ABSTRACT
This study considers the far-reaching implications of second-language acquisition and project-based learning within Service Learning and Community Engagement (SLCE) and the intentional and unintentional consequences of this practice for our students and community partners. SLCE can be an exhilarating, inspiring, and transformative experience for all involved; however, for stakeholders entering the terrain for the first time (instructors, students, and community partners), indeed for experienced practitioners too, this “counter normative" (Howard) pedagogical enterprise can be difficult, even intimidating. Furthermore, as its purposes and academic integrity can be misunderstood or undervalued, the field warrants ongoing and different kinds of research in order to give account of its diverse modes, successes, and challenges. In this chapter, I offer my own professional narrative from the field as a story of engaged, reciprocal collaboration in a bilingual dynamic of Spanish and English, between undergraduate students, community partners (leaders and program participants), faculty members, and administrators. Acknowledging and dialoguing with the findings of research in the field of SLCE and its intersection with SLA theories, my story situates itself as a qualitative analysis of the shared journeys I embarked upon with my students and our various community partners.
