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Mixed Messages in the Spanish Heritage Language Classroom: Insights from CDA of Textbooks and Instructor Focus Group Discussions

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Mixed Messages in the Spanish Heritage Language Classroom: Insights from CDA of Textbooks and Instructor Focus Group Discussions 1 Heritage Language Journal, 15(1) https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.15.1.2 April, 2018 Mixed Messages in the Spanish Heritage Language Classroom: Insights from CDA of Textbooks and Instructor Focus Group Discussions Katharine E. Burns Carnegie Mellon University Linda R. Waugh University of Arizona ABSTRACT This paper explores the implications of prevailing attitudes about language variety found in a case study of a large, university SHL program. First, a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach was employed to examine the ideological underpinnings of the presentation of varieties of Spanish (including those of U.S. Spanish) in textbooks used in the program. Second, discussions with focus groups of SHL instructors were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed to gain insight into the practices fostered by the SHL program related to language variety. The CDA findings show evidence of reinforcement of an ideology of a monolithic “standard” Spanish in the SHL textbooks and curricula, with only cursory attention paid to regional varieties of Spanish and, at times, implicit and explicit de-legitimization of U.S. varieties of Spanish. The focus group data indicates that instructors identify tension between: 1) the program’s stated goals, which are to validate the students’ Spanish varieties and to develop an academic or professional register of Spanish; and 2) classroom reality, in which the “standard” is the overwhelming focus and the students’ own “home varieties” of Spanish are at times devalued by the textbook and course materials. Finally, based on these results, some pedagogical recommendations to validate heritage learners’ Spanish as a resource, rather than a deficit, are discussed. Keywords: U.S. Spanish, language variation, critical discourse analysis, language ideology, textbooks INTRODUCTION The Pew Hispanic Center reports a 61.9% increase in the number of Hispanics born in the U.S. between 2000 and 2012 (Krogstad & Lopez, 2014). Hispanics are the largest and one of the fastest- growing minority groups in the U.S. In addition, 74% of U.S. Hispanics say they speak a language other than English in the home to at least some degree, whether or not they also speak English at home (Krogstad & Lopez, 2014). Though the U.S. is one of the largest Spanish-speaking countries in the world when bilingual speakers are counted, with over 39 million speakers (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017), spoken varieties of U.S. Spanish are among those with the lowest prestige (Escobar & Potowski, 2015; Otheguy & Stern, 2011). This may be due to many factors, including Spanish’s status as a minority language in the U.S., its contact with English and lower-prestige Spanish varieties, and the often uneasy political and cultural relationship between the U.S. and the Spanish- speaking world, among others. Spanish as a heritage language (SHL) students typically come from bilingual Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S. that may use varieties of U.S. Spanish and often struggle with internalized linguistic prejudices and low linguistic self-esteem (Goble, 2016; Beaudrie, 2011; Parodi, 2008; Bills, 2005). Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 11:01:48AM via free access 2 Heritage Language Journal, 15(1) https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.15.1.2 April, 2018 Spanish departments in the U.S. have a long history of being Euro-centric, literature-focused, and having a tendency to reinforce stigmatization of non-“standard” language varieties (Ortega, 1999). Moreover, SHL courses traditionally have focused on grammar and writing using an amalgamated “standard” variety of the language, which does not reflect the type of language most often used by speakers in authentic conversational contexts (Ducar, 2009; Martínez, 2003). Students, however, particularly those in beginning-level SHL courses, are in need of accurate and complete sociolinguistic information about the varieties of Spanish spoken in their own country and communities, as well as realistic information about global spoken varieties of Spanish. The current study seeks to examine the ways in which regional language variety, with particular focus on U.S. varieties of Spanish, is presented in the curriculum of a large public university that is home to one of the largest SHL programs in the U.S. Because of the need for a uniform experience across dozens of sections, course syllabi often mirror the textbook so closely that, in fact, the textbook essentially becomes the syllabus (Pardiñas-Barnes, 1998; see also Beaudrie, 2015b). Therefore, the current study employs CDA to analyze the ideological underpinnings of the university’s first and second-year SHL textbooks building on the work of Ducar (2009, 2006) and Leeman and Martínez (2007) as well as their presentation of regional language variety and its relationship to the reproduction of “standard” language ideology. Since instructor beliefs and practices regarding language variety are also a key component of SHL instruction, this study includes focus group interviews with SHL instructors to gain insights into their perspectives on this issue (following Beaudrie, 2015a; Burns Al Masaeed, 2014). U.S. Spanish Varieties and SHL Speakers The United States is home to a highly diverse population of Spanish speakers, many of whom are bilingual. Their Spanish language varieties are heterogeneous, differing according to a host of sociolinguistic factors, and their receptive and productive competences in Spanish fall along a continuum. This study focuses on a subset of SHL speakers that exist in many places: they are mostly third generation Spanish-speakers who have experienced some degree of language shift toward English; these speakers tend to have higher receptive than productive competence in Spanish. Therefore, for the purposes of this study, Beaudrie and Ducar’s (2005) definition of a heritage learner will be used for its inclusive scope: “…all individuals that have experienced a relatively extended period of exposure to the language, typically during childhood, through contact with family members or other individuals, resulting in the development of either receptive and/or productive abilities in the language, and varying degrees of bilingualism” (p. 13). The majority of SHL learners in the U.S., by virtue of geography, have been exposed to one or more of the many varieties of U.S. Spanish that have been in contact with English. Most U.S. varieties of Spanish also have sustained and/or historical contact with non-U.S. varieties of Spanish, indigenous languages, or both. Otheguy and Stern (2011) have defined the varieties of U.S. Spanish as “…the popular registers of the Spanish of [the] vast majority of first- and second-generation U.S. Latinos” (p. 88), which includes some SHL speakers. However, many SHL speakers are in fact members of the third generation and beyond (Escobar & Potowski, 2015; Beaudrie & Ducar, 2005; Bills, 2005; Valdés, 1995). Their language varieties and needs as SHL learners should not be overlooked in discussions of language variety in the SHL classroom. The nuanced heterogeneity of U.S. varieties of Spanish Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 11:01:48AM via free access 3 Heritage Language Journal, 15(1) https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.15.1.2 April, 2018 means they have proven to be difficult to define or identify using a single term. For example, some researchers (Otheguy & Stern, 2011; Lipski, 2008) have problematized the term ‘Spanglish’ as reinforcing an ideological position that does not give U.S. Spanish, their preferred term, a valid place among the other local varieties of Spanish (e.g., Mexican, Argentine, Costa Rican) and stigmatizes it as a low-prestige fusion of Spanish and English. In fact, Otheguy and Stern (2011) argue that U.S. varieties of Spanish, like other varieties of the language, have their own regular rules and patterns, and are not simply an arbitrary mix of Spanish and English, so they should be treated as legitimate varieties of the language. Zentella (2009), however, contends that the term Spanglish could be reclaimed by the users of U.S. varieties of Spanish, both as a means of expressing linguistic and cultural pride and as an acknowledgement of linguistic oppression, past and present, of U.S. Spanish-speaking communities. For a more detailed treatment of this dilemma, see also Lipski (2008). Given the many varieties of Spanish worldwide as well in the U.S., and the number of variables affecting the language variety and proficiency of U.S. Spanish-speakers, it may seem counterintuitive that Spanish is often portrayed as monolithic in textbooks. Therefore, this study examines the potential influence of language standardization and ideology on these pedagogical materials as a means of providing insight into how they portray U.S. varieties of Spanish. Language Standardization, Ideology, and CDA The process of language standardization occurs when a politically, economically, or socially dominant group seeks to consolidate and reproduce their power by fomenting the belief that their own language variety, equal to all others in an academic, linguistic sense, is a necessary means by which to acquire cultural, political, economic, or social capital (Bourdieu, 1991). They seek, therefore, to minimize variation within language, which is often connected to regional, ethnic, or social identity, under the guise of “eliminating redundancy,” “streamlining” or for “efficiency’s sake” (Cheshire, 1999; Garvin, 1993). This “standard” form, used in spheres such as the media and education (Siegel, 2006), is often ascribed higher status than other varieties. However, as Milroy (2001) points out, standard varieties are often not those that are characterized by the most uniformity (as the term standard would suggest), but rather those that have the highest social prestige. For example, Castilian Spanish (castellano) and, more recently, the Latin American norma culta, or “educated” standard, have risen to dominance largely via the ideology of standardization (Train, 2007). As is typical, “standard” Spanish is identified with the educated, and is supported both from the top-down and the bottom-up.
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