Language Teaching Research Quarterly

Electronic service (e-service) learning has considerable potential to promote engagement and interactions between people by liberating spatial constraints. Due to the pandemic situation, ordinary face-to-face service learning was impossible, but there was an urgent need to support adolescent English learners in communities. In accordance with the community needs, this phenomenological study explored Korean EFL preservice teachers’ experiences and perceptions of e-service learning, focusing on the collaborative nature of learning. Based on this, we collected data from multiple sources (i.e., interviews, reflective reports, and artifacts) from 23 Korean preservice teachers majoring in English language education and conducted interviews with six teachers. The qualitative analysis of these data reveals that the Korean EFL preservice teachers seem to see four essential benefits and strengths of e-service learning: (1) the construction of their teacher identity, (2) the development of teaching-related skills, (3) the fulfillment of EFL learner needs, and (4) a social impact. They also addressed several challenges of e-service learning. Findings provide EFL teacher educators and researchers with valuable insights into e-service learning as part of teacher education.