Abstract
Despite the prevalence of mixed language programs across the United States, their impact on the unique socio-affective needs of heritage language (HL) students has not been researched sufficiently. Therefore, the present study examines HL learners’ critical language awareness (CLA) in a mixed Spanish undergraduate program at a small private university in the eastern United States. Sixteen HL learners enrolled in different Spanish upper-level courses participated in the study. Respondents completed an existing questionnaire to measure CLA, which includes 19 Likert-type items addressing different areas, such as language variation, language ideologies, bilingualism, and language maintenance. Overall, the results show that learners in the mixed language program under study have “somewhat high” and “high” levels of CLA. The increased levels of CLA in learners who had completed three courses or more in the program, coupled with their strong motivation, suggests that this program contributes positively toward HL students’ CLA. However, respondents’ answers also reveal standard language ideologies, as well as the personal avoidance of code-switching. Based on these findings, two areas that could benefit from a wider representation in the curriculum of mixed language programs are discussed: language ideologies and plurilingual language practices.
Highlights
The field of heritage language (HL) education is a relatively new area of inquiry, which has grown considerably in the last few years in the United States as a result of the number of HL speakers who seek to further explore and develop their cultural and linguistic heritage.Research has shown that HL speakers’ most common motivations for studying their HL are to reconnect with their cultural heritage and to create connections with other members of the community (Beaudrie et al 2009; Carreira and Kagan 2011; Beaudrie 2020)
The fact that students in Group 1 scored high in Part 3, which focuses on the maintenance and promotion of U.S Spanish, seems to suggest that this group of HL learners start the program with a strong motivation to use, expand, and maintain their heritage language
Based on the results described in the previous section, there are two areas that could benefit from a wider representation in the curriculum of mixed language programs: language ideologies and plurilingual language practices
Summary
The field of heritage language (HL) education is a relatively new area of inquiry, which has grown considerably in the last few years in the United States as a result of the number of HL speakers who seek to further explore and develop their cultural and linguistic heritage.Research has shown that HL speakers’ most common motivations for studying their HL are to reconnect with their cultural heritage and to create connections with other members of the community (Beaudrie et al 2009; Carreira and Kagan 2011; Beaudrie 2020). The field of heritage language (HL) education is a relatively new area of inquiry, which has grown considerably in the last few years in the United States as a result of the number of HL speakers who seek to further explore and develop their cultural and linguistic heritage. According to the latest data of the Pew Research Center (2018), Spanish is the most commonly spoken non-English language in the United States, followed by Chinese, including Mandarin and Cantonese, Hindi, Filipino or Tagalog, Vietnamese, French, Dravidian, and Arabic. At the time the survey results were published, HL programs were available in Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Farsi, Hindi/Urdu, and Arabic. While approximately 80% of the Spanish programs surveyed offered HL courses, just over 50% of the Chinese programs and only 25% of
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