Intragroup Differences and Attitudes toward Varieties of Spanish among Bilingual Pupils from California and Texas

Abstract

Mexican-American high school students from Texas (n=50) and California (n=80) rated their relative proficiency and use of Spanish. The pupils registered their reactions to four varieties of Spanish (16 passages-read by four speakers and recorded on tape using the matched guise technique). Differential reactions to the four varieties-code switching, ungrammatical, dialectal, and "standard" Mexican Spanish-were interpreted as revealing differential language attitudes. Each variety was rated in terms of (a) degree of grammaticality, (b) appropriateness for classroom use, (c) the speaker's likelihood of academic achievement, and (d) a global reaction. Location affected language proficiency and use. "Standard" Mexican Spanish was rated higher than the other three varieties, and the two "non-standard" varieties were evaluated more favorably than code switching. Judgements about the four varieties were influenced by a number of factors including sex.