When a heritage speaker wants to be a Spanish teacher: Educational experiences and challenges

Abstract

This study explored the experiences of eight Latina heritage speakers (HSs) who were enrolled in world language teacher preparation programs at two higher education institutions. Using data from interviews, classroom observations, and other documents, the qualitative multiple‐case study investigated their educational experiences and the challenges involved in attaining initial Spanish teacher certification. Four themes emerged: motivation to become a world language teacher, language awareness, developing professional and pedagogical knowledge, and issues related to the academic program. Recommendations for world language teacher preparation are offered.

"A Hard Time Seeing the Relevance": Race and Discourse Identity in Language Teacher Preparation

“…The absence of critical discussions on raciolinguistic power hierarchies within the educational experiences of these groups did not inhibit their ability to recognize these dynamics, it simply reinforced that the classroom was not a place to disrupt such sociopolitical realities. Bustamante and Novella (2019) confirm these findings in their qualitative multiple-case study wherein Latina heritage language PSTs had their linguistic practices devalued as not standard or grammatical enough for their WL pedagogy courses. The Black American participants from Anya's 2016 study depended on the nonclassroom community as a preferred context for Portuguese languaging in the absence of discussing sociopolitical realities within the classroom.…”

“…The Black American participants from Anya's 2016 study depended on the nonclassroom community as a preferred context for Portuguese languaging in the absence of discussing sociopolitical realities within the classroom. Still, while the Latina PSTs from Bustamante and Novella's (2019) study used their language skills in the community, they later found said skills were not valued in their university-based courses, as they were not considered academic enough. Similarly, raciolinguistic ideologies were either transferred, as with Bacon's (2020) mixed-methods study with 127 novice teachers, or endured through societal norms, as with Dobbs & Leider's (2021) qualitative study with fifteen novice and early career teachers.…”

“…Until recently, a lack of literature on race in language teaching (Kubota & Lin, 2006;Von Esch et al, 2020) has impacted the proliferation of culture as an uncritical euphemism for race within language education (Von Esch et al, 2020). Considering and instructing (language) learners apart from their racialized sociopolitical context (Pascual y Cabo & Prada, 2018) yields negative results for their linguistic advancement (Anya, 2016), their ability to implement (Jacobs et al, 2015;Kohli, 2009) or transfer practices (Martel, 2015) and affirm their racialized languaging practices (Bustamante & Novella, 2019). This separation further diminishes PST ability to refute language learning as ideologically neutral (Bacon, 2020).…”

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

“…This finding highlights the lack of representation of heritage speakers in the SHL teacher pool, which may impact students' motivation, engagement, and achievement (Egalite et al, 2015;González Darriba et al, 2021;Guzman, 2020). Early engagement programs dedicated to fostering interest in language teaching among SHL speakers at the high school level could result in a relevant shift, with larger number of SHL learners becoming the future practitioners in the field, thus serving the trifold purpose of helping them and their students to maintain, value, and expand their use of the language (Bustamante & Novella, 2019;Guzman, 2020). (b) Stand-alone professional development options.…”