“Everyone’s Got Room to Grow”: A Discourse Analysis of the Rhetoric of Service Learning in Higher Education

Type of Work

Article

Date

Summer 2013

Journal Title

Learning and Teaching: The International Journal of Higher Education in the Social Sciences

Journal ISSN

1755-2273

Journal Volume

6

Journal Issue

2

First Page

33

Last Page

52

DOI

10.3167/latiss.2013.060203

Abstract

This article explores representations emergent in discourse about service learning in an effort to understand what gives the notion special value. A job presentation of a candidate for dean of faculty, articles published in a college newspaper, descriptions posted on a college website and commentary offered in an interview with a student demonstrate that representations of service learning are salient in multiple contexts and presuppose the potential to transform the lives of everyone involved. This article identifies one of the discursive constructs making transformation possible – even inevitable – in reflections on service learning, and uses the construct to explore how it shapes a single instance of service learning's failure.

Hamilton Areas of Study

Anthropology

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