University of Houston
Department of Modern and Classical Languages
SPAN 6395.12523: Teaching Spanish to Spanish Speakers
Fall 2005 – Th 5:30 / 8:30 PM (303 AH)
Prof.: Dr. M. Fairclough
Office: 433 AH
Off. Hrs: Thur. 4 – 5 PM and by app.
Phone: (713) 743 - 3244
E-mail: mfairclough@uh.edu
Course description:
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the field of heritage language education,
with an emphasis on the bilingual English-Spanish student of Hispanic heritage. Diverse
aspects of heritage language maintenance and development will be explored including such
topics as demographics, diversity, the standard variety and bidialectalism as well as relevant
pedagogical issues. The course will be conducted in Spanish and will consist of lectures,
students presentations of selected readings and a final project based on fieldwork. Readings will
be in English and Spanish.
Objectives:
a. To develop a basic knowledge of heritage language education in the US.
b. To familiarize students with pedagogical issues and different approaches to the teaching of
Spanish to students of Hispanic heritage.
c. To conduct a study based on data collected from Spanish heritage learners in order to
increase sociolinguistic knowledge with information on dialect diversity.
d. To develop an understanding of the systematic differences between standard Spanish and
dialectal forms.
Texts:
Colombi, M. C. & Alarcón, F. X. (Eds.). 1997. La enseñanza del español a
hispanohablantes: Praxis y teoría. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. [EEH]
Roca, A. & Colombi, M.C. 2003. Mi Lengua: The Acquisition of Spanish as a Heritage
Language - Insights from Research and Instruction. Georgetown UP. [ML]
Material on E-Reserve (Anderson Library) [R]
Course requirements and Evaluation:
Attendance to scheduled sessions.
Active participation in discussions.
Presentations (2)
Summaries of the readings
Class Observation Report
Project
20%
30%
10%
40%
2
Presentations
Students will lead two class presentations based on assigned readings. They will prepare a
handout to share with the class and will NOT read during the presentation.
Summaries
Students will write a one-page (single-spaced) summary of every article presented in class.
Class Observation
Students will make arrangements to observe a Spanish class specially designed for Spanish
speakers at any level (elem., middle, high school, college). Then, they will complete a brief onepage report based on the observations. The report should not describe the material presented in
the class but should include information on language/s used, the pedagogical approach, etc.
and comment on positive and negative aspects of the class.
Research Project
The research project will consist of a one-hour-long interview with a heritage speaker of
Spanish, and a written sample by the same individual. The interviewed heritage speaker should
be an adult who never took formal classes in Spanish. The interview will be recorded and then
transcribed. The study will consist of a linguistic analysis of the collected data. (See “Project
Information Sheet” for more details)
Course Schedule (Tentative)
Aug. 25
Introduction
Heritage language education in the US: An overview
Bretch, R. D. & Ingold, C. W. 2002. “Tapping a national resource: Heritage
languages in the United States.” [On-line]. Available:
http://www.cal.org/ERICCLL/digest/0202brecht.html
Fairclough, M. 2005. Spanish and Heritage Language Education in the United
States: Struggling with Hypotheticals. Ch. 3: “The social context”. Frankfurt /
Madrid: Vervuert / Iberoamericana. [copy]
Sept. 1
History of heritage language in the US
[1] Fishman, J. 2001. “300-Plus Years of Heritage Language Education in the
United States.” Heritage Languages in America: Preserving a National Resource.
Kreeft Peyton, J., Ranard, D.A. & McGinnis, S. (Eds.). Washington D.C.: CAL.
81-98. [R]
PRESENTATION “GRAMMATICAL ACCURACY IN SPANISH: A COMPARATIVE STUDY
BETWEEN HERITAGE AND NON-HERITAGE COLLEGE STUDENTS.” (FAIRCLOUGH,
SEPT. 9 2005 - UNM, ALBUQUERQUE).
Sept. 8
Interview – Research project (Turn in copy of tape/cd on Sept. 15)
NO CLASS
3
Sept. 15
Demographics (Census data)
US Hispanics
[2] Zentella, A. C. 2000. “Puerto Ricans in the United States.” In McKay, S. L. &
Wong, S. C. (Eds.), New Immigrants in the United States. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge UP. 137- 163. [R]
[3] Otheguy, R., García, O., & Roca, A. 2000. “Speaking in Cuban.” In McKay, S.
L. & Wong, S. C. (Eds.), New Immigrants in the United States. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge UP. 165 - 188. [R]
[4] Valdés, G. 2000. “Bilingualism and language use among Mexican Americans.”
In McKay, S. L. & Wong, S. C. (Eds.), New Immigrants in the United States.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP. 99 – 136. [R]
Sept. 22
U.S. Spanish
Language Maintenance and Loss
Sánchez, R. 1982. “Our linguistic and Social Context.”In Spanish in the United
States: Sociolinguistic Aspects, Amastae, J. & Elías-Olivares,L. (Eds.). New
York: Cambridge UP. 9- 45. [FIRST PART] [R]
[5] Veltman, C. 2000. “The American linguistic mosaic: Understanding language
shift in the United States”. In McKay, S. L. & Wong, S. C. (Eds.), New Immigrants
in the United States. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP. 58-93. [copy]
[6] Hernández-Chávez, Eduardo. 1993. “Native Language Loss and Its
Implications for Revitalization of Spanish in Chicano Communities.” Language
and Culture in Learning: Teaching Spanish to Native Speakers of Spanish.
Merino, B. J., H.T. Trueba, & F.A. Samaniego, (Eds.). London: The Falmer
Press. 45-57. [R]
[7] Lipski, John. 1993. “Creoloid phenomena in the Spanish of transitional
bilinguals”. In Roca, Ana / Lipski, John (eds.): Spanish in the United States:
Linguistic contact and diversity. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 155-182. [R]
Sept. 29
US Spanish
Sociolinguistic Issues
Sánchez, R. 1982. “Our linguistic and Social Context.”In Spanish in the United
States: Sociolinguistic Aspects, Amastae, J. & Elías-Olivares,L. (Eds.). New
York: Cambridge UP. 9- 45. [SECOND PART] [R]
[8] Torreblanca, M. 1997. “El español hablado en el Suroeste de los Estados
Unidos y las normas lingüísticas españolas” [ EEH Ch 9 ] and Silva-Corvalán, C.
1997. “ El español hablado en Los Angeles: Aspectos sociolingüísticos”. [ EEH
Ch 10]
4
[9] Carreira, María. 2000. “Validating and Promoting Spanish in the United
States: Lessons from Linguistic Science”. Bilingual Research Journal 24 (4): 333352. [On-line]. Available: http://brj.asu.edu
[10] Fairclough, Marta. 2003. “El (denominado) Spanglish en Estados Unidos:
polémicas y realidades”, Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana 2:
185-204. [R]
Oct. 6
The standard variety – Bidialectalism
Siegel, J. 1999. “Stigmatized and standardized varieties in the classroom:
Interference or separation?” TESOL Quarterly 33 (4), 701-28. [R]
[11] Villa, Daniel. 2002. “The sanitazing of U.S. Spanish in academia”. Foreign
Language Annals 35 (2): 222-230. [R]
[12] Bernal-Enríquez, Y. & Hernández-Chávez, E. 2003. “La enseñanza del
español en Nuevo México ¿Revitalización o erradicación de la variedad
chicana?” [ML Ch 5].
[13] Porras, J. 1997. “Uso local y uso estándar: un enfoque bidialectal a la
enseñanza del español para nativos” [ EEH Ch 13]
Oct. 13
Teaching Spanish to Students of Hispanic Heritage.
The Heritage Language Learner
Technology & Resources (REACH, syllabi, etc.)
[14] & [15] Valdés, G. 1995. The teaching of Minority Languages as Academic
Subjects: Pedagogical and Theoretical Challenges. The Modern Language
Journal 79(3): 299-328. [R]
[16] Carreira, M. 2003. “Profiles of SNS Students in the Twenty-first Century” [ML
Ch 3]
[17] Samaniego, F. & Pino, C. (2000). “Frequently Asked Questions about SNS
Programs”. AATSP: Spanish for Native Speakers. Harcourt College Publishers:
Forth Worth, Tx. 29 – 64. [R]
Oct. 20
Pedagogical Approaches
Leeman, Jennifer. 2005. “Engaging Critical Pedagogy: Spanish for Native
speakers”. Foreign Language Annals 38 (1): 35-45. [R]
[18] Faltis, C. J. (1990). Spanish for native speakers: Freirian and Vygotskian
perspectives. ForeignLanguage Annals, 23 (2), 117-26. [R]
[19] Potowski & Carreira. 2004. “Teacher Development and National Standards
for Spanish as a Heritage Language.” Foreign Language Annals 37(3): 427:438.
[R]
[20] Acevedo, R. 2003. “Navegando a través del registro formal: Curso para
hispanohablantes bilingües”. [ ML Ch 12]
5
Oct. 27
Reports (Class Observations)
Instructional Practice: teaching grammar and culture
[21] Alarcón, F. 1997. “El español para hispanohablantes: La cultura, ¿cómo se
come?, o quítale las hojas al tamal”. [ EEH Ch 16]
[22] Villa, D. 1997. “Theory, Design, and Content for a ‘Grammar’ Class for
Native Speakers of Spanish”. [EEH Ch 6]
[23] Carrasco, R. & Riegelhaupt, F. 2003. “META – A Model for the Continued
Acquisition of Spanish by Spanish/English Bilinguals in the United States”. [ML
Ch 8]
Nov. 2
Last day to drop a course or withdraw.
Nov 3
The Teaching of Reading and Writing
Presentation – Heritage learners’ writing – Susan Norman, ABD – UH
(To be confirmed)
[24] Colombi, M.C. 1997. “Perfil del discurso escrito en textos de
hispanohablantes: Teoría y práctica”. [ EEH Ch 12]
[25] Schwartz, A. M. 2003. “¡No me suena! Heritage Spanish Speakers’ Writing
Strategies”. [ ML Ch 11]
[26] Pucci, S. L. 2003. “Spanish print environment: Implications for heritage
language development”. [ML Ch 13]
Nov. 10
Presentation CONOZCÁMONOS – College textbook for heritage learners
Dr. Ariana Mrak / Dr. Edwin Padilla (Authors), Univ. Houston - Downtown
Teaching SNS K-12
[28] Hernández, E. et al. 2003. “Spanish in my Blood: Children’s Spanish
Language Development in Dual-Language Immersion Programs”. [ML Ch 6]
[29] Walqui, A. 1997. “Algunas consideraciones acerca de la enseñanza del
español a hispanohablantes a nivel secundario”. [EEH Ch 2]
[30] García, O. & Otheguy, R. 1997. “No sólo de estándar vive el aula: lo que nos
enseño la educación bilingüe sobre el español de Nueva York”. [ EEH Ch 11]
Nov. 17
Assessment (Placement exams)
Nov. 24
Thanksgiving Holidays
Dec. 1
Textbook Evaluation
Summaries are due
Dec. 8
Final papers due in my mailbox or office no later than 6 PM