Understanding the inheritors: The perception of beginning-level students toward their Spanish as a Heritage Language program (original) (raw)
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Language, Culture, and Spanish Heritage Language Learners: Reframing Old Paradigms
Dimension, 2020
Traditionally, the curriculum guiding many language programs has centered on the teaching of a "foreign" language to an audience of primarily second language learners (e.g. del Valle, 2014). Such a philosophy has relied on the belief in the existence of a single linguistic standard and an idealized community of native speakers from other countries. The increasing enrollment of Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) learners requires educators to reconsider the efficacy of such an approach in order to better address the needs of today's student populations. A shift in classroom practices, however, requires a critical evaluation of the ideas that underpin the system of beliefs on which a traditional curriculum was built. Only after such an assessment can educators begin to acknowledge, value, and embrace the legitimacy of the diverse U.S. Spanish-speaking population and work to bridge the knowledge of classroom to that of the communities in which SHL learners live. The present article criticizes some of the firmly held opinions that sustain outdated perspectives and impede a reorientation of a traditional Spanish language curriculum. In doing so, the article offers a path to reorienting a program of study around the perspectives and needs of Spanish Heritage Language learners.
Linguistic diversity and student voice: the case of Spanish as a heritage language
Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, 2019
This article examines the issue of teaching Spanish as a heritage language (SHL) focusing primarily on the issues of linguistic diversity and the socioaffective issues related to heritage language learners. First, we consider linguistic diversity in speech communities where students use SHL. Second, we discuss students' perceptions of the teaching of Spanish in a linguistically diverse setting and draw upon a corpus of interviews with 35 students attending an SHL program at a large southwestern university in the United States. We examine stated perspectives regarding the (mis)match between students' heritage varieties and what is promoted in the classroom. The data reveals the importance of considering the student perspective in validating heritage language varieties and indicate both challenges and insights in achieving this validation given the sociolinguistic diversity found in most SHL learning communities.
Hispanic linguistics as a source of community connections for heritage language learners of Spanish
Revista signos, 2019
The teaching of Spanish as a heritage language should attempt to integrate students' background and community into the classroom. Previous studies have found that research in their own community allows learners to embrace their heritage language with pride (Correa, 2011), understand the role that it plays in society (Martínez, 2003; Leeman, 2005), and build stronger community bonds (Leeman, Rabin & Román-Mendoza, 2011). This study examines two contexts of university-level Spanish heritage language education. One is San Antonio, Texas, United States, a city with a vibrant Mexican community. The other context is Calgary, Alberta, Canada, a city in which Latin Americans constitute a clear minority. The courses in both contexts were linguistics classes that focused on Spanish as a heritage language. In these courses, the students used journal entries and questionnaires to consider questions about heritage Spanish, language use, attitudes, and the future of the communities' varieties. Their final projects consisted of community-based research, in which they interviewed and collected linguistic data from local Spanish-speakers. Their comments and projects reveal their developing understanding of issues of language use, their recognition of sociolinguistic and attitudinal realities, and a stronger commitment to maintaining Spanish in both the private and the public spheres. These results suggest that, even in communities with minimal Hispanic representation and in courses without an official focus on community engagement, students can still develop a critical understanding of the local variety and the social, cultural, and political factors that contribute to the ways in which it is used.
Hispania, 2017
This qualitative study investigated the language ideologies and instructional practices of an entire Spanish language faculty at a high school in a new gateway state for immigration. The study examined additive and subtractive practices of teachers as they strived to teach Spanish to heritage language learners (HLLs) enrolled in mixed Spanish-as-foreign-language classes (that is, classes comprised of both HLLs and traditional second language learners). The study found that although at the philosophical level teachers had additive, pluralistic views of acculturation, they often opted for instructional practices that contradicted their philosophies. This article deconstructs those practices and outlines the fundamental shifts in ideologies that are necessary to promote effective and culturally appropriate instruction for HLLs in mixed classes.
Hispania, 2014
Spanish as a Heritage Language in the United States: The State of the Field aptly acknowledges and addresses the realities of Spanish as a native language in the USA. It contains 13 chapters from different authors, divided thematically into four parts. Although the book brings together authors from different research perspectives and theoretical frameworks, the text remains highly accessible, even when the content falls outside one's area of specialty. As such, the book will be beneficial for senior and novice researchers, graduate students, and educators, not only for those who deal specifically with Spanish but also, to the extent that many issues in heritage Spanish are issues of heritage languages in general, for any professional interested in questions in heritage language research. The editors, in their introduction, briefly lay out the goals of and the need for this volume. The Spanish language has always been present in the USA, from its formation; however, only with the relatively recent increase in the number of speakers is this fact beginning to be acknowledged. The unique history of Spanish and its interaction with English have resulted in varying ideological, social, linguistic, and educational consequences, and this book aims to explore who heritage speakers are, how they use or relate to their Spanish, and what can (and should) be done with them in the classroom. The first thematic section contextualizes the volume within the study of Spanish as a heritage language, offering historical, social, political, and theoretical surveys of the field. These chapters explore the history of Spanish and the study of Spanish speakers in the USA, the formation of language ideologies, the evolution of language policy in the USA, and conceptualizations of bilinguals and bilingualism, and how all of these relate to the heritage learner classroom. The second section introduces some of the linguistic characteristics of heritage Spanish. These chapters acknowledge that the concept of a heritage grammar is not a monolithic one, but rather subject to variability and used by speakers of varying proficiencies. These chapters explore the nature of the heritage language grammar and the grammatical competence of heritage speakers, the pragmatics and discourse use of heritage Spanish, as well as the perceptions of Spanish/English code-switching. The third section examines learner perspectives on heritage language and how these may affect the classroom experience. Heritage speakers, when compared with the stereotypical adult second language learner, may have different motivations for learning (or maintaining) and different attitudes toward the language in question (here, Spanish), and may be subject to different expectations or pressures in the classroom. Identity may also be a crucial component of heritage language learners,
Studies in English Language Teaching
The increased number of Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) speakers in American schools has called for the need of new research focused on SHL students, their parents, their teachers, and a profound analysis of best instructional practices for this individualized group of students. The purpose of this thorough analysis of peer-reviewed literature is to evaluate language programs for the growing SHL student population in elementary schools. A careful look into this growing population will help evaluate the educational programs provided to SHL students such as the Dual Language (DL) immersion program and the Transitional Bilingual Education program (TBE). This review addresses why students walk into an elementary classroom as an SHL and English language bilingual and subsequently become monolinguals as they progress in their elementary school years. Recognizing the factors that lead to a student’s language preference can assist parents, teachers, and the education system in developing an...