Enhancing Preservice Teachers’ Practical Knowledge via Service-Learning: An Instructional Design

With the aim of enhancing teacher education (TE) curriculum of Korea by providing more practical experience for preservice teachers, this study presents an innovative instructional design that integrates service-learning into a TE content course in English language teaching (ELT). The proposed design incorporates service-learning in the ELT Methods course, designing the course to work in conjunction with a mandatory one-credit course, Educational Service Activity. Effecting curricular innovation via service-learning involves the interconnected stages of preparation, implementation, and assessment. In the preparation stage, the focus is on identifying the community partners who are open to a new approach and planning the course with clear goals and expectations. The requirements for the service-learning component and assessment methods are also established. During implementation, preservice teachers engage in lesson planning and enact teaching at the designated cooperating school while studying the course content in the university classroom. Guided reflection and feedback are fundamental to this stage. The course concludes with a demonstration and celebration of the participants’ experiences. Evaluation of their learning is also conducted through a traditional assessment method combined with reflection. Providing institutional support and incentives to all parties and building reciprocal relationships are key to sustaining innovation.