Spanish Is Foreign: Heritage Speakers’ Interpretations of the Introductory Spanish Language Curriculum

Abstract

This article presents a case study of the perceptions of Spanish heritage speakers enrolled in introductory-level Spanish foreign language courses. Despite their own identities that were linked to the United States and Spanish of the Borderlands, the participants felt that the curriculum acknowledged the Spanish of Spain and foreign countries but generally failed to address or legitimate U.S. Spanish. Their interpretations of curricular messages contradicted their own experiences. Their perceptions were that Spanish is for travel, though they routinely used it in local applications; that Spanish culture exists in other countries, though they had deep family and community connections in the United States; and that Castilian Spanish is the language ideal, though their own bilingual identities were tied to U.S. Spanish. Rather than fully internalizing and accepting these positions, the participants developed a critical reaction that challenged the messages and the curriculum itself as inauthentic, inapplicable, and misaligned with their identities.

Keywords:

• curriculum
• foreign language study
• heritage speakers
• language identity
• Spanish

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank all of my research participants; this work would not be possible or meaningful without their contributions. I am also grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful suggestions; to Dr. Judith Franzak for her guidance and support during the data collection and analysis; and to the encouraging members of my writing group, Drs. Rebeca Maseda and Zeynep Kiliç.