Third spaces in service-learning: Resistance and relationship in teacher education students' engagement with cultural difference

Elizabeth Ann Schurman, Purdue University

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of a service-learning project on secondary teacher education students' perceptions of teaching, difference, literacy, and service-learning. The participants were the 17 students enrolled in a teaching reading course at a small, Christian university in the Midwest during the spring of 2012. The service-learning project completed was a ten-hour collaboration with the neighboring YWCA where the teacher education students worked closely with the children in several activities, including those related to literacy. The purpose of the project was for teacher education students to gain a better understanding of the cultural implications of literacy. The type of research completed was qualitative, constructivist, teacher research. Data collected included student reflections, semi-structured interviews, surveys, a research journal, and other course assignments. The data were analyzed using Homi Bhabha's (1994) third space theory as a theoretical framework. Overall, several conclusions were reached: 1) the data showed that the teacher education students enjoyed the project and would like to see it implemented with future education courses; 2) the project most noticeably affected the teacher education students' perception in the area of teaching and learning; 3) in regards to teacher education students' perceptions of difference, their reflections indicated an acknowledgement of difference but resistance to exploring reasons why such differences existed between the lives of the teacher education students and those they worked with at the YWCA; 4) despite some evidence of reconsideration of perceptions of cultural differences and implications, the teacher education students largely overlooked or negated cultural differences in their reflections and pedagogical decisions at the YWCA. The researcher concluded that an embodiment of Bhabha's third space would require a change in stance towards cultural consciousness that requires a continual and critical exploration of difference, including action again injustice and inequality. This position is one that should be worked towards in teacher education programs and one that service-learning projects can help to achieve but only as one of many experiences in which teacher education students are given the opportunity to build relationships with those who differ culturally from themselves.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Johnson, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Multicultural Education|Teacher education

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