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

Gironzetti, Elisa; Belpoliti, Flavia

doi:10.1111/flan.12591

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(43 reference statements)

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“…Given that, it is not surprising that the teacher training programs for these participants, which occurred prior to 2016, did not include much in terms of the needs of and best practices for SHL students. The general quantitative findings reported here align with those of Gironzetti andBelpoliti (2021), andCarreira (2022). In all cases, participants reported having experience teaching mixed classes.…”

Section: Discussion and Suggestionssupporting

confidence: 90%

“…It is inexcusable, in a country of over 60 million Latinos, that Spanish teachers can graduate with a degree in Spanish education and possess little to no knowledge of the Spanish that exists in their own backyard. Rather than relegating such training to professional development workshops and webinars (see Gironzetti and Belpoliti 2021), we must prioritize this training at the onset of teachers' careers. That is not to say that professional development workshops and webinars on this topic do not have a place, indeed they do, for we must continue to reach those who are already teaching in the field for real change to happen.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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SHL Teacher Development and Critical Language Awareness: From Engaño to Understanding

Ducar

2022

Languages

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This paper offers insights from a study of 17 high school Spanish teachers enrolled in an online graduate course on Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) Pedagogy. The study analyzed the semester-long transformation of teacher attitudes as expressed in discussion board posts following a content analysis approach. Findings show an initial lack of respect for student dialects and knowledge of US varieties of Spanish coupled with a desire to help students improve via the teaching of “academic Spanish”. Many participants expressed a feeling of engaño (disillusionment) toward their previous training, wondering why they had not studied the aforementioned topics sooner (Russell and Kuriscak 2015). By creating a context where teachers themselves became more critically language aware, they also became “…cognizant of the naturalness of language variation and its loading of social, political, and economic power structures…” (Beaudrie et al. 2021, p. 587). This paper underscores the transformation that can occur when teachers investigate bilingual ideologies and practices and linguistic characteristics of US varieties of Spanish. The concrete suggestions offered here aim to answer Leeman’s (2015) call for “destabilizing teachers’ ideologies” (p. 114) in the hopes of creating a more equitable learning environment for future language students.

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Section: Discussion and Suggestionssupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SHL Teacher Development and Critical Language Awareness: From Engaño to Understanding

Ducar

2022

Languages

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“…Third, the results of the survey indicate that research engagement has many benefits, also pointed out by Borg and Sanchez (2015: 7-8), such as some of the needs highlighted by respondents: more teaching resources, prestige within the profession, an increase in the professionalization and consolidation of the discipline (Gironzetti and Belpoliti 2021), and a greater sense of community, participation, and involvement in research initiatives (see also Vaattovaara 2017: 470). There is no doubt that keeping abreast of developments in the field and integrating some of these findings into teaching can positively inform teachers' understandings of their role, make them more confident, enhance and impact their teaching practices (Stapleton 2013(Stapleton : 2014 and, ultimately, empower them as language teaching professionals.…”

Section: Limitations Conclusion and Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Research Engagement and Research Culture in Spanish Language Teaching (SLT): Empowering the Profession

Gironzetti

Muñoz–Basols

2022

Applied Linguistics

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Teacher training programs and models recognize research engagement as a key competency of qualified professionals. However, despite current calls from scholars to bridge the divide between research and practice in second language teaching, little is known about how teaching professionals engage with existing research or carry out their own research. This study is the first to address this issue with regards to Spanish Language Teaching (SLT) professionals, aiming to understand if and how they engage with and in research, and identify what they would need to increase their engagement. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of online survey responses from 1,675 SLT professionals from 84 countries show that research engagement is dependent on the job description. Coding of free-text responses into eight themes (motivation, prestige, support, training, professionalization, resources, community, and research areas) reveals that the main barrier to greater research engagement is lack of support. Our results contribute to the understanding of the concepts of research engagement and research culture within the context of SLT and inform future initiatives to strengthen the research-practice nexus.

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“…It is not a surprise that heritage language teaching and education has recently become a central topic in applied linguistics more generally. Publications in these areas have exponentially grown in the past two decades (Brinton et al 2008, Gironzetti & Belpoliti 2021, Kagan et al 2017.…”

Section: Is the Heritage Language Like A "Foreign Language"?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Heritage Languages: Language Acquired, Language Lost, Language Regained

Montrul

2023

Annu. Rev. Linguist.

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A heritage language is a sociopolitically minority and/or minoritized language acquired as the first or one of the first languages in a bilingual or multilingual context. Heritage languages are typically acquired under conditions of reduced exposure and are often used less than the majority language during late childhood and adolescence. Heritage languages show structural differences and changes at all levels of linguistic analysis from baseline grammars that arise from the complex interaction between the nature and quantity of input and the age of bilinguals. Although many situations give rise to heritage languages, this article focuses on immigrants and their children and reviews foundational studies of the linguistic properties of heritage languages; studies of age effects that have shed light on critical differences between first, second, and heritage language acquisition; and recent studies of heritage language relearning and reactivation. The implications of the study of heritage languages for bilingualism and society and for the language and cognitive sciences are discussed. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 9 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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

Cited by 7 publications

References 41 publications

SHL Teacher Development and Critical Language Awareness: From Engaño to Understanding

SHL Teacher Development and Critical Language Awareness: From Engaño to Understanding

Research Engagement and Research Culture in Spanish Language Teaching (SLT): Empowering the Profession

Heritage Languages: Language Acquired, Language Lost, Language Regained

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