Third border talk: intersubjectivity, power negotiation and the making of race in Spanish language classrooms

Critical language awareness and L2 learners of Spanish: An action‐research study

“…Pomerantz (2002) found that L2 learners tended to view Spanish as primarily a commodity for future professional use, which aligns with discourses that portray Spanish as economic capital for English monolinguals but a deficit for heritage/bilingual students. Schwartz (2014) found that whereas White L2 learners of Spanish outwardly positioned themselves as culturally sensitive and well‐intentioned about their language learning, their interviews suggested the opposite. Schwartz's (2014) participants consistently situated Spanish‐speakers as “them” and reproduced racist and English monolingual discourses as a means of reclaiming their privilege and power vis‐à‐vis the growing presence of Spanish locally and nationally.…”

“…Schwartz (2014) found that whereas White L2 learners of Spanish outwardly positioned themselves as culturally sensitive and well‐intentioned about their language learning, their interviews suggested the opposite. Schwartz's (2014) participants consistently situated Spanish‐speakers as “them” and reproduced racist and English monolingual discourses as a means of reclaiming their privilege and power vis‐à‐vis the growing presence of Spanish locally and nationally. Pomerantz (2002) and Schwartz (2014) demonstrate how L2 learners may reproduce and internalize ideologies about Spanish and Spanish speakers and the pedagogical need to explicitly teach students to question and reflect on such assumptions.…”

Language Learning Motivation in the United States: An Examination of Language Choice and Multilingualism

“…The situation is quite different for an L1 English‐speaking student studying a foreign language. The clustering of the items on F2 and F3 (Table ) indicates that, overall, students of a LOTE in the U.S. context see the difference of studying a language to be used for interaction with the “Other” (either in a different culture, or with someone from a different culture in the U.S. context; see Schwartz, ), and see the language in question being integrated into their own working or scholastic lives.…”

“…These examples support the claim made by García and Mason () that, “In the USA, Spanish is often characterized as the language of the conquered, the colonized and immigrants; that is, as a language of poverty ” (p. 29, italics in original). As rhetoric involving Spanish and the Spanish‐speaking population in the United States, is common, Schwartz () notes, “To most monolingual Anglo university students in the U.S., Spanish is hardly unfamiliar or distant … [It is] simultaneously romanticized and belittled in popular media and entertainment, and in so doing assumes a place in a greater political, social and economic order” (p. 164).…”

“…Thus, in addition to the complexities of perceived cultural norms of foreign language study in general, students of Spanish in the United States are confronted by conflicting attitudes toward Spanish language study. Even the students who are “deeply invested in learning Spanish and [express] positive attitudes toward their Spanish language classes” (Pomerantz & Schwartz, , p. 190) or those who “[position] themselves as culturally sensitive” (Schwartz, , p. 171) can use “an ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ framework that [is] not explicitly racialized, yet still marked with suspicion” (Schwartz, , p. 164). Illustrating these complexities, Pomerantz and Schwartz () found three main themes that illustrate the diverse feelings (both positive and negative) that students have toward Spanish that include “Spanish as foreign, different, and desirable,” “Spanish as local, familiar, and undesirable,” and “Spanish as comforting or comfortable” (p. 181).…”