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Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language
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Welcome Letter
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Acknowledgments
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Abstract Reviewers
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Plenary Speakers
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Workshop Invited Speakers
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Special Panel Invited Speakers
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Schedule
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Presentation Abstracts
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Invited Workshop Abstracts
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Estimado hispanista,
Me complace darle la bienvenida al primer simposio de español como lengua de herencia
que organiza Texas Tech University. Este ciclo inaugural de ponencias es fruto de una
necesidad, la de crear un nuevo foro de discusión sobre una materia de suma
importancia en el campo de los estudios del español en Estados Unidos, y no nace sólo
con una clara vocación de continuidad sino que, además, lo hace con la firme intención
de convertirse en un referente dentro de su ámbito.
Entre hoy y mañana, tendrá la oportunidad de conocer de primera mano los diversos
avances que tanto investigadores como profesores y estudiantes han realizado (o están
realizando) partiendo de una base teórica y práctica. Confío plenamente en que este
encuentro le resulte muy provechoso, en el sentido de que le permita conocer nuevos
puntos de vista y de que le ofrezca la posibilidad de entablar o estrechar relaciones con
otros hispanistas.
Así mismo, le invito a participar en el taller que tendrá lugar el sábado, en el que se tratará
de explorar las mejores y más efectivas prácticas a la hora de enseñar español a aquellos
estudiantes que tienen éste como lengua heredada. El principal objetivo de esta actividad
es proveer a los presentes de las herramientas necesarias para impulsar la diversidad
tanto en el ámbito social y cultural, como en el lingüístico.
Con la esperanza de que su estancia en Lubbock y en Texas Tech University sea de su
agrado, reciba un cordial saludo.
Fdo. Diego Pascual y Cabo, Ph.D. (on behalf of the organizing committee)
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This event would not have been possible without the support and involvement of many
people and organizations. First, we are grateful to all graduate students and staff from
the Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures department: Ana Acevedo, Lloyd Allred,
Dora Aranda, Maria Arciniega, Santiago Arias, John Baron, María Luz Bateman, Isaac
Billalobos, Yesenia Blanco, Alejandra Cerdas-Cisneros, Omar Corral, Janie Covarrubias,
Rolando Díaz, Jeff Farmer, Geazul Hernández, Daniel Hopkins, Yuriko Ikeda, Rubén
Galve, Sonia Loza Fuentes, Sabrina Laroussi, Mónica Fernández, Theresa Madrid,
Michael Martínez, Irina Mozuliova, Rodrigo Pereyra, Alberto Pérez, Julio Pérez Méndez,
Ashley Philbrick, Juan Morilla, Jesús Ramírez, Rosa Adriana Rodríguez, Trilce Ruiz, Laura
Valentín Rivera, Edlyn Romero, Ricardo Schmidt, Claudia Simon, Alfredo Torres, Rubén
Varona, Susana Villanueva, Heath Wing, and David Villarreal.
The Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language is sponsored by Pearson as well as
the following units at Texas Tech University: The Department of Classical & Modern
Languages & Literatures, The College of Arts & Sciences, The Division of Institutional
Diversity, Equity & Community Engagement, The Graduate School, and The Language
Learning Laboratory and Resource Center. In addition to support from the University,
this program was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state
affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. We are extremely grateful for
their contributions. Without these funds, this event would not have been possible.
Special thanks to Stephanie Santos is also in order. She has been of invaluable assistance
in the organization of every facet of this event. Stephanie, thank you! We could not have
done it without your help!
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The following individuals generously donated their time and expertise to the abstract reviewing
process:
Mark Amengual
Furman University
Hillary Barnes
College of Charleston
Ewelina Barski
College at Brockport, SUNY
Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro
United States Air Force Academy
Marta Fairclough
University of Houston
Joshua Frank
University of Texas at Austin
Inma Gómez Soler
University of Memphis
Verónica González
Arizona State University
Lillian Gorman
University of Illinois at Chicago
Florencia Henshaw
University of Illinois
Katherine Honea
Austin Pea University
Delano Lamy
Universidad de Puerto Rico
Ana de Prada Pérez
University of Florida
Marta Tecedor
Texas Tech University
Julio Torres
University at Albany, SUNY
Valerie Trujillo
University of Florida
Kim Potowski
University of Illinois at Chicago
Laura Valentín
Texas Tech University
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PLENARY SPEAKERS
Dr. Marta Fairclough, University of Houston
Marta Fairclough (Ph. D. University of Houston, 2001) is Associate Professor of Spanish
Linguistics and Director of the Heritage Language Education in the
Department of Hispanic Studies at the University of Houston. She
previously served as Department Chair and Director of Undergraduate
Studies. Her research focuses on Heritage Language Education,
Language Acquisition, and Sociolinguistics with an emphasis on U.S.
Spanish. She has published Spanish and Heritage Language Education
in the United States: Struggling with Hypotheticals (Iberoamericana,
2005) and a co-edited volume Spanish as a Heritage Language in the United States: State of the
Field (Georgetown UP, 2012), as well as numerous book chapters and articles in journals. Some
of her recent publications appeared in Language Testing, Hispania, and Foreign Language
Annals.
Dr. Kim Potowski, University of Illinois at Chicago
Kim Potowski is Associate Professor of Hispanic linguistics at the
University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research includes three principal
areas of inquiry related to Spanish in the United States: (1) Spanish in
society, including intergenerational transmission vs. shift, language
mixtures in commercially produced “Spanglish” greeting cards, and
outcomes of dialect contact among Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in
Chicago; (2) Connections between language and identity among
immigrants and their descendants, such as within quinceañera celebrations, and (3) The role of
language within educational contexts, including K-8 dual immersion schools, the teaching of
heritage speakers, and the challenges faced by U.S.-raised Mexican youth upon integrating into
Mexican schools. She has published five books, including the edited volumes Language diversity
in the USA and Bilingual youth: Spanish in English-speaking societies. She has also authored four
Spanish textbooks: one for beginners, one for heritage speakers/advanced composition, one for
teachers about working with heritage speakers, and one about Spanish in the United States.
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WORKSHOP INVITED SPEAKERS
Joshua Frank, ABD & Jesse Abing, ABD.
University of Texas at Austin
Educating today’s bilingual students and tomorrow’s bilingual
leaders
Lillian Gorman, ABD.
University of Illinois at Chicago
Creating spaces for Identity, Latinidad, and Sociolinguistic Awareness in the
Spanish for Heritage Learners Classroom
Greta Gorsuch, Ed.D.
Texas Tech University
The Role of Fluency in Second Language Reading Comprehension: Building Input
and Language Experience for Adult Learners of Heritage Languages
Florencia Giglio Henshaw, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The best of both worlds? Advantages and disadvantages of L2-HL peer
collaboration
Kelly Lowther Pereira, Ph.D.
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Incorporating Community Engagement in the Curriculum: Service-Learning for
Spanish Heritage Speakers
Joseph Price, Ph.D.
Texas Tech University
Heritage Speakers on the Northern Border of the U.S.: Same issues, different
language
Julio Torres, Ph.D.
University at Albany, State University of New York
Flipping the Spanish Heritage Classroom: A Focus on Writing.
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SPECIAL PANEL WITH PARENTS, STUDENTS & EDUCATORS
Moderator: Dr. Marta Tecedor Cabrero, Texas Tech University
Participants:

Dora Aranda

Belinda Pacheco

Sonia Loza

María Arciniega

Laura Cook

Laura Luna
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Friday February 21, 2014
7:30
8:15
Light Breakfast & Registration
Opening remarks:
Dr. Diego Pascual y Cabo (on behalf of the organizing committee)
Dr. Erin Collopy, Chair of Department of Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures at Texas Tech University
Dr. Juan Muñoz, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Senior Vice President for Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Community
Engagement
SENATE ROOM
LUBBOCK ROOM
CLASSROOM RESEARCH
Session Chair: Joshua Frank
PERCEPTIONS & ATTITUDES & MOTIVATION
Session Chair: Lillian Gorman
“Lexical creation: Spanish Heritage Learners’ exploitation of the
Spanish and English derivational systems.”
Flavia Belpoliti (University of Houston) & Encarna Bermejo (Houston
“Percepciones de los hablantes de herencia y de los instructores en
la clase de español.”
Adrián Bello, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
9:00
“Competencia léxica y comprensión de lectura en los estudiantes de
español como lengua de herencia.” Edna Velásquez, University of
Houston.
“Hispanic families’ attitude towards their heritage language in
Houston and its suburbs.”
Edgar Vargas, University of Houston.
9:30
“Semantic transparency in the interpretation of N+N and V+N
Spanish Compounds: Age of onset of bilingualism effects.”
Patricia González, St. Mary’s University.
“Motivación, persistencia y estrategias de padres bilingües que
enseñan a sus hijos español como idioma de herencia en Texas.”
Kenny Montgomery, University of Houston.
“The Personal Essay and Academic Writing Proficiency in Spanish
Heritage Language Development.”
Lina Reznicek-Parrado, University of California, Davis.
“Issues of Linguistic Tolerance: Addressing Dialect Diversity in Los
Angeles Public Elementary Schools.”
Belén Villarreal, UCLA.
8:30
Baptist University).
10:00
10:30
REFRESHMENT BREAK
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Friday February 21, 2014
SENATE ROOM
10:45
11:15
11:45
12:15
1:15
1:45
PHONOLOGY
Session Chair: Valerie Trujillo
“Voice onset time of /p, t, k/ among heritage speakers of Spanish: Two
phonological grammars?”
Earl Brown & Mary Copple, Kansas State University.
CLASSROOM RESEARCH
Session Chair: Kelly Lowther Pereira
“The Alchemy of (HLL/SLL) Learner-Learner Interactions.” Jesse
Abing, University of Texas at Austin.
“Adquisición de las oclusivas sordas por trilingüés: /ptk/ en el ingles y
el francés (L2/L3)de hablantes de herencia hispanos en Canadá.”
Luz Patricia López-Morelos, Raquel Llama, & Myriam Lapierre,
University of Ottawa.
“Reframing Authority in Spanish Heritage Language Classroom
Interaction.”
Rachel Showstack, Wichita State University.
“Emergence of the voiced labiodental fricative segment [v] in Texas
Spanish.”
Adriano Trovato, University of Texas at Austin.
“La clase como comunidad local/global: Latina/o Spanish Heritage
Language Classes in the Mid-Atlantic.”
Evelyn Canabal-Torres & Ana Patricia Rodríguez, University of
Maryland.
Lunch break
FORMAL APPROACHES
Session Chair:Earl Brown
“Code-switching effects on naturalistic code-switching.” Diana
Pedraza & Whitman Suárez, University of Texas at Austin
CLASSROOM RESEARCH
Session Chair: Florencia Giglio Henshaw
“Pedagogical implications of research into the language experience
of college-age heritage speakers in communities with low vitality for
Spanish.”
Isabel Velázquez, University of Nebraska.
“The Effects of Language Contact on Variable Phenomena: The case
of clitic climbing in Spanish-English heritage bilinguals.” Ana de
1
2
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Prada Pérez , Adrián Rodríguez Ricelli , Kelly Woodfine & Sarah
1
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2
Rogers (University of Florida & University of Texas at Austin ).
La importancia del proceso selectivo de ubicación en las clases de
español para hablantes de herencia.” Efraín Garza, University of
2:15
2:45
LUBBOCK ROOM
Northern Colorado.
“‘Corrígeme bien’: Spanish Heritage Speakers as Peer Assessors.”
Julia Oliver-Rajan & Christine Shea, University of Iowa.
Refreshment Break
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Friday February 21, 2014
3:15
3:45
4:15
5:00
6:15
7:30
SENATE ROOM
LUBBOCK ROOM
FORMAL APPROACHES
Session Chair: Whitman Suárez
OUR HERITAGE
Session Chair: Belén Villareal
“A comparative analysis of two heritage speaker populations.”
Valerie Trujillo, University of Florida
“Herencias hispanas encontradas: historias orales en fronteras
artificiales.”
Òscar Oliver Santos-Sopena, West Texas A&M University.
“Structure overlap effects in SPAN/ENG bilinguals: Evidence from the
syntax-semantics interface”. Joshua Frank, University of Texas at
Austin
“The Inherited Past in Present Day Spanish: The Case for LA
Spanish.”
Armando Guerrero, UCLA.
“Ambiguity resolution in Spanish heritage speakers: Target structure
makes a difference.”
Bill VanPatten (Michigan State University), Gregory Keating (San
Diego State University) & Jill Jegerski (University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign)
“Spanish Music as a Heritage Language Tool”
Jóse López (Ralls ISD
SENATE ROOM
Special panel with parents, students, and educators
SENATE ROOM
Plenary I :
Marta Fairclough, University of Houston
Title:
“Can Second Dialect Acquisition Principles Contribute to Understanding the Learning Process of Adult Spanish
Heritage Language Students?”
Reception at the Matador Lounge
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Saturday February 22, 2014
Workshop on teaching Spanish as a Heritage Language
SENATE ROOM
7:30
Light Breakfast & Registration
9:00
Plenary II :
Title:
10:15
Kim Potowski, University of Illinois at Chicago
“U.S. Spanish: Myths and facts”
“Creating spaces for Identity, Latinidad, and Sociolinguistic Awareness in the Spanish for Heritage Learners Classroom.” Lillian
Gorman, University of Illinois at Chicago
11:10
“Incorporating Community Engagement in the Curriculum: Service-Learning for Spanish Heritage Speakers.”
Kelly Lowther Pereira, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
12:05
Lunch
1:00
“Flipping the Spanish Heritage Classroom: A Focus on Writing.”
Julio Torres, University of Albany, State University of New York.
1:55
2:25
3:20
3:30
“The Role of Fluency in Second Language Reading Comprehension: Building Input and Language Experience for Adult Learners of
Heritage Languages.” Greta Gorsuch, Texas Tech University.
“The Best of Both Worlds? Advantages and Disadvantages of L2-HL Peer Collaboration.” Florencia Giglio Henshaw, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Refreshment break
“Educating Today’s Bilingual Students and Tomorrow’s Bilingual Leaders.” Joshua Frank & Jesse Abing, University of Texas at
Austin.
4:25
“Heritage Speakers on the Northern Border of the U.S.: Same issues, different language.” Joseph Price, Texas Tech University.
5:00
Closing Remarks
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The Alchemy of (HLL/SLL) Learner-Learner Interactions
Jesse Abing
University of Texas at Austin
As the number of Spanish heritage language learners in US university Spanish language
classrooms increases, so does our need for a better understanding of heritage language
development within these contexts. Previous interaction-driven SLA research has shown
that interaction is particularly effective for promoting development of the
second/foreign language. This has been shown to be the case in the context of
classrooms (Ellis & He, 1999; Loewen, 2005; Ohta, 2000; Mackey & Silver, 2005; Swain &
Lapkin, 1998; 2001), laboratories (Ellis, 2006; Gass & Varonis, 1994; Leeman, 2003;
Long, Inagaki & Ortega, 1998; Mackey & Philip, 1998), and beyond (Ding, 2012), as well
as in interaction with both native speakers (Gass, 1997; García-Mayo & Pica, 2000; Long,
1996) and other second language learners (Ellis & He, 1999; LaPierre, 1994; Leeser,
2004; Swain & Lapkin, 1998; Williams, 2001). Only recently, however, have researchers
begun to investigate the effects of language and cultural background on the processes
and outcomes of learner interactions (Abing, 2012; Blake and Zyzik, 2003; Bowles, 2011;
Bowles, in press, as reported on in Bowles, 2011; Henshaw, 2013). While previous work
on HLL-SLL interactions has largely taken a quantitative approach to comparing
differences and similarities in language related episodes, this study qualitatively analyzes
the role of learner background on 40 form-focused episodes related to adverb
placement occurring throughout 12 sets of learner-learner interactions (4 HLL-HLL; 4
HLL-SLL; 4 SLL-SLL) on a sentence-scramble learning task. Adverb placement provides a
fertile ground for analysis as it is language specific, varies based on semantic type and, in
some but not all cases, can have multiple acceptable possibilities. Our qualitative analysis
of the interactions finds that the combination of learner backgrounds affects learnerlearner interactions in interesting ways. The results evidence that while pair work can be
beneficial for learners of any background in all combinations, HLLs tend to give more
than they receive in mixed dyads. Moreover, LHHs initiate and resolve more initiations
than SLLs in mixed pairs, and mixed pairs resort to English more frequently, resolve
initiations less effectively and accept less ambiguity overall than matched pairs. While
we value linguistic diversity in our language classrooms, these results highlight the
importance of understanding how the alchemy of diverse backgrounds in various
combinations can play out in learner-learner classroom actions. The results have
pedagogical implications with respect to productive classroom activities and strategic
pairing considerations for mixed HLL-SLL classrooms.
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Percepciones de los hablantes de herencia y de los instructores en la clase de español
Adrián Bello
University of Illinois
Las percepciones son creencias personales acerca de: a) las prácticas de enseñanza que
alumnos e instructores creen más eficientes, b) la frecuencia en que perciben ciertos
comportamientos que ocurren en el salón de clase y, c) el grado de efectividad en que
perciben el desempeño de los instructores (Brown, 2009). Estas percepciones están
directamente relacionadas con los tres componentes básicos de la motivación
propuestos por Dörnyei (1994): a) con el contenido del curso, b) con el instructor, c) con
el grupo; y están vinculadas con el grado en el que una persona procura aprender una
segunda lengua, con el deseo de lograrlo y la satisfacción final. En el caso concreto de
los hablantes de herencia de español HHE, la identificación y consideración de sus
percepciones puede ayudar a lograr las metas instruccionales que propone Valdés
(1997): mantener su lengua de herencia, adquirir y reforzar la variedad de prestigio (sin
desvalorar su propia variedad), a expandir su bilingüismo, y a mejorar sus habilidades de
lectroescritura, además de conocer la cultura heredada. El presente estudio busca
indagar un poco más en este tema mediante tres encuestas: dos para los HHE y una
para los instructores (TAs y profesores). En el caso de los HHE, se envió un cuestionario
en línea que completaron 19 HHE (20% de la población registrada este semestre) de la
Universidad de Illinois en Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) para conocer sus percepciones
acerca de las prácticas de enseñanza que ellos creen más eficientes, el agrado por la
interacción con otros alumnos, y el grado de efectividad del instructor. Otro cuestionario
se envió al final del semestre para saber cómo cambiaron sus percepciones con respecto
al principio del semestre y cómo afectan su preferencia por el tipo de instructor. En el
caso de los instructores, se envió una única encuesta a los 36 TAs y profesores de
español, de los cuales contestaron 19. Se investigan sus percepciones acerca de los HHE
con la finalidad de conocer cómo piensan acerca de este tipo de alumnos y cómo puede
afectar la relación y el aprendizaje en el aula. Según Horwitz,1990; Kern, 1995; Schulz,
1996: “una diferencia entre las expectativas del maestro y el estudiante en cuanto a la
enseñanza puede afectar negativamente la satisfacción del alumno y puede potenciar el
abandono del aprendizaje de la lengua” (en Brown, 2009:550). De esta manera, este
estudio que ha sido inspirado por otras investigaciones previas (Potowski, 2002; Montrul
y Bowles, 2008; Beaudrie, 2009), pretende aportar información nueva y relevante al
incluir la opinión de los instructores acerca de los estudiantes HHE que nunca se había
hecho, para conocer cómo los HHE y sus instructores se perciben mutuamente y
proponer capacitación que promueva las relaciones personales, la interacción dentro
del aula y los contenidos curriculares de los cursos para HHE.
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Lexical creation: Spanish Heritage Learners’ exploitation of the Spanish and English
derivational systems
Flavia Belpoliti1 & Encarna Bermejo2
University of Houston1 and Houston Baptist University2
Coinage and lexical creation have been recognized as one of the distinctive
components of heritage learners [HL] language abilities ( Otheguy, 1989, SilvaCorvalan, 1994; Achugar, 2003, Sánchez-Muñoz, 2009), as these learners make use of
different derivational mechanism when facing a communicative task that surpasses their
lexical resources in the less dominant language. Invented words as ‘requestar’, ‘minimar’,
‘intenidad’ or ‘ensuras’ are commonly find in both speech and writing production of
Spanish Heritage Lerners [SHLs], showing the ability to manipulate the morphological
Spanish system to fill a vocabulary need. SHLs at the lower end of the bilingual
spectrum, in particular, tent to ‘invent’ words to supply a lack of lexical items in the
heritage language, while making the effort to keep communication in the less dominant
language. An easier solution for the communicative pressure would be to use the form
in the dominant system (this is, English); however, SHLs often recur to inventing new
forms using the derivational mechanics of English and Spanish in order to convey their
message in the less dominant language.
Neologism so created are, oftentimes, convergent with the changes in the Spanish
lexical system as part of its evolution. Lexical transformation and growth of the Spanish
language by neological incorporations is based on two main kind of processes: and
internal process that depends on internal rules of word formation in Spanish, and a
competitive external neological process, based on structures or components that do not
belong to Spanish (Fernández, 1996; Berná Sicilia, 2011). At the same time, the internal
rules present competitive models that determine the final result in the evolution or
incorporation of certain form (Ponce de León, 2010; Ambadiang et al, 2008; Moure
Peña, 2010). In some of the examples on this study, the coinage process used by HLs
closely follows one of the competitive models of the Spanish morphology, but it is the
model no selected in the most standards dialects, or it is an option no longer valid in the
system. This study analyzes the morphological mechanisms used by SHLs at the
beginner level to create neological forms during a writing activity. The study describes
and measures the type of inflectional variation in the coinage of new words based on a
set of five Spanish words: ‘privacidad’ (privacy), ‘protección’ (protection), ‘perfil’ (profile),
‘seguridad’ (security) and ‘confiar’ (trust). Data was collected from 120 essays that
participants wrote as a part of a placement exam. The analysis includes the main wordformation processes, compares the different neologisms created with the corresponding
lexical bases, (both in Spanish and English), and describes the kind of processes
underlying the coinage as well as its relationships with the lexical structure of the
Spanish system. A pedagogical proposal is included to guide students towards a more
accurate word derivation competency in Spanish.
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Voice onset time of /p, t, k/ among heritage speakers of Spanish: Two phonological
grammars?
Earl Brown & Mary Copple
Kansas State University
Differences in voice onset time (VOT) among speakers of Spanish and English have
been shown to contribute to a foreign accent (cf. Alba-Salas, 2004; Knightly, 2001;
Gonzalez-Bueno, 1997; Bohn and Flege, 1993). Several factors contribute to the
acquisition of VOT with /p, t, k/ in the speech of native, heritage, and L2 speakers: place
of articulation, surrounding phonological environment, and the length and context of
exposure (e.g. home language(s), study abroad, classroom setting) to both Spanish and
English (Lopez, 2012; Díaz Campos and Lazar, 2003; Knightly, 2001; Flege, Frieda,
Walley, and Randazza, 1998; Yavas, 1996; Nathan, 1987). Given such findings, the
different VOTs of /p, t, k/ in Spanish and English present an opportunity to analyze how
heritage speakers of Spanish differentiate these two pronunciations in their own speech
and if, by extension, they maintain the pronunciation of these three voiceless stops
separate in their phonological grammar(s).
To measure the extent to which heritage speakers of Spanish approximate what could
safely be considered native pronunciations of /p, t, k/ in each language, the speech of
three groups were analyzed: twenty heritage speakers of Spanish raised in the Midwest,
twenty native Midwestern English speakers who speak Spanish as a second language,
and twenty Ecuadorian Spanish speakers who speak English as a second language. The
subjects read short passages in both Spanish and English and then engaged in
conversation with a researcher. Subsequently, the VOTs of /p, t, k/ were measured in
milliseconds with the phonetics software Praat, and linguistic and sociolinguistic factors
were considered in the analysis. The results of a series of linear regressions detail the
extent to which the phonological grammar(s) of heritage speakers of Spanish
approximate the grammars of L1 English and L1 Spanish speakers. This paper
contributes to the literature detailing voice onset time of /p, t, k/ in Spanish and English
as well as the literature detailing the language of heritage speakers of Spanish in the
United States.
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La clase como comunidad local/global: Latina/o Spanish Heritage Language Classes in
the Mid-Atlantic
Evelyn Canabal-Torres & Ana Patricia Rodríguez
University of Maryland
This presentation focuses on the development of heritage language classes in a
Department of Spanish and Portuguese at a major university in the Mid-Atlantic, for
almost two decades. We will first give an overview of Latino demographics in the MidAtlantic and the linguistic and cultural hybridity of the geographic area that has
historically attracted immigrants from all over Latin America and the Caribbean. While
the linguistic and cultural hybridity of the area provides an exciting laboratory for the
making of new interlingual exchanges, we also face many challenges in creating what
Gloria Anzaldúa, in Borderlands/La frontera (1987), calls “common ground.” Common
ground, we propose, is the classroom, where heritage language learners engage across
a broad mix of interlanguages, ideologies, and social practices. At our university, we
have found that best practices in the heritage language classroom combine communitybased research, community engagement or service-learning in the local context, and
self-reflexivity linking the local and the global. Indeed, Carreira (2013, 2011, 2007), Parra
(2013), Leeman (2011, 2006, 2005), Leeman, Rabin, Román-Mendoza (2011), Trujillo
(2009), and Faltis (1990) have explored how critical pedagogy theoretical frameworks
together with service-learning / community engagement practices make sense in
developing curriculum for Spanish heritage language courses at the university level. Our
mission is to provide critical instruction in Spanish, not only to validate the “home” (now
interpreted as local) experiences of our heritage language learners, but also to train
them to be critical global citizens already possessing an interlingual advantage. We will
discuss concrete learning examples in which our HL students use Spanish as a local /
global language inside and outside of the classroom.
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Finding Language Contact Effects in Variable Phenomena: The case of clitic climbing in
Spanish-English heritage bilinguals
Ana de Prada Pérez1 & Adrián Rodríguez Riccelli2 & Kelly Woodfine1 & Sarah Rogers1
University of Florida1 and University of Texas at Austin2
In Spanish, clitics can appear attached to the non-finite verb (1) or to the main
conjugated restructuring verb (2), a phenomenon known as in clitic climbing (ClC). In
the syntactic- theoretical literature, two main analyses have been put forth: the
Incorporation approach (Kayne 1989, 1991, 1994, Roberts 1991, 1994, 1997) and the
Restructuring approach (Cardinaletti & Shlonsky 2004, Cinque 2001, 2002, Rizzi 1982).
These analyses converge on (i) the restriction of ClC to restructuring predicates and (ii)
the optionality of ClC. Research in the variationist tradition indicates that this optionality
is differentially variable across restructuring predicates depending on their level of
grammaticalization (Davies 1995, 1998). This project examines monolingual and
bilingual judgments of ClCed and non-ClCed sentences in Spanish to further integrate
variationist and syntactic-theoretic accounts of ClC.
The Vulnerability Hypothesis (VH, Author, submitted) predicts that language contact
targets variable phenomena, independent of the area of the grammar in question. As
such, it takes into account the differential variability across restructuring verbs and
predicts that restructuring verbs with different ClC frequencies should be differentially
affected by language contact.
To test this hypothesis, a total of 16 monolingual Spanish (MS) speakers from Valladolid,
Spain, and 72 heritage speakers (HSs) completed a scalar grammaticality judgment task
(GJT). The GJT tested speakers’ acceptability of ClCed and non-ClCed sentences
controlled for clause type (main clauses), verb form (simple present), and predicate
factuality (factual predicates), and manipulated for VERB TYPE (no ClC verb, frequent
ClC, infrequent ClC), CLITIC TYPE (accusative vs. reflexive) and ANIMACY (animate vs.
inanimate Cl referent), with a total of 96 tokens (4 tokens per condition).
Results indicate that monolinguals are sensitive to VERB TYPE and CLITIC TYPE and they
use ClC in a more restricted manner by rating ClC significantly higher with infrequent
ClC verbs than with no ClC verbs and higher yet with frequent ClC verbs. Bilinguals
were overall less categorical than monolinguals and differed quantitatively with no, low,
and medium frequency ClC verbs (haber que, detestar, and preferir respectively) and
qualitatively with high frequency ClC verb (querer). While effects for verb type were
generally obscured showing no consistent pattern one way or the other, we find a
reverse effect for ANIMACY and CLITIC TYPE for all verbs expect haber que. For the low
frequency ClC verb detestar we find a reverse effect for CLITIC TYPE but an effect in the
expected direction for detestar and haber que. For haber que, a verb that is nearly
categorical with respect to disallowing ClC, we find that the VH predictions pan out as
bilinguals pattern much like monolinguals. For other verb type we find only some of the
Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
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VH’s predictions bare-out, although bilinguals were least monolingual-like in
quantitative terms for querer as predicted by VH as this is the most variable of the
predicates with respect to ClC. Lastly, for the three verb types that demonstrate
variability with ClC, we see that bilinguals neutralize distinctions found in their
monolingual counterparts. This outcome is also supported by the VH.
This paper contributes to several
variationist analyses providing a
bilingual grammars. Additionally,
bilingualism literature (ClC). Lastly,
language contact.
fields. It helps integrate syntactic-theoretical and
better understanding of both monolingual and
it provides novel data not considered in the
it helps elucidate restrictions on the outcomes of
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The effects of structure overlap in SPAN/ENG bilinguals: Evidence from the syntaxsemantics interface
Joshua Frank
University of Texas at Austin
Surface Overlap (SO) theory considers environments where one of the two available
options in language A is equivalent to the single option in language B (e.g., Hulk &
Müller, 2000; Yip & Matthews, 2009). Cross-linguistic influence (CLI) will then be in the
direction of the structurally similar option in language A. Yip and Matthews (2009) find
evidence that overlap at the word order level (isomorphic strings), and not at the
abstract strategic level (parameters), conditions CLI. In the present study I find support
for this claim by investigating Spanish and English nominal compounding strategies via
a written dehydrated sentence task.
Spanish and English compounding strategies diverge in several significant ways. In
English, compounding is recursive, right-headed, and productive (e.g., Bauer, 2009;
Lieber, 2009). Contrastingly, Spanish compounds show very limited productivity and
recursivity, and are left-headed (e.g., Harris, 1991ab; Liceras & Díaz, 2000, 2002; Piera,
1995; Slabakova, 2002; Snyder, 2001). I specifically consider a linguistic phenomenon
that pertains to the syntax-semantics interface, the container-content relation (CCR) in
nominal compounding. Given that English compounding is productive, it is not
surprising that container items (e.g. drink containers) can be represented by noun-noun
(NN) compounds (e.g., soda can, beer can, wine bottle, beer bottle, coffee cup; Frank,
2013). On the other hand, in order to make special reference to the content, i.e., a
container that is [+full], a noun followed by a prepositional phrase modifier (N-PN) must
be constructed. On the other hand, because the CCR in Spanish is not productive, NPN
constructions are utilized for both the container and the content condition (e.g., copa
de vino and copa de champaña, respectively; N1-P-N2). This is a demonstration of the
negative relationship between compounding productivity and NPN strategy (Liceras et
al, 2002; Liceras & Díaz, 2000).
All data has been collected (i.e., HLL, SLL, Control) but only the results for the control
and SLL groups has thus far been analyzed. Results from binary logistic regression
analysis indicate a main effect for both language (SPAN and ENG) and population (L2,
L1). A post-hoc analysis shows that (n=19) advanced L2 ENG (L1 SPAN) participants
produce more ENG N1-P-N2 constructions than (n=16) L1 ENG (advanced L2 SPAN)
participants. When tested in SPAN, these participants do not display significantly
different compounding strategies. These findings support the claim that surface overlap
at the word order level is predictive of L1 influence on the L2 (Table 1; Yip & Matthews,
2009). Specifically, CLI effects are present when the conditions for SO are met, and
absent when they are not met. Of particular interest will be whether the HL learners
behave more like the control group, the SL learner group, or as a third group unto
themselves and why that may be.
Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language
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La importancia del proceso selectivo de ubicación en clases de español para hablantes
de herencia
Efraín Garza
University of Northern Colorado
La expresión hispanohablante a simple vista parece dar la idea de una unidad sólida y
homogénea. Sin embargo, la diversidad de procedencia de los estudiantes que ingresan
a clases para hispanófilos así como también el nivel de conocimiento de su lenguaje
materno crea un contexto más bien heterogéneo. Aunado a esto, su entorno cultural y
socioeconómico propicia una compleja multiplicidad de niveles de dominio del idioma.
El responsable de impartir estas clases se encuentra ante una diversidad no tan sólo
lingüística sino también ambiental. Por lo tanto, el proceso selectivo de ubicación en
clases de español para hablantes de herencia debe incluir tanto su conocimiento previo
de la lengua como también los factores culturales económicos y sociales.
Para poder ubicar adecuadamente a los estudiantes que ingresan a clases para
hispanohablantes es de primordial importancia saber su nivel previo de conocimiento
del español. Para ello, existen diferentes exámenes de ubicación. La mayoría de éstos
incluyen aspectos gramaticales. No se puede negar que éste es un buen principio para
empezar a conocer el nivel del estudiante. Como los que ingresan a estas clases saben
español porque lo escuchan en un ambiente familiar, el hablarlo con naturalidad no
representa ningún problema. Sin embargo, el tratar de leer o escribir en español sí
implica un problema por la falta de destrezas de lectura y escritura. Por lo tanto, es
importante incluir en un examen de ubicación un dictado para poder medir el dominio
de la fonología y ortografía española del estudiante. Otro aspecto a considerar es el
vocabulario que cada estudiante ha adquirido antes de ingresar a las aulas
universitarias. Por lo general, estos estudiantes hispanohablantes han asistido a clases
impartidas en inglés. Su exposición al idioma materno en un contexto académico si
bien ha sido muy escaso, en otros casos hasta les ha sido anulado.
Como resultado, al expresarse en español su vocabulario resulta muy limitado. Su
conocimiento de sinónimos y antónimos es muy restringido. En ocasiones no
encuentran la palabra que quieren expresar por tener más reafirmado el vocabulario del
idioma inglés que el español. Para medir el nivel de vocabulario de estos estudiantes, es
bueno incluir en los exámenes de ubicación una sección de vocabulario y traducción.
Un gran reto resulta la enseñanza de clases para hispanófilos. Un examen de ubicación
que incluya aspectos gramaticales, vocabulario, dictados y traducción es sólo el inicio en
esta ardua tarea de selección y ubicación. Debe tomarse en cuenta no tan sólo su nivel
cognoscitivo previo del idioma, sino también se deben considerar los aspectos culturales
y socioeconómicos del medio familiar del que proviene el estudiante. La finalidad
primordial de estos exámenes es poder ubicar a cada estudiante en el nivel adecuado a
sus capacidades y así encausarlo hacia un exitoso rendimiento académico.
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Semantic transparency in the interpretation of N+N and V+N Spanish Compounds:
Age of onset of bilingualism effects
Patricia González
St. Mary's University
This study investigates whether age of onset of bilingualism has an effect on heritage
language speakers’ interpretation of compound words in Spanish. These speakers never
completely acquired, or possibly lost, aspects of Spanish as their first language, as
English became the dominant language sometime in childhood (Montrul, 2002, 2004,
2005, 2008, 2010; Polinsky, 2004, 2007; Silva-Corvalán 1994, 2003; Valdés 1995, 2000).
The study is based on the semantic interpretation of two specific nominal patterns of
Spanish compounding: [N+N]N (e.g., obra cumbre “masterpiece,” lit. “work summit”)
and [V+N]N (e.g., pelagatos “poor man,” lit. “peel+cats”). Through a language use
questionnaire, participants were classified according to their age of L1/L2 acquisition.
This was followed by an interpretation task in which the participants selected the
correct definition for 20 compound words in Spanish. To assess semantic interpretation,
participants had to decide whether the literal (transparent) definition or the figurative
(opaque) definition of the compound was correct, and select the answer accordingly.
Each word was followed by two possible definitions, one based on an literal
interpretation from the meaning of one or both compound constituents, and a second
one based on a figurative interpretation where the meaning of the word cannot be
derived from the meaning of the constituents. For example, for the word pelagatos
“poor man,” lit. “peel+cats” participants selected either (a) persona insignificante
“insignificant person” or (b) tijeras para gatos “cat scissors,” in which (a) would be the
target response.
Three groups of Mexican-Americans university students that speak a border dialect of
Spanish and live in Laredo, Texas, participated in this study. Group A (31 late sequential
bilinguals) includes L2 learners who acquired Spanish monolingually in Mexico and
learned English after age 12 when they emigrated to the United States. Group B (60
early sequential bilinguals) includes speakers who acquired Spanish monolingually in
Mexico or in the home but came into contact with English at approximately age 6 when
they started school. Group C (154 simultaneous bilinguals) includes speakers who
acquired Spanish and English simultaneously at home and for whom English has always
been the language of instruction and the dominant language in most social contexts.
The control group (Group D) consists of 27 native Spanish speakers living in Mexico. The
results indicate that nominal compounding is an area of linguistic knowledge not
vulnerable to incomplete acquisition or attrition. The bilingual speakers’ interpretation of
the meaning of both [V+N]N and [N+N]N compounds in Spanish decreases in accuracy
as a function of years of contact with English. All groups of heritage language speakers
interpreted [V+N]N more accurately than [N+N]N compounds regardless of their
degree of English-dominance. I discuss the significance of these findings for heritage
language reacquisition and development.
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The Inherited Past in Present Day Spanish: The Case for LA Spanish
Armando Guerrero, Jr.
University of California Los Ángeles
There is no doubt that Spanish is spoken throughout the United States (Beaudrie &
Fairclough 2012). However, little research has been done comparing the vernacular
Spanish spoken in this country with that spoken by speakers outside of its borders. In
much the same way that the Spanish spoken in the Americas ventured on its own
evolutionary path from peninsular Spanish, Spanish in the US may be initiating this same
process. The Spanish in the Americas was once considered simply an “habla” like many
other varieties of Andalucian Spanish during the colonial period (Menéndez Pidal 1962).
However, these were only the first steps to what would become Mexican Spanish,
Chilean Spanish, Colombian Spanish, etc. (Frago Gracia 1990). The Spanish spoken in
the Southwest has a very special history and political climate that directly links it to rural
Mexico; the inheritance of this past is very present and alive in Los Angeles, and it is not
only lexical (Guerrero 2013).
The present study analyzes the naturalistic speech of four Mexican speakers, three
immigrants and one US born; these samples were obtained through participant
observation to inhibit any accommodation to the researcher – ten hours were recorded
and coded. Preliminary results demonstrate that the Spanish spoken by working-class
native and heritage speakers is very similar to the Spanish spoken in rural Mexico and by
the clase popular throughout the Americas, an observation made by Parodi (2009,
2011). The similarities are independent from the direct influence of English on the
Spanish spoken in Los Angeles, which indicate the distance between this Spanish and
any abstract or spoken Standard in the Americas. More importantly yet, it illustrates the
vernacular’s connection to very eclectic varieties that have received little attention in the
field, in the United States and abroad.
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Adquisición del español californiano en la primera generación bilingüe español-inglés
Covadonga Lamar Prieto
University of California Riverside
Con frecuencia pensamos en la adquisición de lenguas en contacto en términos
contemporáneos, mientras que son menos las ocasiones en la que consideramos esos
conceptos como fenómenos históricos. Para el caso del español vernáculo de California,
distinguimos por lo tanto entre español californio, la variante histórica del fenómeno, y
español contemporáneo de California.
En el presente trabajo -que forma parte de un proyecto más amplio sobre la historia del
español en California- analizamos los primeros tiempos del contacto entre el español y el
inglés en el territorio, desde la anexión a los Estados Unidos, en 1848. Estudiamos la
forma en que las políticas lingüísticas y sociales condicionaron, desde ese momento
hasta 1880, la adquisición del español y del inglés por parte de los niños y jóvenes
californios.
Para ello, examinamos documentos contemporáneos a los hechos de variada índole,
desde prensa a autobiografías, pasando por la legislación o correspondencia personal.
De todos ellos podemos concluir las líneas maestras de la política de implantación de la
lengua inglesa en el territorio hispanohablante de California, al tiempo que apuntamos
las consecuencias contemporáneas de esas medidas.
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Spanish Music as a Heritage Language Tool
José López
Many students learn Spanish as a heritage language having it passed down from one
generation to the next. Along with that Spanish comes the rich culture and traditions
that families have participated in for decades. Part of that inherited tradition and culture
is music. My presentation will focus on how Spanish music is a gateway to further
learning and retaining the Spanish language. It does not matter if you listen to country,
rock, or hip-hop because there is a Spanish equivalent of it. Most students think Spanish
music is nothing but guitars and accordions and lose interest in wanting to learn the
language because they don’t want to be associated with that stereotype. By introducing
students to different styles of Spanish music, then they will start getting rid of the
misconceptions and stereotypes they may have of the language and the music. Having
students memorize lyrics helps them with their fluency and pronunciation and helps
retain vocabulary in their long term memory because of the constant practice and
repetition of the words. Playing and validating the music they bring to class creates an
acceptance of their language and an interest to share it. Playing songs in Spanish that
they recognize from their first language also facilitates learning the language because
they already somewhat know the lyrics. Spanish music has helped me pass down my
heritage to my students and has helped them conserve the language.
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Motivación, persistencia y estrategias de padres bilingües que enseñan a sus hijos
español como idioma de herencia en Texas
Kenny Montgomery
University of Houston
El hecho de que una persona sea bilingüe no necesariamente indica que sus hijos van a
ser bilingües. Muchos estudios exponen que ya para la segunda y la tercera generación
la lengua de herencia empieza a desaparecer. Sin embargo, Hoy en día hay muchos
padres bilingües que tratan por diferentes medios de que este patrón no siga, al menos
en sus familias.
Las siguientes son declaraciones de padres bilingües que indican sus reacciones cuando
se comunican en español con sus hijos:
-Yo hablo inglés pero le digo: Háblame en español… ya te he dicho que quiero
que me hables en español.
-Claro que mi hija entiende, pero cuando le hablo en español, solo se hace la
tonta porque entiende todo.
- Le digo a mi hija: Qué bien que hablas conmigo en español, porque es el mejor
regalo que te puedo dar como padre.
-I gave up. Yo le hablo en español y él me habla en inglés y así nos comunicamos
para que al menos entienda y hable un poco el español.
Pues nada, mi hija y yo rezamos en español y vamos a misa en español.
-Todo es muy natural, yo le hablo en español y mi hija me responde en español y
cuando le hablo en ingles ella me habla en inglés.
A través de la historia de Texas, este estado se ha caracterizado por poseer un gran
número de personas bilingües, en inglés y español, sobre todo debido a los lazos que
aún lo unen con México, con quien delimita, y por poseer un gran número de
inmigrantes hispanos que hacen que este idioma se mantenga vivo. Este estudio analiza
a un variado número de padres e hijos hispanos en Tejas y que de una u otra forma
quieren mantener el español como idioma de herencia en sus hogares, a través de una
investigación empírica con varias familias y con diferentes grupos de edades de los hijos
que van desde los cuatro años hasta los veintiún años, en donde se determina que es
difícil para un padre bilingüe mantener el español en el hogar debido a que en muchas
ocasiones, y en especial los adolescentes, prefieren comunicarse en inglés con ellos. Sin
embargo, por medio de observaciones a las familias analizadas se determina que
cuando existe motivación, perseverancia y una estrategia a seguir para conservar el
español como idioma de herencia en el hogar, entonces el mantenimiento del idioma
prevalece.
Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language
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“Corrígeme bien”: Spanish Heritage Speakers as Peer Assessors
Julia Oliver-Rajan & Christine Shea
University of Iowa
Research on peer assessment has provided mixed results regarding learning benefits,
both for assessors and assessed. Indeed, while some studies have shown that students
effectively incorporate peer feedback in later drafts (Slembrouck 2011), others indicate
that students are less attentive to peer comments than they are to instructor comments
(Ferris 2003). Successful implementation depends on careful instruction, modeling and
on familiarizing students with the characteristics of cooperative feedback. However, it is
also crucial to consider the characteristics of the students who are involved in peer
assessment. Indeed, it is possible that the relative success of peer evaluation may
depend upon factors internal to the learner, such as proficiency, individual learner
dynamics and classroom dynamics as a whole.
In this study, we report on a preliminary investigation examining peer review of
compositions written in Spanish by an undergraduate group of heritage speakers. Our
goal is to see what type of feedback prevails in the comments and evaluations provided
by this group and ultimately, shed light on how writing rubrics may (or may not) require
modification for heritage language peer review. Participants were 19 heritage Spanish
language speakers, with widely varying knowledge of formal written Spanish standards.
Peer-evaluation data was collected from three expository essays, written over the course
of one semester. Students evaluated their peer’s texts using a task-based questionnaire
to assess content and grammar. Evaluators also provided holistically-oriented comments
on the text, with the explicit goal of ‘improving’ their classmate’s text.
The evaluations were analyzed in terms of two aspects:
1) The nature of the comments provided (whether grammatically-oriented or
holistically-oriented).
2) The follow-up and implementation of the comments on subsequent drafts.
Preliminary results show that heritage language learners oriented their comments
towards grammar 64% of the time while holistic comments were made 73% of the time.
Thus, it appears that heritage speakers are responsive to the grammar content of their
peers’ essays but also responsive to the content of the essays themselves. We discuss the
implications of these results in light of the instructions given and the role that individual
differences in terms of proficiency might play in the type of feedback provided. We are
currently analyzing the data with respect to how the comments affect subsequent drafts
of the same essays.
The results from this preliminary study show that heritage learners do recognize that
peer review is a process that can help them improve their writing skills and that in order
to do so, comments must be holistically-oriented as well as grammatically-oriented.
Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language
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Code-Switching effects on Naturalistic Code-Switching
Diana Pedraza & Whitman Suárez
University of Texas at Austin
Most of the literature on the production of voiceless occlusive stops consistently agree
that bilinguals are able to produce almost native-like voice onset time (VOT) values in
monolingual contexts (e.g. Antoniou et al., 2010, Flege & Eefting 1987, Bullock &
Toribio, 2009). On the other hand, the effects of code-switching on the production of
VOT values differ considerably across studies revealing (i) dominance of the first
language (L1) over the second language (L2) (Antoniou et al., 2011), (ii) a bidirectional
effect of the two languages either by convergence (Bullock & Toribio, 2009) or
divergence (Flege & Eefting 1987), and (iii) no crosslinguistic effects (Grosjean & Miller
1994). One possible explanation for the different results in the previous literature, which
we explore here, might be the heterogeneity of the participant groups.
The present study examines and analyzes the speech production of the voiceless stop
/k/ by a group of highly proficient US-Spanish heritage speakers. These informants,
referred to here as naturalistic code-switchers (NCS) due to the nature of their
bilingualism, regularly engage in spontaneous code switching interactions. Their
linguistic behavior is ideal for the investigation into how the bilingual mind deals with
language (de)activation and the implication of language interaction in their phonetic
realizations.
To study the effects of code-switching on the phonetic realization of /k/, 10 participants
completed a reading task (1) and a story-retelling task in English/Spanish monolingual
mode and in code switching mode. Their results were compared with those of Spanish
and English L1 dominant speakers. The analysis consisted of five independent variables,
a) language, b) speaker type, c) mode, d) switch site (pre, during, post), e) task, and one
dependent variable, VOT.
Results showed that NCS’ VOT values resemble those of their L1-dominant counterparts
in both English and Spanish. Statistical analyses also revealed that code-switching did
not significantly affect the production of VOTs regardless of the position of the switch.
While there was no significant difference between tasks in Spanish, both controls and
NCS produced shorter VOTs in reading than in retelling in English. The fact that the
methodology combined both controlled and spontaneous speech allowed us to find
this outcome.
The findings suggest that NCS may have better control of their phonetic realizations
than other bilinguals who do not regularly engage in code-switching. Initial analyses of
the full data set are in line with this trend. The different type of population recruited
could explain the results from previous studies (e.g. Grosjean & Miller, 1994 and Bullock
et al. 2006).
Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language
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The Personal Essay and Academic Writing Proficiency in Heritage Language
Development
Lina Reznicek-Parrado
UC Davis
Traditionally, Spanish Heritage Language university courses focus on developing
advanced literacy skills in order to equip students with broader writing repertoires as a
way of complementing the levels of oral command of the language that they already
bring into the classroom. Building on the fundamental interconnectedness of language
use and the social context, previous research has used Systemic Functional Linguistics
(Colombi, 2003, 2006) as well as other explicit writing strategies (Potowski, 2010) as
tools for the development of academic writing. These have been used to analyze and
teach a variety of common academic genres such as reports, critical analyzes, and the
expository and argumentative essay in the Spanish HL classroom. Little work has been
done, however, in analyzing the academic role of the personal essay as a functional
component of courses for HL speakers at the university level. Researchers such as
Pavlenko & Lantolf (2000) have advocated for the use of ‘first-person narratives’
as a legitimate complement to more observational/experimental and traditional SLA
research methodologies. They echo what psychologist Pennebaker (1990, 2004) calls
the ‘reconstruction of self’, that is, the reconstruction of life experiences that represent
some level of significance to the language learner, who is, above all, deeply situated in
social activity. Drawing on Gee’s theory of Discourses (1990), this paper suggests that
the functional incorporation of journaling and of the personal essay as academic
practices can inform the teaching of advanced literacy in the HL classroom, bringing
into the foreground the concept of advanced literacy not as merely the mastery of
traditional academic registers, but also as a reconstructive social tool necessary for the
incorporation of the HL voice, which I suggest is crucial in the development of the HL
field.
Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language
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Reframing Authority in Spanish Heritage Language Classroom Interaction
Rachel Showstack
Wichita State University
Students in Spanish heritage language (HL) classrooms are often exposed to a dominant
ideology that lends prestige to a superior ‘standard’ variety of Spanish, positioning elite
speakers in monolingual regions as experts and delegitimizing the multilingual
practicesof the HL learners. Research suggests that students’ orientations to this
ideology can have a profound effect on their identities as Spanish-speakers (Potowski
2002). Classroombased research has begun to explore how Spanish HL students
respond to dominant language ideologies by representing themselves and others as
certain kinds of language users (e.g. Lowther Pereira 2010). However, there is a need for
further research to understand the ways in which HL students construct and negotiate
their own expertise through interaction in the classroom (Potowski 2012). Taking a view
of ‘identity’ as a set of social relations that emerge in interaction within the limits of an
existing social structure (Bucholtz and Hall 2004), this case study investigates how
students in one university Spanish HL classroom reflect and challenge the relations of
authority ascribed by the institutional context in peer-group interactions. Following He
(2004), the study borrows the notion of ‘repair’ from Conversation Analysis to
understand how the students position themselves as experts and novices while
interacting with their peers. The study data demonstrate that while the students
construct expert and novice stances based on their knowledge of ‘Standard Spanish’ in
some moments, they negotiate these positions of authority in interaction, and relations
of alignment or disalignment are never static. At times, speakers use non-verbal cues
that frame their participation in repair sequences as performances, thus reframing the
relations of authority ascribed by the institutional context. In addition, the students do
not always validate the positions of authority represented by others or take up the
positions ascribed to them. By challenging the assumption that one must speak
‘Standard Spanish’ to be an expert, the students create opportunities for further
classroom learning. It is important for HL instructors to be aware that these instances of
creativity can occur in seemingly mundane moments of classroom interaction, so that
they can encourage their students to develop ‘symbolic competence,’ “the ability not
only to appropriate or approximate someone else’s language, but to shape the very
context in which the language is learned and used” (Kramsch and Whiteside 2008:
664).
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Emergence of the Voiced Labiodental Fricative Segment [v] in Texas Spanish
Adriano Trovato
University of Texas at Austin
The objective of this study is to document the production of a voiced labiodental
fricative consonant (/v/) in the speech of Spanish speakers in West Texas, more
specifically in the El Paso area. Possible phonological patterns and specific linguistic
environments for the appearance of this feature will be illustrated as well. Furthermore,
this research will try to establish correlations between the emergence of the analyzed
phone and sociolinguistic factors such as level of literacy, familiarity with Spanish
language orthography, age and gender.
Another factor that will be taken into account is the influence of English language and
its phonemic repertoire, especially considering the bilingual status of most Spanish
speakers living in the state of Texas.
The distinction of the voiced bilabial /b/ and the voiced labiodental /v/ phonemes,
originally present in Old Spanish (Martínez-Gil 1998), is nowadays neutralized
extensively throughout the totality of Spanish speech communities in favor of the
bilabial phoneme, realized either in an approximant [β] or in an occlusive [b] allophonic
version (Hualde 2009). Therefore, the re-emergence of a voiced labiodental fricative
sound must be considered a very relevant phenomenon in contemporary Spanish
phonological system. Moreover, the phenomenon analyzed in this study, given its
geographical exclusivity, also represents a unique feature of the local variety of Spanish
currently spoken in West Texas.
This study is based on linguistic data which are part of the “Spanish in Texas” corpus
(Bullock & Toribio 2013), a large collection of video interviews gathered by scholars of
the University of Texas at Austin.
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A comparative analysis of two heritage speaker populations
Valerie Trujillo
University of Florida
This study compares copula choice variation among two populations; students of
Mexican heritage from Arizona State University and students of Cuban heritage from
the University of Florida. Although copula choice variation is well-documented in
Mexican Spanish (Silva-Corvalán, 1986, 1994; Gutiérrez, 2003, Salazar, 2007) data on
Cuban-American Spanish is sparse. This study aims to contribute to the nascent body of
knowledge on Cuban-American performance in this area and provide a point of
comparison among similarly-proficient students of Mexican heritage in a differing
community. In addition, this study compared the degree of language anxiety
experienced by the two heritage speaker groups, as measured by the Foreign Language
Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) developed by Tallon (2009) and modeled after
Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope (1986). The evaluation of the answers provided by students on
the FLCAS allows for further comparison between two groups of heritage speakers of
Spanish that may appear, on the surface, to have little in common.
All participants in this study were enrolled in courses specifically designed for heritage
speakers in their respective universities. The results of this study show very little
difference in performance between the two groups in both the copula choice task and
the FLCAS.
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Ambiguity Resolution in Spanish Heritage Speakers: Target Structure Makes a Difference
Bill VanPatten1 & Gregory Keating2 & Jill Jegerski3
Michigan State University1, San Diego State University2 and University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign3
The linguistic tuning account of language parsing (e.g., Cuetos et al., 1996) states that
comprehenders’ initial interpretations of ambiguous sentences reflect the success of past
experiences, which differ crosslinguistically. For example, when reading complex NPs
followed by RCs, as in (1), Spanish monolinguals tend to interpret the RC as referring to
the first NP (el criado), whereas English monolinguals show preference for the second
NP (la actriz).
(1) Alguien disparó contra el criado de la actriz [RC que estaba en el balcón.]
Similarly, when confronted with the pronominal ambiguities depicted in (2), speakers of
null subject languages tend to link the null pronoun in (2a) with the antecedent in
SpecIP (María), and the overt pronoun in (2b) with the antecedent in object position
(Carmen) (e.g., Filiaci, 2010). English requires overt pronouns regardless of the syntactic
position of the antecedent.
(2a) María llamó a Carmen [CP cuando pro estaba en la oficina.]
(2b) María llamó a Carmen [CP cuando ella estaba en la oficina.]
This study examines the extent to which Spanish heritage speakers (HSs) are ‘tuned’ to
the syntactic preferences of Spanish when reading sentences containing the syntactic
ambiguities depicted above. Monolinguals residing in Mexico (n = 46) and proficiencymatched HSs in California (n = 29) participated in a clause-by-clause self-paced reading
task. Twenty-four sentences contained RCs that were pragmatically biased for and
against the Spanish NP1 bias, and 32 sentences contained null and overt pronouns that
were semantically biased for and against antecedents in SpecIP. Similar to monolinguals,
HSs preferred NP1 attachment of RCs and also preferred antecedents in SpecIP for null
pronouns (Fig. 2a). Unlike monolinguals, they had no preference for the overt pronoun.
We discuss the findings in terms of (1) the effects of amount of exposure to Spanish over
time, and (2) the differential relationship of each structure to other structures in Spanish
and how knowledge and past experience processing other structures might influence
the structures under question.
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Hispanic families' attitude towards their heritage language in Houston and its suburbs
Edgar Vargas
University of Houston
The following study explores the attitudes of Colombian and Mexican families towards
Spanish in Houston and its suburbs. Through onsite family observation, surveys, and
interviews with the members of the family, the researcher examines and explores how
these attitudes towards the heritage language of Spanish lead to a shift from the
minority language to English or a preservation of Spanish.
The data collected shows that there are similarities and differences among the families
from the two countries. The results showed that the majority of the families have
positive attitudes about the preservation of Spanish in their houses. Based on these
findings, the constant migration of new Hispanics to the city, communication, and
travelling to the native countries of the parents are some of the reasons why this interest
continues. Although parents presented an integrative motivation towards teaching their
children Spanish, they had a stronger instrumental motivation arguing that Spanish
provides beneficial advantages in the job market in the city. The role of the mothers was
of vital importance in preserving the Spanish language. The researcher found that the
person who stays at home with their children the majority of the time, often the mother,
also made more decisions about what the children did inside or outside of the house.
Based on the data, Colombian families tend to avoid sending their children to bilingual
education because parents feel that this type of education delays the learning of
Spanish. Therefore, Colombians primarily chose to teach Spanish only at home. On the
other hand, the majority of the Mexican families register their children in bilingual
schools. This study also found some families did not want their children to learn Spanish
because of past experiences in their life.
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Competencia léxica y comprensión de lectura en los estudiantes de español como
lengua de herencia
Edna Velasquez
University of Houston
La importancia del estudio del vocabulario durante la adquisición de L2 ha sido objeto
de numerosos estudios. En particular se ha desarrollado una buena cantidad de
estudios sobre la relación entre el conocimiento léxico y la comprensión de lectura,
primordialmente para el caso del inglés como primera y segunda lengua. Algunos de
estos estudios han sido replicados para otras L2, pero son escasos los estudios con el
español. Además, se han realizado estudios paralelos para el caso del inglés como
lengua extranjera (EFL), en varios países. En el campo más reciente de lenguas de
herencia (LH) se ha empezado a explorar la competencia léxica de estos hablantes y su
incidencia en el proceso de (re)adquisición de la lengua y su enseñanza, pero el número
de estudios es aún muy limitado y la investigación se encuentra aún en un estadio muy
incipiente.
Schmitt et al (2011), en su estudio con hablantes de inglés como L2 demuestran que el
tipo de relación existente entre el porcentaje de palabras conocidas en un texto
académico y su comprensión es lineal. Es decir, que a más palabras conocidas mayor es
la comprensión. Encuentran, como Hu & Nation (2000) que el porcentaje de
vocabulario necesario para comprender un texto es de 98%. Para el español como L2,
Davies (2005), encuentra que con un vocabulario de 1000 palabras, el estudiante de
español como L2, estaría en capacidad de reconocer entre 75% y 80% de todos los
lexemas en el español escrito y un 88% de los lexemas en el discurso oral. Además,
concluye que se aplica la “ley de rendimientos decrecientes”, ya que extender el
vocabulario a partir de ese punto no significa un crecimiento de cobertura textual
proporcional, lo que sugiere el tipo de curva que mejor describiría esta relación sería,
una función logarítmica y no una recta como lo que propone Schmitt.
53 estudiantes matriculados en dos cursos de español como lengua de herencia en la
Universidad de Houston realizaron una prueba de comprensión de un texto académico
con un puntaje máximo de 100 puntos, luego de subrayar el vocabulario desconocido.
Se buscaba comprobar el porcentaje de cobertura propuesto por Schmitt era válido
también para el español y si la función descrita por la relación era lineal o por el
contrario obedecía a la “ley de rendimientos decrecientes” planteada por Davies. Se
encontró, al igual que en el trabajo de Schmitt, que con un 98% del vocabulario
pudieron demostrar la comprensión del texto (con un puntaje de 70 sobre 100). La
relación entre el porcentaje de léxico conocido y el resultado de comprensión no resultó
lineal sino que fue semejante a una función logarítmica, lo cual parece apoyar la
conclusión de Davies (2005). Se sugiere que la incidencia de otros factores tales como la
capacidad de inferir y el manejo de la estructura discursiva ayudarían a explicar que el
tipo de relación entre estas dos variables no sea directamente proporcional.
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Pedagogical implications of research into the language experience of College-age
heritage speakers in communities with low vitality for Spanish
Isabel Velázquez
University of Nebraska
The question of how to provide effective Spanish language instruction in university
classrooms that include both heritage (HL) and second language (L2) learners is a
matter of growing concern within the profession. The relevance of the family for HL
maintenance and, for L2 learners, their reduced exposure to speakers beyond campus,
points to the potential of integrating community funds of knowledge (González, Moll &
Amanti, 2003), into joint class activities and projects. Additionally, it suggests the need to
rethink instructional delivery to provide both types of students with increased
opportunities for interaction in Spanish with peers, and greater exposure to formal
varieties in real-world professional contexts. The issues of how to access community
resources and how to incorporate them effectively into classroom activities are further
complicated for instructors working in areas with low vitality for Spanish.
This paper discusses pedagogical implications of the main findings of a research project
that explores the language experience (Martínez, 2006), of 71 U.S.-raised bilinguals
residing in three Midwestern communities with low vitality for Spanish and recent
Latino settlement. Respondents were university students between the ages of 19 and
29, who participated in an initial interview that was intended to collect data about
Spanish competence, demographics, and language acquisition history. They were then
asked to respond to a four-part, 39-question online survey. Results discussed in this
paper include reported interlocutor in Spanish –classified by relationship, gender,
generational cohort and domain, Spanish language media consumption and social
media use, and reported reading and writing in Spanish –analyzed by type, complexity
and reported frequency of literacy event.
Results of this project are particularly rich for a discussion about instructional delivery in
mixed HL/L2 classrooms, because, unlike other studies of HLL, in this study results were
compared with two control groups: native speakers, and L2 learners belonging to the
same cohort and attending the same institutions. Ideas for classroom activities and
instructional units are presented as well as a rationale for their inclusion in intermediate
and advanced courses.
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Issues of Linguistic Tolerance: Addressing Dialect Diversity in Los Angeles Public
Elementary Schools
Belén Villarreal
University of California Los Ángeles
As a center of Hispanic immigration, Los Angeles is home to speakers of dialects of
Spanish from a wide variety of countries, the most strongly represented of these being
Mexico and El Salvador. Since the arrival of Central American refugees beginning in the
late 1970s, ethnic enclaves that were formerly completely Mexicans have become home
to large groups of Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Nicaraguans. Despite this
relatively new wave of immigration, which has been considerable, Mexicans to
predominate, as does the primarily Mexican Spanish that they speak. When examining
the linguistic consequences of the dialect contact that occurs between Mexicans and
Central Americans, Parodi (2003, 2004, 2009, 2010b) and other scholars note that the
latter report being ridiculed and made fun of for the way they speak, particularly with
respect to their use of voseo, the use of the 2nd person singular informal pronoun tú
and its corresponding verb forms, and some regional lexical items. The observations that
Spanish speakers who were born in Los Angeles or arrived there at a young age
stigmatize Central American Spanish, voseo in particular, suggest that these attitudes
are most likely acquired during in their youth. The phenomenon of dialect contact as it
occurs among Spanish-speaking children in this area is a topic which has received little
attention in the literature. Results from dissertation research on dialect contact among
child speakers of the Los Angeles Vernacular Spanish, the primarily Mexican variety that
is spoken, and Central American Spanish has yielded data regarding children’s lexical
use and dialect preferences that has been previously unknown. It also demonstrates
that these children are aware of the dialect differences that they encounter and have
already begun to develop language attitudes that demonstrate a preference for the
LAVS dialect over Salvadoran Spanish.
This presentation will discuss the need for addressing the issue of dialect diversity in LA
public schools in light of the findings provided by the dialect contact study described
above. It will also examine dialect awareness curricula that have been developed for
regional and non-standard dialects of English in order to see how these may be adapted
to fit the needs of young heritage Speakers of Spanish. Finally, it will offer examples of
activities that can expose children to these dialect differences. These will be developed
based on the results of the aforementioned dialect contact study in order to ensure that
they are relevant to children and incorporate the features that they use themselves
(lexical, morphological and phonetic). While the immediate goal of these activities will
be to raise schoolchildren’s awareness of the diversity of Spanish in LA and help them
understand that no dialect is better than the other, its ultimate aim is to promote the
type of linguistic and, consequently, cultural tolerance that is crucial in a large, urban
multicultural setting like Los Angeles.
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INVITED WORKSHOP ABSTRACTS
Educating today’s bilingual students and tomorrow’s bilingual leaders
Joshua Frank & Jesse Abing
University of Texas at Austin
The composition of a university heritage language classroom is not necessarily
representative of the heritage speaker population as a whole; i.e., they are a self-selected
and a university-educated group. With this in mind, the presenters will engage the
audience with a rough and ready original heritage Spanish classroom activity. The
primary goal is to provide tomorrow’s bilingual leaders with the type of instruction that
allows them to take advantage of their unique linguistic skillset for the benefit of
Hispanic and non-Hispanic communities alike. The secondary goals are to promote a
strong sense of Hispanic identity and an overall acceptance of linguistic variation. This
task was designed for, and piloted in, a heritage language classroom at the University of
Texas at Austin. As an interactive demonstration, this presentation is also designed to
facilitate discussion amongst all workshop attendees. A comprehensive packet of other
prototype classroom activities will be provided at the conclusion.
Creating spaces for Identity, Latinidad, and Sociolinguistic Awareness in the Spanish for
Heritage Learners Classroom
Lillian Gorman
University of Illinois at Chicago
In this presentation I will utilize my current research on the case study of mixed MexicanNuevomexicano identities to consider the implications of Latinidad and mixed Latino/a
identities in the Spanish for heritage learners classroom. My research explores the
multiple and contradictory invocations of identity that flow throughout interviews with
15 Mexican-Nuevomexicano intra-Latino subjects. I explore the specific and explicit ways
that the Mexican-Nuevomexicano subjects choose to identify themselves and how these
identities reveal linguistic hierarchies and tensions between nationality, citizenship,
ethnicity, and regional identity. The interviews illustrate the key role that Spanish
language proficiency plays in constructing identity categories. I use this data to highlight
the ways in which the heterogeneity in our Spanish for heritage learner classrooms may
be valued and integrated into our curriculum. Essentially, this presentation emphasizes
that identity matters in the Spanish for heritage learners classroom and underscores
ways in which to create a space for identity and sociolinguistic awareness.
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The Role of Fluency in Second Language Reading Comprehension: Building Input and
Language Experience for Adult Learners of Heritage Languages
Greta Gorsuch
Texas Tech University
This interactive presentation explores the increasingly salient role of reading fluency in
second language education programs. Reading, and working with reading fluency, can
provide critical language input and language experience for adult learners of heritage
languages. In many respects, adults who use a heritage language can also be seen as
second language (L2) learners who may consciously choose to expand their experience
and skills with their heritage language through formal instruction. In this respect,
reading L2 texts may comprise a significant means of input and language experience for
heritage language users/L2 learners. Such learners can use reading to obtain
information from a variety of written sources and to interact as full interlocutors with
other users of the language. Yet many with limited experience reading L2 texts read
slowly and laboriously, likely because of poor word recognition skills. For these and for
other reasons, the development of reading fluency has taken a position of growing
importance in L2 reading research, and has emerged as a significant pedagogical issue.
One method thought to increase reading fluency is extensive reading (ER), in which
learners self-select moderately easy texts and engage in sustained silent reading. Yet
another method is repeated reading (RR) in which learners repeatedly read a 500-word
text with an audio model in order to automatize lower level comprehension processes,
and thus free learners’ attentional resources to invoke higher order comprehension
processes. RR has been shown to increase L2 learners’ reading fluency and
comprehension in studies in Japan and Vietnam (with English), and in the U.S. (with
Japanese). Points of discussion are: 1. What reading fluency is; 2. What its role in reading
comprehension is; 3. How to work with reading fluency in classrooms with adult
learners; 4. How to find materials suitable for reading fluency development, and 5. How
to implement reading fluency methodologies into language education programs.
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The best of both worlds? Advantages and disadvantages of L2-HL peer collaboration
Florencia Giglio Henshaw
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Over the last two decades, foreign language educators have been faced with the
challenge of meeting the needs of heritage language (HL) learners. This is especially the
case in Spanish language courses, where increasingly more HL learners are enrolling in
the same classes as second language (L2) learners. Despite this reality, research on L2HL interaction has been scarce (Blake & Zyzik, 2003; Bowles, 2011). This talk presents
the results of a study comparing L2-L2 and L2-HL dyadic interactions in terms of not only
learning gains but also self- and peer-perceptions. Findings are discussed with respect to
the implementation of classroom practices and program policies that are most beneficial
for both types of learners.
Incorporating Community Engagement in the Curriculum: Service-Learning for Spanish
Heritage Speakers
Kelly Lowther Pereira
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
This workshop focuses on how to integrate a very effective pedagogical tool in the
heritage language curriculum: service-learning. Participants in this workshop will
discover how engagement in activities that benefit community needs can enhance
learning for heritage students specifically. This workshop will walk participants through
the essential components of service-learning and course design and will provide
participants with tips and strategies on how to successfully prepare a heritage language
course with a service-learning component, how to integrate critical reflection with
course content and learning objectives, how to create opportunities for student
leadership and civic responsibility and how to build effective community partnerships.
Heritage Speakers on the Northern Border of the U.S.: Same issues, different language
Joseph Price
Texas Tech University
When one speaks of Heritage Speakers in the United States, it is typically in terms of
Spanish-English bilingualism, and with good reason: Americans of Spanish-speaking
descent represent an important and growing segment of American society, and many
parts of the country - particularly in the Southwestern United States – are distinguished
by intense English-Spanish contact. In this context, there are many individuals whose
exposure to Spanish is incomplete and whose competence in the language bears the
classic characteristics associated with Heritage speakers, despite the presence of strong
social, demographic and geographic factors promoting the acquisition and
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maintenance of Spanish. However, a similar yet often neglected situation exists in the
Northeastern corner of the United States, specifically on the border between Maine and
New Brunswick, Canada. Here, individuals living on the US side of the border grow up
with intense exposure to regional Canadian French (78% of residents are francophone)
and directly across the Saint John River from a Canadian city which is 98% francophone,
yet many young people acquire French imperfectly if at all. In this regard, young
heritage speakers of French on the Northern border are much like Spanish speakers in
the Southwest, and many efforts, especially in the domain of education, have been
undertaken to attempt to help encourage the acquisition and use of French by young
people in the community. This talk will have two parts. In the first part, I address the
context of acquisition and exposure, briefly discussing the historical, social and linguistic
context of French in one selected community, Madawaska, Maine. Following this, I
discuss some of the characteristics of language maintenance and revitalization efforts in
Northern Maine, focusing on a series of failed attempts at bilingual immersion programs
as well as efforts undertaken at the level of community and social organizations to
promote the acquisition of use of French among young people. In this regard, I hope
that the similarities of the issues faced by young heritage speakers of French in the
Northeastern US – and by members of their communities – can offer some additional
insight into questions on the role of education and the nature of language revitalization
efforts in the United States focusing on heritage speakers of Spanish.
Flipping the Spanish Heritage Classroom: A Focus on Writing
Julio Torres
University at Albany, State University of New York
In this presentation, I will share some techniques for promoting heritage learners’
writing skills following the dimensions of writing-to-learn and learning-to-write. First, I
will cover the use of a correction guide that provides students with explicit feedback on
common errors as well as follow-up activities to help learners integrate the new
information into their writing. The second part of the presentation will be dedicated to
the use of the flipped classroom approach to help learners with writing principles (e.g.,
thesis statement) for composing argumentative essays. The flipped classroom approach
consists in taking out the lecture component from the classroom. Students learn
information through video clips on writing principles for homework and apply the
information through collaborative work in class. I will discuss how flipping the classroom
allows for more opportunities for peer collaboration and learners’ evaluation of their
own writing.
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This program was made possible in part with a grant
from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the
National Endowment for the Humanities.
Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language