What's Next?: Heritage Language Learners Shape New Paths in Spanish Teaching

A Comparison of Advanced Heritage Language Learners’ Peer Interaction Across Modes and Pair Types

“…HL learners, who, in many cases, are native bilinguals of a minority/family language along with the majority language of the society at large, have increasingly been receiving attention, especially due to pedagogical concerns (Beaudrie, Ducar, & Potowski, ). However, to date, little research exists that examines the effects of pedagogical interventions on the linguistic performance and development of HL learners (for reviews, see Bowles, ; Montrul, ; Montrul & Bowles, ; Sanz & Torres, ; Torres, Pascual y Cabo, & Beusterien, ). Therefore, more research is needed to investigate how the early bilingual experience of HL learners plays a role into whether and how they benefit from instruction in the HL.…”

Redefining Spanish teaching and learning in the United States

“…Inspired by what researchers have previously documented to be a misalignment between the sociolinguistic reality of the United States and the presentation of Spanish as an FL (e.g., Alvarez, ; Carreira, , ; Torres et al, ; Villa, ), the integrated initiative for Spanish language teaching and learning described above operationalizes strategies to bring U.S. Spanish and its speakers to the core of program design and pedagogical action, including in courses designed for heritage and foreign language learners. As noted earlier, mainstream educational alternatives in the field of modern languages must seek to align with sociolinguistic realities and move away from the imposition of postcolonial stances that foreignize local communities (Carreira & Kagan, ; Leeman & Serafini, ; Torres et al, ). It is hoped that implementing curricular and programmatic changes that consider the social, linguistic, and cultural U.S. reality will lead to a more optimal allocation of resources that both addresses and supports SHL maintenance and revitalization and fosters and encourages a fortified stance on bilingualism among SFL learners.…”

“…The increasing trends in the implementation of such programs and courses in K–12 and postsecondary contexts across the country reflect the dynamics within the Hispanic community itself, which shows promising advances in areas such as education, employment, and linguistic vitality of Spanish (Krogstad, ). However, it should be uncontroversial to say that the current educational needs of Hispanic bilingual speakers/learners of Spanish in the United States are still second to those of students of Spanish as a FL (e.g., Leeman and García, ; Leeman, ; Torres et al, ). The fact is that, despite the rapid increase of SHL programs and courses, traditional language programs have continued to focus on Spanish not only as if it were a foreign language, but also through a lens that is inconsistent with the social, cultural, and linguistic reality of the United States (e.g., Alonso, ; Alvarez, ; Torres et al, ; Villa, ).…”

“…However, it should be uncontroversial to say that the current educational needs of Hispanic bilingual speakers/learners of Spanish in the United States are still second to those of students of Spanish as a FL (e.g., Leeman and García, ; Leeman, ; Torres et al, ). The fact is that, despite the rapid increase of SHL programs and courses, traditional language programs have continued to focus on Spanish not only as if it were a foreign language, but also through a lens that is inconsistent with the social, cultural, and linguistic reality of the United States (e.g., Alonso, ; Alvarez, ; Torres et al, ; Villa, ). Although this may not be the case for all institutions, the general tendency toward foreignizing Spanish as the go‐to paradigm bears on a postcolonial model of education that draws from notions of linguistic purity, resulting in, among other issues, a “paternalistic” instinct to fix what is perhaps misperceived as broken or deficient.…”

Utmaning eller tillgång? Att undervisa modersmålstalare i språkutbildning på universitetet

“…5 I utbildningskontext avser arvspråkstalare främst personer som studerar ett språk som de lärt sig och använder i hemmet (Valdés, 2005, s. 411-412). Som grupp har de en mycket varierad språkbakgrund och därmed olika kompetensnivå, vilket har gjort det svårt att tillgodose deras behov i L2-klassrummet (Alarcón, 2010;Torres et al, 2017). Därför har man i USA utvecklat kurser specifikt för vissa grupper av arvspråkstalare, främst de spansktalande och kinesiska.…”