Hispanic linguistics as a source of community connections for heritage language learners of Spanish

Abstract

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.