Spanish Language and Latino Ethnicity In Children’s Television Programs

Abstract

Dora the Explorer is a popular children's television program remarkable for its success among young children and their parents, its Latina title character, and its use of Spanish in a show for mainstream audiences. Several children's shows currently feature Latino principal characters and incorporate Spanish vocabulary and dialogue. This new phenomenon corresponds to the growth of the Latino population; these programs act as agents of socialization for the next generation, a generation that will have more Latino/Latina members than ever before. This paper examines three children's programs: Dora the Explorer, Dragon Tales, and Maya & Miguel in terms of the links between Spanish language and Latino ethnicity. How is Spanish used (what is its didactic purpose, if any; who speaks it and how is it spoken)? What messages about Latinos, Spanish, and multiculturalism are communicated through the shows’ characterization, setting, and language use? Based on content analysis of 10 episodes of each show, this study finds three different portrayals of the links between language and ethnic identity in the three shows.