CONNECTING HERITAGE LANGUAGE AND ETHNIC STUDIES PEDAGOGIES: A Path to Transformative Critical Consciousness (original) (raw)
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This article describes a critical service-learning initiative in which college students of Spanish taught in an after-school Spanish class for young heritage language (HL) speakers at a local elementary school. We contextualize the program within broad curricular revisions made to the undergraduate Spanish program in recent years, explaining how critical pedagogy and our students' experiences motivated the design of the program. After describing the program, we analyze reflections from participants that show how the experience helped them take their critical language agency beyond the classroom walls and integrate university, school and community knowledges, as both the college students and the children they taught came to view their cultural and linguistic heritages to be of educational and public importance.
In contrast with the field of second language acquisition (SLA), where until recently sociocultural concerns were largely unaddressed (Block 2007), identity has always been at the core of heritage language (HL) education. The present article highlights this often overlooked history and presents action research centering on a Spanish critical service-learning program stressing identity and social activism in HL education. The article begins with an examination of the constructs of identity, agency and advocacy in Spanish HL education and critical pedagogy. Stressing that critical pedagogy seeks not only to promote agency but also to contribute to social justice outside of the classroom, we next describe our model melding HL education with community language activism. The program, in which HL and L2 university students of Spanish teach an after-school class for young HL speakers at a local elementary school, builds upon HL speakers’ classroom-based learning of critical language awareness by providing community-based opportunities to enact and strengthen identities as language experts and to contribute to positive social change. We present and analyze qualitative data in order to explore the emergence of expert and activist identities among the university HL speakers as they work to counteract the school-based subordination of Spanish.
International Multilingual Research Journal, 2020
As Spanish heritage courses multiply all over the United States, the need to reexamine the curriculum and pedagogical approaches that are most appropriate to meet instructional goals is becoming increasingly pressing. Although several researchers have called for developing students' critical language awareness (CLA) in the Spanish heritage classroom, this model has yet to make its way fully into the curriculum. A CLA approach is essential to help students become aware of issues of language and power and the privileging of certain dialects over others. Spanish language maintenance in the United States cannot be achieved unless learners develop this awareness in order to challenge dominant language ideologies that have been reproduced through education. This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a four-module curriculum designed to develop Spanish heritage learners' CLA. The modules address (1) language variation and diversity; (2) language ideologies and linguistic prejudice; (3) Spanish in the United States and bilingualism; and (4) language maintenance. Pretest and posttest results show the curriculum effectively improved students' level of CLA. Pedagogical implications and recommendations are discussed.
Identity and Activism in Heritage Language Education
In contrast with the field of second language acquisition (SLA), where until recently sociocultural concerns were largely unaddressed , identity has always been at the core of heritage language (HL) education. The present article highlights this often overlooked history and presents action research centering on a Spanish critical service-learning program stressing identity and social activism in HL education. The article begins with an examination of the constructs of identity, agency, and advocacy in Spanish HL education and critical pedagogy. Stressing that critical pedagogy seeks not only to promote agency but also to contribute to social justice outside of the classroom, we provide an overview of our critical service-learning program melding university HL education with community language activism. The program builds upon HL speakers' classroom-based learning of critical language awareness by providing community-based opportunities to enact and strengthen identities as language experts and to contribute to positive social change. Next, we present and analyze qualitative data gathered in order to investigate the emergence of expert and activist identities among program participants who worked to counteract school-based subordination of Spanish by running an after-school Spanish class for HL speakers at a local elementary school.
Languages, 2022
As critical language pedagogies are being implemented in heritage language (HL) settings, there is an increasing need to examine the impact of critical approaches in Spanish HL speakers. The present study examines how the development of HL learners’ critical language awareness (CLA) influences ethnic identity formation in a university-level course that adopts a critical approach to HL instruction. As part of the curricular content, a CLA instructional intervention, consisting of a 4-week unit (10 h), was implemented. First, to measure ethnic identity, at the beginning (pre) and at the end of the semester (post), students completed the Ethnic Identity Scale (EIS) and provided comments with their answers. Additionally, in order to examine CLA development before and after the intervention, participants completed an existing questionnaire, which addresses topics such as language variation, language ideologies, and bilingualism. Overall, the results show that students’ CLA levels increased from “somewhat high” to “high”. Furthermore, participants reported different ethnic–racial identity statuses, which moved toward ethnic identity achievement. Higher CLA levels were associated with an achieved positive status. These findings can contribute to a better understanding of the link between students’ CLA and ethnic identity in HL educational settings, where a critical language pedagogy is applied.
Recent developments in Hispanic Linguistics: Studies in structure, variation, and bilingualism
Given exposure to hegemonic language ideologies from multiple sources and actors in larger society, a key component of critical language awareness (CLA) pedagogy is to raise students' critical consciousness about them. Therefore, the present study examines how seven Spanish heritage language speakers' language ideologies influence their linguistic self-conceptualization before and after taking a CLA-informed course on Spanish in the US. The results provide evidence that most students either questioned dominant language ideologies (e.g., monoglossic and standard language) when it came to conceptualizing their own Spanish or directly challenged them in their daily lives after completing the course. However, some participant reflections expressed hegemonic language ideologies at the end of the semester, which mirrors findings from previous research that measure students' critical awareness post-instruction.
Using Classroom Conversation to Embrace Ethnolinguistic Identity and Heritage Language
IANUA Revista Philologica Romanica, 2021
Abstract The language classroom is an ideal place to empower students through linguistic practices and to encourage them to become agents of change. It is important that heritage speakers, especially in intermediate and advanced levels, can discuss in a safe learning space topics they face in their daily realities, such as ethnolinguistic identity and experiences around bilingualism and biculturalism. Discussing these topics in the heritage language classroom produces short- and long-term benefits, such as the embracing of ethnolinguistic identity and preservation of their heritage language and culture. Based on Freire’s (2000) critical pedagogy and Fairclough’s (1989 1992a) critical language awareness, this chapter presents a series of pedagogical activities to foster critical thinking and critical language awareness in the HL classroom through dialogue and writing. Designed for ethnolinguistically minoritized students, such as Spanish heritage speakers in the U.S., the activities pretend to cultivate positive attitudes toward the HL and combat linguistic and cultural prejudice against US Latinxs. The activity sequence involves (a) a composition exploring ethnolinguistic identity; (b) a peer review of the composition; (c) a computer-mediated dialogue; and (d) a postdiscussion collaborative composition. These activities entail practice of reading, writing, listening, and speaking along with critical thinking. I present the activities step-by-step along with suggestions for addressing linguistic insecurities and inequity topics. Keywords: Spanish as a heritage language pedagogy, critical pedagogy, critical thinking, computer mediated communication, U.S. Latinx, agency.
Why ethnic studies? Building critical consciousness among middle school students
Middle School Journal, 2020
Abstract The rising percentage of nonwhite students in the U.S. public school system accompanied by persistent educational debt and racial inequities presents an opportunity gap for many marginalized students. Scholars suggest that teaching ethnic studies curriculum with critical race pedagogy can help address the opportunity gap. Ethnic Studies centers on providing students educational access, relevance, and tools for social change. However, few studies examine how this curriculum affects middle school students. Based on qualitative analysis of a combination of different data sources such as student evaluations, writing samples, and teacher reflections, I found that an ethnic studies curriculum enabled middle school students to make meaningful connections to their lives and build academic and social confidence that promoted their success. It also encouraged them to develop their capacities for social action. I find that contradictory ideologies may arise from cultivating critical consciousness with regards to responses and recognition of injustices. Results suggest that teachers may help cultivate students’ critical consciousness when they have the content knowledge and pedagogical tools to support their development.
Developing critical language awareness via service-learning for Spanish heritage speakers
In recent years a growing number of researchers have urged for the adoption of critical pedagogies for the teaching of Spanish as a heritage language (SHL) in the US . Such critical stances to SHL instruction acknowledge the dynamic interplay between language, power, identity and ideology and aim to develop critical language awareness among students in which students gain an understanding of social hierarchies and language subordination. Merging this critical perspective with approaches that unite SHL learners and communities through service-learning programs (Martinez, 2010;, the current paper examines how service-learning can accomplish critical pedagogical goals.