Culture and Instruction in the Spanish Heritage Language Classroom

Abstract

Since cultural competence is inherent to language acquisition, it should take a central role in heritage language courses so that heritage language learners (HLLs) can make connections with their own culture and be aware of the diversity of the Spanish-speaking world. This article presents an overview of the instruction and assessment of culture to promote critical thinking and reflection in order to reduce stereotypes and to validate the cultural heritage of HLLs. The current role of study abroad and service-learning to teach culture in the Spanish heritage language classroom is also discussed. KEYWORDS: assessment, cultural competence, intracultural knowledge, intercultural knowledge Cultura e instrucción en la clase de español como lengua de herencia RESUMEN: Como la competencia cultural es inherente a la adquisición de la lengua, debería jugar un papel central en los cursos de lengua de herencia, de modo que los aprendientes puedan establecer conexiones con su propia cultura y ser conscientes de la diversidad del mundo hispanohablante. Este artículo ofrece una visión panorámica de la instrucción y evaluación de la cultura para promover el pensamiento crítico y la reflexión, a fin de reducir los estereotipos y validar la herencia cultural de los aprendientes de lengua de herencia. Asimismo, se analiza el papel actual de los estudios en el extranjero y del aprendizaje-servicio para enseñar cultura en la clase de español como lengua de herencia.

Working With Diversity in the Spanish Heritage Language Classroom: A Critical Perspective

“…The teaching of culture has been, for many decades now, a central part of the SHL teaching field and classroom (see for example Alarcón, 1997: Aparicio, 1997. Many educators have implemented different strategies and content to compensate for the shallow and neo-liberal views of culture in traditional language textbooks (Beaudrie, et al, 2014;Burgo, 2017;Heidenfeldt, 2015; see Parra 2017 for a review on SHL textbooks), bringing into the classroom cultural "funds of knowledge" from students' communities. I believe that it is paramount to continue building pedagogical content that brings to light the voices, stories, struggles and histories of diverse Latinx communities that arise from the interstices of fixed categories: people of mixed racial heritage and ethnicities, undocumented immigrants, people with diverse gender identities, and those with cultural roots in Spanish-speaking countries who do not speak Spanish.…”

Intercultural communicative competence and Spanish heritage language speakers: an overview from the U.S., Australia and Europe

“…Recent approaches to SCHL in the U.S. seek to address these monoglossic, (racio)linguistic ideologies deeply intertwined with learners' cultural identity by drawing on critical pedagogies (see Leeman 2018;Correa 2018;García 2019). In addition to the classroom itself as a research site, research centered on developing SCHLs' intercultural competence has largely focused on two specific contexts: firstly, on community-based learning and, secondly, but to a lesser yet rapidly growing extent, on study abroad (Burgo 2017;Quan et al 2018). In community-based learning (also known as 'service learning'; see Hellebrandt and Varona 1999), students interact with local community members, some of whom are often first generation immigrant native speakers of Spanish.…”

Critical Language Awareness in the Spanish as a Heritage Language College Classroom

“…It has long been acknowledged that HL learners have different needs than L2 learners (e.g., Burgo 2017;Carreira and Kagan 2018;Kagan and Dillon 2018;Leeman et al 2011;Potowski 2005;Torres et al 2019), which require a tailored teaching approach. The instructional goals for heritage language education include explicit efforts in language maintenance, acquisition of a prestige language variety, expansion of bilingual range, transfer of literacy skills, development of academic skills, development of positive attitudes towards all varieties of the HL and its cultures, and development of cultural awareness (Beaudrie et al 2014;Martinez 2016;Valdés and Parra 2018).…”