Connecting theory and practice: Service Learning methodology in language teaching in Higher Education

Universities are increasingly required to offer practical learning experiences that bring pre-service teachers closer to the educational reality. This study analyzes the impact of a Service Learning (SL) experience on the academic training of pre-service teachers, and how they value their participation in it. This experience was carried out in the subject of Didactics of Language and Literature (DLL). For the purpose of this study, 48 reflections that respond to 8 questions based on the study developed by Swartz et al. (2016) are analyzed. The lexical analysis of the data was carried out using Iramuteq software. The results show, on the one hand, the learning achieved, the difficulties encountered and the skills developed in the experience by the pre-service teachers. On the other hand, the importance of the methodology in university training is highlighted. In this way the results obtained are discussed in comparison with other SL experiences in the inclusive school framework. In conclusion, the experience developed shows the potential of Service Learning for the acquisition of competences of teachers in initial training and the need to increase its offer in Higher Education.