Service-learning pedagogy : the role of psychological characteristics and student engagement in social responsibility development

Abstract

Service-learning is a kind of experiential learning through service that emphasizes social responsibility development. Nowadays, more than half of community colleges in the US and an increasing number of Asian higher educational institutions incorporate service-learning into the academic curricula, with many studies suggesting the appreciable effects of service-learning on students’ intellectual growth and civic responsibility. However, most existing service-learning studies generally assume that all service-learners are equally engaged in the programme and that they enjoy same pedagogical benefits. In view of this, the present research distinguishes itself from other studies on service-learning by examining the role of three psychological factors in students’ social responsibility development – learning motivation, thinking styles, and student engagement.

The research adopted a quantitatively driven mixed methods design to investigate the role of service-learners’ psychological characteristics (i.e., learning motivation, thinking styles, and student engagement) in social responsibility development, with three sequential phases as 1) the pilot study (a quantitative study), 2) the main study (a quantitative study), and the follow-up study (a qualitative study). In the pilot study, three hundred and eighty-one respondents from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University responded to a questionnaire in order to validate the five inventories that were subsequently used in the main study, and to preliminarily explore the relationships among the key constructs in the research model. In the main study, two hundred and sixty service-learners from the same University responded to a questionnaire containing the modified inventories and demographic information at the beginning of their service-learning programme; upon completion of their service, these students responded to the same questionnaire again. Finally, as a subset of the sample of the main study, five service-learners were selected based on the main study findings for the follow-up face-to-face interviews.

Results from the main study generally supported the research hypotheses. First, the findings revealed that the identified regulation (i.e., one type of autonomous motivation) and Type I thinking styles (i.e., liberal, hierarchical, and legislative) were the most significant contributors to student engagement. Second, results indicated that higher quality student engagement (i.e., in terms of the cognitive and agentic engagement) predicted higher levels of social responsibility development. In addition, cognitive and agentic engagement were partial mediators in the relationship of the Type I liberal style to service-learners’ social responsibility development, and were full mediators in the relationship of the identified regulation to students’ social responsibility development in service-learning context. With respect to the style change, service-learners’ thinking styles (four out of six evaluated in the present research) showed significant positive changes after their participation in service-learning.

Overall, not only do the findings of the present research possess theoretical significance, but they also provide valuable practical insights to service-learning teachers, educators, and students on the types of motivation and thinking styles they should encourage and adopt in the teaching and learning process. It is believed that the present findings could inspire teachers in designing more effective service-learning programmes that embrace individual differences in facilitating students’ social responsibility development. Finally, limitations and future research directions are also discussed.