Instructors’ navigation and appropriation of gender-inclusive Spanish at a U.S. University

ABSTRACT

Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews, we examine Spanish language instructors’ interpretation and appropriation of gender-inclusive language (GIL) policy at a U.S. university. Policy appropriation is represented as a spectrum with varying degrees of policy rejection, avoidance, and engagement across and within participants. Policy rejection was based on language as an inappropriate arena for LGBTQI+ rights, prescriptivists views of language, and language authorities’ rejection of GIL; policy avoidance was based on lack of authority and prescriptive views of language; and policy engagement was rooted in ideas related to identity, representation, and inclusion. This study makes a contribution to understanding foreign language instructors’ appropriation of GIL in an Anglophone context and the complex realities and views that impact policy implementation. Since GIL is gaining prominence across the world, we suggest that foreign language departments encourage academic discussions on GIL so that instructors can make informed decisions about how and why to integrate GIL in the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language.

KEYWORDS:

• Language policy
• gender-inclusive language
• Spanish
• appropriation
• U.S. higher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Pseudonyms are used for the institution and participants.

2 Data obtained from 2021–2022 academic years.

3 Quotes are verbatim. In certain quotes, some words have been added in square brackets to help reader comprehension.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ronald Fuentes

Ronald Fuentes is Associate Professor at the University of Memphis. His research interests include language policy in education, language and identity, and immigration. He is particularly interested in how different social, political, familial, and educational decisions position individuals in multilingual and multicultural environments. His current projects include how multilinguals use agentive practices and strategies to achieve their academic and social goals in higher education settings and how these practices are shaped by immigration and transnationalism.

Inmaculada Gómez Soler

Inmaculada Gómez Soler is Assistant Professor of Spanish and Applied Linguistics at Dublin City University. Her research explores the connection between the acquisition and the pedagogy of Spanish as a foreign/heritage language in Anglophone contexts. Her most recent projects explore how teachers exert their agency to meet their goals by adapting their teaching to navigate new circumstances, contexts, and policies.