Linguistic reception of Latin American students in Catalonia and their responses to educational language policies

Abstract

This study explores the connections between language policy implementation in three Barcelona-area secondary schools and the language attitudes and behaviors of Spanish-speaking Latin American newcomers. Data were collected through interviews and ethnographic participant observation document indexes of different forms of language socialization processes and highlight the role of teachers and of ‘Reception Classes’ (RCs) in which students receive Catalan language support. Different RC models and placements of the RC in the school have effects on those processes and the students' attitudes toward Catalan and schooling. Deficient models result from lack of institutional support and unfavorable conditions of the RC in the school. Positive models result from individual teacher initiative and commitment to move beyond basic language teaching and include broader social and academic objectives for newcomers. We conclude that language policy meeting goals requires consistent commitment at all levels from policy-makers to individual teachers.

Keywords:

• Catalan
• immigration
• language attitudes
• language policy
• secondary school
• language socialization

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by PSC CUNY, Grants 61174-00-39 and 67749-00-36, and by Recercaixa 2010ACUP 00344 grant.

Notes

1. Research project Recercaixa 2010ACUP 00344.

2. We depart from other studies in this issue and use the Standard English, Spanish, rather than Castilian. Castilian reflects local usage and is useful to reflect autochthonous sociolinguistic distinction from Catalan. However, because our focus is on Latin American immigrants, this term could potentially create the misapprehension that we are referring to dialectal differences involving varieties of Spanish. For the same reason, we follow the Spanish dialectological tradition and refer to the variety spoken in Spain as Peninsular Spanish rather than the common though misleading English term, Castilian Spanish.

3. Another aim was to reverse what was perceived by some Catalan philologists and educators of a growing process of adoption of lexical, syntactic, and even phonetic borrowings from Spanish. This aim is less relevant for the current study and was the source of much controversy (e.g. Pericay and Toutain 1986).

4. For a detailed description of the RCs in these three schools, see Trenchs-Parera and Patiño-Santos (in press).

5. See Otheguy, Zentella, and Livert (2007) and Otheguy and Zentella (2011) for parallel developments in Spanish in New York.

6. So far, only some content-area teachers receive CLIL training as part of a special program from the Autonomous government if they are to implement CLIL related to the teaching and learning of English in secondary schools. Currently, qualifying Master's degree courses for future English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in Catalonia include CLIL training.