The CruCES Project: A Consideration of Service Learning and Intercultural Sensitivity Among Heritage Learners

Abstract

Though intercultural competence (ICC), community service learning (CSL), languages for specific purposes (LSP), and heritage learners (HLs) have respectively received increasing attention by language scholars within the previous twenty years, much remains to be done in the way of research concerning the relationship between them. The term HLs is used by academics in the United States in reference to students with previous knowledge of the target language and culture as a result of their cultural heritage and upbringing. This article considers the relevance of CSL to HL intercultural competence through a discussion of a 2015 community service learning project and study titled Creating Communities, Engaged Scholarship (CruCES). The project involved students and faculty from the University of Memphis, local non-profit organizations, and community members from the linguistically and ethnically diverse neighborhood of West Binghampton in Memphis, Tennessee (USA). CruCES sought to build capacity and foster community through the development of sustainable micro-economy projects centered on the arts. During the project, students also participated in a study on ISD. This paper considers the implications of the study's findings for HLs specifically. In total, eight of the fifteen participating students self-identified as HLs. The CruCES project outcomes and study data for participating HLs are most telling with regards to their unique subjective positioning and language learning. Specifically, the study found that participating HLs demonstrated a higher degree of cultural sensitivity at the outset of the project and experienced an increase in self confidence and self-esteem related to the purposeful application of their language skills. A transformational experience for many of the HLs, the CruCES study findings hold significant implications for the development and integration of CSL in LSP courses and HL education.

Assessment in Spanish heritage language programs

“…Students were given the opportunity to be agents in the creation of knowledge and to establish a sense of community. Ruggiero (2017) conducted a study based on the CruCES project, a service-learning opportunity to create community in a diverse neighborhood through micro-economy projects with two local non-profit organizations. Students also participated in a study on intercultural sensitivity, which is innovative in service-learning projects with HLLs.…”

Mediator role of intergroup anxiety in relationship between the social contact, intercultural sensitivity and attitudes towards Syrians among Turkish local society

“…In the state of Tennessee, where there are different linguistic and ethnic groups in the United States, an intervention study was conducted within the scope of the CruCES project, including the intercultural competence component (Ruggiero, 2017). The results of the study show that participation in the CruCES project increases intercultural sensitivity among participants from different cultural heritages (Ruggiero, 2017). Since people with high intercultural sensitivity will have high efforts to recognize and understand different cultures (Bhawuk & Brislin, 1992; Kuru‐Alici, 2021) their intergroup anxiety level will be low.…”

“…Given the role of language in intercultural communication and the relationship between language and culture, it is not surprising that a huge amount of academic studies on intercultural communication sensitivity focus on effective and appropriate language use (Byram, 2009). In the state of Tennessee, where there are different linguistic and ethnic groups in the United States, an intervention study was conducted within the scope of the CruCES project, including the intercultural competence component (Ruggiero, 2017). The results of the study show that participation in the CruCES project increases intercultural sensitivity among participants from different cultural heritages (Ruggiero, 2017).…”