Speaking Spanish Like a Boy Scout: Language Socialization, Resistance, and Reproduction in a Heritage Language Scout Troop

Abstract

This article offers a critical analysis of the language socialization of Spanish-speaking families in a Scout group in Metro Vancouver. Using tools of discourse analysis, the article examines the language use patterns of the participants, particularly focusing on the language ideologies to which they oriented themselves and the identities indexed by their linguistic actions. A key finding is that language ideologies and practices can unwittingly reproduce the very dominant ideologies they are designed to challenge. The concept of agency is addressed in terms of the families' appropriation of the values of the Scout Movement in order to assert their identities and in relation to their children's active roles in the process of socialization. Finally, the author problematizes the role of identity in heritage language (HL) development, calls attention to the need for language maintenance theory to acknowledge the complexities entailed for individuals, and draws attention to the existence of complex and potentially contradictory processes of socialization.

Case Study Research on Language Learning and Use

“…Guardado's (2009) study also featured the family (and community group) as a unit of analysis in an examination of HL use among children in Spanish-speaking homes and community groups in Canada. From his larger qualitative study involving multiple families in distinct community cultural groups, he focused in that article on the language ideologies and practices inculcated within a Spanish Scouts group and, more specifically, within one family whose children participated in the group.…”

The Language Socialization and Identity Negotiations of Generation 1.5 Korean- Canadian University Students

“…Moreover, certain discontinuities between home/community and school language and cultural practices were evident in both women's experiences, as well as in other cases in the larger study: high school/university; ESL/mainstream and conflicting language and immigrant ideologies (Baquedano-Lopez & Kattan, 2008;Garrett & Baquedano-Lopez, 2002;Guardado, 2009). The discontinuities in Yellina's and Sheila's experiences went well beyond differences between socialization practices across these domains.…”

“…Members of their Korean peer community socialized Yellina and Sheila into sometimes contradictory ideologies regarding English-language learning and future possibilities and trajectories (Guardado, 2009) based on their views of ESL programs. In university, another kind of Korean group, namely, sŏnbaes, became the experts or the old-timer group that Yellina relied on for mentoring and from which she sought approval.…”

Formulaic Language in Language Socialization

“…Morita, 2000N. Morita, , 2004Ohta, 1999;Séror, 2009;Siegal, 1996) and in host-family homes abroad (e.g., Cook, 2008), immigrant L2 adult learners in the workplace (e.g., Duff, Wong, & Early, 2000;Li, 2000); and heritage children in households (e.g., Klein, 2009, E. Morita, 2003Park, 2006Park, , 2008Song, 2009), classrooms (e.g., Fader, 2008;Friedman, 2010aFriedman, , 2010bHe, 2003;Klein, in press), and extracurricular activities (Guardado, 2009). This body of research suggests various trajectories of socialization (Wortham, 2005) in which individuals are socialized across a number of activities and settings and may experience diverse and complex paths to linguistic and sociocultural competence.…”