“I Just Don't Like Speaking It Because I Sound So White…”

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“I Just Don't Like Speaking It Because I Sound So White…” SPANISH HERITAGE LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE USE, LINGUISTIC INSECURITY, AND SOCIAL NETWORKS Item Type Electronic Dissertation; text Authors Gonzalez, Gwynne Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 24/09/2021 22:54:30 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/144600 SPANISH HERITAGE LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE USE, LINGUISTIC INSECURITY, AND SOCIAL NETWORKS By Gwynne Gonzalez _____________________ Copyright © Gwynne Gonzalez 2011 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the GRADUATE INTERDISCIPLINARY DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND TEACHING In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2011 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Gwynne Gonzalez entitled SPANISH HERITAGE LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE USE, LINGUISTIC INSECURITY, AND SOCIAL NETWORKS and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _____________________________________________________ Date: 3/11/2011 Sara Beaudrie _____________________________________________________ Date: 3/11/2011 Kimberly Jones _____________________________________________________ Date: 3/11/2011 Richard Ruiz _____________________________________________________ Date: 3/11/2011 Peter Ecke Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate‘s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: 4/23/2011 Dissertation Director: Sara Beaudrie ________________________________________________ Date: 4/23/2011 Dissertation Director: Kimberly Jones STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Gwynne Gonzalez 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank the members who served on my committee: My co- chairs, Dr. Sara Beaudrie and Dr. Kim Jones, for their support and guidance throughout the dissertation process and for all the assistance and guidance they offered me throughout my graduate career in SLAT. I am especially grateful to Dr. Beaudrie for inspiring in me such a love for the field of heritage languages and for encouraging me to become a better researcher. I believe that my dissertation and my graduate experience as a whole are better for having had her guidance. To the other members of my committee, Dr. Richard Ruiz and Dr. Peter Ecke, a sincere thanks for all your insights and constructive feedback. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Waugh, to whom I am very grateful for her advice, guidance and encouragement throughout my entire graduate career in SLAT. Dr. Waugh, your words and faith in me gave me the courage to pursue a doctoral degree, and your constant support gave me the strength to complete it. A special thanks goes to the various people who helped me in different sections and procedures in this dissertation: Chelsea, for her help with transcriptions and the assessment portion; Mark, for his guidance and help with the statistical analyses, SPSS and DatStat Illume; Justin, for all his technical help; and Zuleima, for being a captive audience when I needed to rehearse. My deepest gratitude goes to my family and friends, without whom I could not have accomplished this goal. I am appreciative of the advice and support of my friends 5 Helen, Kelly, Kathlyn, Cat, Zuleima, Chelsea, Karen, and Katie who all in one way or another helped me succeed academically and personally. I would especially like to thank my parents, Alba and Jaime, my brothers, Malcolm and Jaime Jr., my sister-in-law, Michelle, my uncle Alex and my best friend Cheryl for their love, support, and understanding throughout my entire academic career. Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Richard. It is because of his love, his words of encouragement and his belief in me that I am where I am today. This journey was not always easy for me, but having him by my side made it a wonderful adventure. Thank you, Rich. 6 DEDICATION For my mom and dad, for sacrificing so much so that I might pursue all my dreams. And for my husband, for helping me make all those dreams come true. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... 10 LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... 12 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 16 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 16 Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................................... 18 Research Questions .................................................................................................................... 23 Definition of Terms.................................................................................................................... 24 Heritage Language ................................................................................................................. 24 Heritage Speaker of Spanish .................................................................................................. 27 Linguistic Insecurity .............................................................................................................. 31 Social Networks ......................................................................................................................... 32 Language Maintenance .......................................................................................................... 33 Oral Language Proficiency .................................................................................................... 35 Significance of the Study ........................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................... 38 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 38 Language Maintenance .............................................................................................................. 38 Factors influencing language maintenance and loss/shift ...................................................... 38 The Roles of Language Use, Social Networks and Linguistic Insecurity in Language Maintenance ............................................................................................................................... 52 Language Use......................................................................................................................... 53 Social Networks ..................................................................................................................... 61 Social Networks and Language Use ...................................................................................... 70 Linguistic Insecurity .............................................................................................................. 71 Foreign Language Anxiety .................................................................................................... 79 Oral Language Assessment ........................................................................................................ 86 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 91 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 95 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 95 8 Research Design ........................................................................................................................ 96 Setting - The University of Arizona – Heritage Language Program...................................... 96 Subjects .................................................................................................................................
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