Impact of Service-Learning on Hispanic College Students: Building Multi-cultural Competence

Abstract

This article explores the experiences of Spanish-speaking heritage language university students in a sign language interpreting program who were enrolled in service-learning classes. In the service-learning classes, the students partnered with a community service-agency for the deaf that provided intervention services to Spanish-speaking families with deaf children. The findings indicate that the students developed a deeper awareness of their own multicultural and multilingual identity. Moreover, the students gained authentic experiences in brokering linguistic and cultural differences between the American deaf and Hispanic communities in an effort to enhance intervention services for the deaf Hispanic children.