73502
Heritage Language Instruction/Spanish for Native Speakers: The Construction and
Consolidation of Cultural and Ethnic Identities in Second-Generation High School Youth
Cynthia Cervantes
Mentor: Jeanett Castellanos
Spanish has become central in the formation of cultural and ethnic identities amongst Spanish
speaking communities. Despite abundant research in support of Heritage Language Instruction,
which fosters cultural and ethnic identity, and promotes English language acquisition through the use
of students’ primary languages, few public schools with high concentrations of language minority
students implement such programs. Researchers in the field of immigration and second-generation
immigrants indicate that an increasing number of second-generation Chicano/Latino youth choose
English as their preferred means of expression, while proficiency in their native tongue suffers. This
study pays specific attention to the social stigma toward Spanish as a spoken language in the United
States, and the part that stigma plays in the acquisition and retention of the language, and
consequently in the formation of Chicano/Latino cultural and ethnic identities. Quantitative
questionnaires (n=200) were gathered from two Orange County high schools’ Spanish programs to
conceptualize the importance of Heritage Language Instruction or Spanish for Native Speakers
courses in the construction of positive cultural and ethnic identities in second-generation
Chicano/Latino high school youth. As an objective, this study seeks to promote the implementation
of Spanish for Native Speakers programs in the public school system curriculum, in conjunction with
necessary improvements within Heritage Language Instruction programs, to better serve the holistic
well being of second-generation Chicano/Latino high school youth.