact of S-L by active programs (physical activities, movement games, active tasks, etc.) on the acquisition of professional, linguistic, pedagogical or intercultural competencies, as well as physical wellbeing skills, on English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher education students. Fourteen Spanish EFL university students carried out an S-L active intervention with a migrant group from the Migrant Temporary Stay Centre in the autonomous city of Melilla (Spain). A qualitative study was designed to evaluate the achievement of these competencies. The results show that even though S-L is a challenging methodology, it favours the development of academic, professional, and physical wellbeing competences to succeed in a competitive and changing world, as well as the improvement of the participant students.

Keywords: service learning; teaching English as a foreign language; physical wellbeing; competencies; socially disadvantaged groups; university education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/6/4852/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/6/4852/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:6:p:4852-:d:1092764

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().