An Overview of Spanish Teaching

Abstract

The role of Spanish in U.S. Schools is undisputed. However the numbers of programs, as well as the opportunities for students to reach high levels of proficiency in Spanish or other languages, are inadequate.Key words: Spanish Language, Foreign Languages, Teaching, School, Survey I. BackgroundThe position of the Spanish language in the world today remains strong. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language around the world, after Chinese (Lewis, Simons & Fennig, 2013 the most common language, spoken by approximately 38 million people (United States Census Bureau, 2012). Not surprisingly, Spanish is also the foreign/world language most often taught in public and private schools in the U.S. Although the selection of languages to be taught in schools sometimes appears to be politically motivated -schools change the languages they offer according to major world events and sociopolitical contexts -Spanish has been the most widely offered foreign/second language in U.S. schools, kindergarten through twelfth grade, for many decades (Draper, 1991). By the 1970s, it became the most frequently studied foreign/second language in U.S. colleges and universities, when Spanish overtook French (Modern Language Association, 2013).The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of Spanish teaching in elementary and secondary schools in the United States, showing trends in languages taught across three time points -1987, 1997, and 2008 -and providing comparisons with other languages. The information is based on the most recent data collected for a national survey of foreign language teaching in elementary and secondary schools conducted every decade by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) (Rhodes & Pufahl, 2010). The report includes an overview of the survey methodology and details on the teaching of all languages in schools; how Spanish teaching compares with other languages over time; types of language classes at elementary and secondary school levels; details of a standardized Spanish curriculum and assessment program -the Spanish Advanced Placement (AP) program; and Spanish classes offered outside of regular school programs, including heritage/community language programs and private language school programs. The conclusion offers recommendations to invigorate language teaching in the U.S., with Spanish leading the way as the most commonly taught language. Similarly, foreign language instruction decreased in middle schools, from more than 70% of all middle schools in 1987 and 1997, to fewer than 60% in 2008. At the high school level, however, foreign language instruction remained steady with more than 90% of all high schools offering foreign languages at each time point. Whether schools offered foreign languages varied according to their location, size, the socioeconomic status (SES) of the students, and the geographic region.Overall, urban and suburban schools, larger middle and high schools, and elementary and middle schools with a higher SES were more likely to offer foreign (Table 1).In ...

The other side of heritage language education: Understanding Spanish heritage language teachers in the United States

“…Figure 4 illustrates the distribution of survey respondents by current and past teaching contexts, grouped into five categories based on their responses. In line with previous works (Beaudrie, 2012;Rhodes & Pufahl, 2014), most participants teach or have taught SHL learners at the secondary (middle and high school) or college level.…”

“…The teaching of SHL continues to grow in all states (Beaudrie, 2012;Brown & Thompson, 2018;Rhodes & Pufahl, 2014) as a consequence of current demographic changes and growth of the US Latinx population (García, 2008;Leeman, 2018;Pew Research Center, 2015). Considering the limited literature on SHL teachers, and the relevant role they play in SHL learners' education, this study seeks to understand the educational and professional profiles of teachers of SHL in the United States by means of finding answers to three research questions:…”

“…As shown in Figure 4, most of our informants teach or taught SHL learners at secondary schools and college which are the educational contexts that offer the majority of SHL courses in the United States (Gironzetti & Belpoliti, 2018;Rhodes & Pufahl, 2014). According to their experiences, class size tends to be between 12 and 20 students (n = 33, 30%) and 21-25 students (n = 37, 34%), reaching higher number of students only on rare occasions (more than 30 students, n = 5, 4%).…”

Lingüística intercultural latinoamericana como propuesta de fortalecimiento de las competencias lectoras del español como lengua extranjera

“…Estas asociaciones que se han formado mediante el contacto y la comunicación pueden llegar a desarrollar un vínculo y un sentimiento de solidaridad, incluso, desde una perspectiva más tolerante (Rhodes y Pufahl, 2014).…”

“…La diversidad en la educación ha sido primordial y enriquecedora en la historia del ser humano, ya que ha desarrollado vínculos de solidaridad entre los diferentes tipos étnicos que se han comunicado, debido a que los individuos se incorporan desde una personalidad particular a una general lo que genera una sensación de lealtad, porque se establece una pertenencia social desde una perspectiva inflexible. Estas asociaciones que se han formado mediante contacto y comunicación pueden llegar a desarrollar un vínculo y sentimiento de solidaridad, incluso desde una perspectiva más tolerante (Rhodes y Pufahl, 2014). En definitiva, la solidaridad desarrollada por los jóvenes de diferentes culturas, han hecho sentir su voz y proclamar que los problemas sociales ya no le pertenecen a una sola cultura, sino a todos.…”