IU L315 Service Learning:

Summary of Student Experience (Final)

December 11, 2017
To Bethany Turrentine and all of the VITAL tutors and learners who have welcomed our
research in their classrooms, in particular Dustin Shannon, Mary DePew, Matry Strow, Jeanette
Clausen, Hiromi Yoshida, Tom Bitters, Collin Bjork, Dee Degner, and Shane Tang

Here are some of the highlights from my students final reflections on the connections they saw
between their service learning experience and their college education more generally:
Academic enrichment:
I feel like actually going out in the field and working with members of the community in
a research related way has finally complemented what Ive been preparing for in class for
the last three years. Not only that, but the research itself has been an extremely eye-
opening and awesome experience. Ive been learning about research and how to read
about it for years now, but actually doing it is a lot more fun and rewarding.
I am studying cultural differences and how language differs, so it is very interesting for
me to see what kinds of politeness strategies are used by those learning English in the
United States. Different cultural customs show up in some of the conversations Ive had
during service learning, and I always enjoy hearing about those.
One of the main points Im learning in my acquisition of Spanish class is that there is
technically no correct form of grammar, rather a standard accepted by everyone in the
community. There is a difference between formal language, taught in the classroom and
used in more institutionalized settings, and informal language used in everyday life with
family and friends.
Its easy for me to see the connections to phonology and phonetics and listen to how
[learners of English as a new language] pronounce things, but thats because thats my
jam, and I spend a lot of time thinking about those aspects of language.
Personal and professional development:
The biggest connection I was that the focus on transferable skills. In both cases, it is nice
to learn how to recite something out of a book, or memorize important dates in history,
but these things wont help you in the real world. In order to communicate effectively
with people, to obtain and perform well at a job, and to continual develop new skills, we
have to be focused on the transferable tasks and skills that will serve us after we leave the
classroom
As someone who wants to do ethnographic work, it will be important that I continue to
find ways to connect with folks who may be different from me and to try to find ways to
communicate across barriers.
 [] Its also made me more aware of how I communicate, and how I can communicate
in ways that could be better understood by more people.
Dear goodness; I would say how to work with other people, why my degree is important
to my future career, how I can practice applicable skills right here in Bloomington, how
to encourage other students to take their studies seriously and many more.
My service learning experience has allowed me to reflect on the need to continually learn
about and appreciate the diverse set of perspectives that Bloomington has to offer its
residents.
On behalf of all of my students, accept our sincerest gratitude. We look forward to seeing you
again and sharing the fruits of this service-learning research at our upcoming workshop
Language and Society on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 5:30-7:30pm, Program Rooms 2B/C,
VITAL, MCPL.

Very best,

Valentyna Filimonova
Email: valefili@indiana.edu
Website: http://l315.weebly.com/service-learning.html
PhD Candidate and Associate Instructor
Depts. of Linguistics and Spanish & Portuguese
Indiana University, Bloomington