Tus palabras son de verdad: Centering the Voices and Experiences of Spanish "Heritage Speakers"

Author ORCID Identifier

0009-0008-0674-6280

Degree Year

2024

Document Type

Thesis - Oberlin Community Only

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Hispanic Studies

Advisor(s)

Claire Solomon

Committee Member(s)

Claire Solomon
Yorki Encalada
Pablo Mitchell
Ana María Díaz Burgos
Kim Faber

Keywords

Education reform, Spanish, Heritage speakers, Identity, In-depth interview

Abstract

What does it mean to be a “heritage speaker” of Spanish within a society that is built on monolingualism? How does the United States’ current approach to language education – which is designed for monolingual English speakers – contribute to the often negative external perceptions (and self-perceptions) of Spanish heritage speakers and their linguistic abilities and identities? While differing definitions exist, the majority of leading scholars in the field define being a heritage speaker as someone who was raised for a majority of their lives in the United States, where English is the dominant language, but with mostly Spanish in their home. With this project, I intend to center the various experiences of Spanish heritage speakers within the Oberlin College community through in-depth interviews in a safe and supportive environment. Specifically, I focus on the categories of language use, the relationship between language and identity, past educational experiences, and experiences of linguistic discrimination and prejudice. By centering the voices and experiences of Spanish heritage speakers themselves, I hope to gain insight into the unique needs and desires of members of this community for their language education. Additionally, I seek to challenge the ways in which educational institutions categorize students’ linguistic abilities in ways that fail to take into account the nuance of their experiences. Thus, this research has the potential to uplift the voices of Spanish heritage speakers while also providing recommendations for future solutions to this gap in the educational system through collaboration with members of the Spanish Heritage Speaker community.

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