Agency and service learning in writing intensive courses: A critical discourse analysis

Service learning has become a widely recognized means of engaging students in coursework via volunteer activities in the community. In writing instruction, service learning has been criticized by some for its sometimes "missionary" approach. Others argue that it is key to advancing democratic education in ways that inculcate democratic values in the students who participate. Those who argue its efficacy as a form of democratic education often place more emphasis on the necessity of an agentive role for the community partner in ways that other approaches to service learning do not. At the same time, institutions across the country are lauding service learning as a means of marketing their institution's ability to engage students. Is engagement synonymous with democratic education?;This dissertation is a critical discourse analysis of university and college writing intensive course descriptions that utilize service learning as a means of instruction. The purpose of this study is to investigate how these descriptions reflect specific institutional attitudes regarding service learning and what those attitudes might represent in regards to democratic education. I examine the role of the community partner in these descriptions in order to identify what kind of service learning approach their depictions suggest. My findings suggest that the majority of institutions practicing service learning in their writing intensive classes are not representing community partners in ways that align with recent composition theories arguing the need for mutually beneficial exchanges. Findings also identify a few instances of true democratic partnership that I discuss in greater detail, ultimately arguing for the adoption of a community partnership model as the most ethical approach to service learning.