Increasing student identity options through service‐learning

Responding to Norton's (2010) call to increase the range of identities our classrooms offer to multilingual students, this article explores some of the identity options students in my courses in English as a second language (ESL) were able to adopt through participating in service-learning projects. Seen through the lens of Norton's extensive work on student identities, service-learning opportunities can help students experience language learning as more authentic and explore more empowering identities than they would have had in more traditional classroom settings. Research on service-learning has also found that students can develop more confident identities through participation in such projects (Perren, 2023). Furthermore, service-learning projects that engage students in drama-based community outreach projects (as part of the multiliteracies approach) can allow students to participate in language learning more holistically by adding the learning from experience component (Tavares & Benediktsson, 2024). Norton (2003) challenges the existing theoretical underpinnings of student motivation for language learning by proposing a different framework to understand the relationship between learners, learning, and the social contexts of language learning. Rather than seeing student motivation as a dichotomy (i.e., intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation, motivated vs. unmotivated students, etc.), she proposes to explore it more holistically and dynamically and to see it in conjunction with students' identities and contexts of their lives and work. Taking a poststructuralist perspective, she also sees student identities as changing, dynamic, and a site of struggle and negotiation. More generally, post-structuralists saw meaning as unstable and identities as fluid and shaped by sociocultural and historical contexts (Bourdieu, 1979/1984). To illustrate these ideas, Norton (2003) shares a case study about an immigrant high-school student who is working part-time to help his family financially and who has definite ideas about his future job prospects as a professional. He exhibits some subversive identities if given assignments in an ESL class that he perceives as infantilizing (i.e., coloring a drawing of a reindeer and Santa's crew in fluorescent, Las Vegas nightclub colors). In a more recent work, Norton (2010) calls for ESL teachers to examine the identity options that their language classes offer to their students and to increase this range. The multiliteracies approach (New London Group, 1996) sees learning as a multimodal endeavor involving multiple student and teacher resources: oral, visual, audio, gestural, tactile, and spatial. In my course, drama-based community outreach activities used with ESL learners can be seen as engaging learners' multiple resources (e.g., visual resources to read the script and gestural resources to act it out). This adds the experiencing level (i.e., students experience language learning through multiple senses) to classroom learning (Tavares & Benediktsson, 2024). In service-learning, in contrast to more traditional language learning approaches, students can see how their second-language (L2) identities play out in interactions and activities outside the classroom (Perren, 2023; Schneider, 2018; Shannahan et al., 2020). In this way, they can form who they are and/or would like to be in the future through experiencing the real-life impacts of their interactions and actions with others at the backdrop of language learning. My ESL course described in this article focuses on the development of intermediate and upper-intermediate level ESL students' oral communication skills. The students are adult learners enrolled in college-level ESL courses. In this context, I collaborated with a local pre-school and an elementary school to provide students with the service-learning opportunities to present to and interact with local children and teachers. The students presented a drama-based activity to the children representing their different cultures. As I taught the same course during a different semester, my other project included collaboration with a local ethnic community to teach traditional cooking in English via an online format. The ESL students, in this case, helped facilitate the interaction between the speakers from their home country and the U.S. online audience. Excerpt 1 For the experience, we should communicate with local people and children. I thought that [the name of the program] should be more cooperative with local communities. Certainly, we are learning about diversity and each country's culture in class. However, I learned the diversity and culture in the real world from this experience, and I wanted to communicate with local children a lot. In the process of learning a second language, I thought that it is essential to want to tell a message to someone for improving my English skill. Besides it, we know the local rules and culture from working together. (A student's reflection on the pre-school project) Excerpt 2 I learned that community is deeply troubled by the adverse effects of fast fashion and seeks more sustainable clothing options that are durable and environmentally friendly. Implementing additional service projects would be beneficial for addressing these concerns for future generations. For future, recycling garments one no longer needs would be a desirable option, providing clothing to those who need it. (A student's reflection on the elementary school project) Excerpt 3 During this community engagement, I learned that healthy eating is important. I learned that I can apply the healthy eating to my life. I also learned that when I translate, I am re-paying the kindness of when I didn't know English. I am also helping my community to grow closer. I saw connections with my major – both include helping people. (A student's reflection on the online cooking project) This article calls for L2 educators' greater attention and investigation of the identities their classrooms provide to their students. Are these identities emotionally and cognitively satisfying? Do they empower the students or limit how they might see themselves or who they might become? These are some of the questions that we, as language educators, can start asking ourselves in the endless process of changing the classrooms to more inclusive and empowering spaces. Service-learning opportunities can be among the empowering approaches that can let L2 students explore and experience more powerful identities both inside and outside our classrooms. As seen from the students' reflections, the identities that the students can experience range from being a cultural educator and ambassador to an interpreter for their home community. Some of these identities were desirable or ideal (sustainability advocates) rather than real. In other words, the ESL students in my courses were not limited by the more traditional role of a student, but could experience a wide range of other identities. As Norton (2003) suggests, these more authentic and perhaps even desirable identities can help promote students' investment in language learning. This article sheds light on how service-learning projects can be applied in ESL college-level contexts. In the contexts of English as a foreign language (EFL), service-learning projects may need a different format due to the more limited access to the target language speakers. Yet, such projects may still be possible online (e.g., creating videos in English about traditional ways to prepare home-country food). Remarkably, this can also increase the range of student identities to those of cooking/local food experts and many others. Overall, thinking about how we, as language teachers, position our students in our classrooms can lead us to exploring new, more empowering ways of engaging in the classroom. One of these ways can be service-learning as it allows students to experience language learning more holistically and to have them try new, perhaps even desired identities in L2 at the backdrop of language learning. I would like to thank the editors and the anonymous reviewers for insightful feedback on a previous version of this article. Ekaterina Arshavskaya teaches for and co-directs the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University. Her research and teaching interests include intercultural learning, multilingual literature, computer-assisted language learning, critical pedagogy, and L2 teacher education. She has published in System, TESOL Journal, and Teaching Education.