Abstract

The neoliberal system in Chile has caused socio-educational inequities which have been evidenced by the poor academic results of public school students in national and international standardized tests in Math, Language, Science, and English. These inequities and academic results call for preparing teachers to help diminish disparities in the educational system. Nonetheless, the focus of preparing teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Chile has been on developing pedagogical-disciplinary knowledge, leaving aside other areas that can contribute to fight these educational inequities. This article reports on the results of a mixed-method study aimed at investigating how a service-learning project helped future EFL teachers understand social justice after teaching children in vulnerable communities. Specifically, this study explored the influence of the project on their understanding of social justice, and the activities that helped them understand this construct. Thirty-nine pre-service teachers enrolled in a language teaching methodology course at a Chilean university participated answering pre- and post- surveys, focus groups, and evaluating activities. The findings revealed that the pre-service teachers broadened their understanding of social justice by providing definitions that included key concepts of this construct, without receiving explicit instruction; highly valued activities that consisted of being immersed in the communities and working with children to learn about social justice; and did not associate social justice with traditional activities done in a language teaching methodology course. This service-learning project had a positive impact on the participants' understanding of social justice, and provided insights into how to improve the curriculum of EFL teacher education programs.