Academic peer tutors and academic biliteracy development in students of Spanish as a heritage language

ABSTRACT

This study explores the literacy development of students who speak Spanish as a heritage language and who participate in mandatory, peer-to-peer tutoring sessions outside of the classroom. We explore students’ academic development as well as their self-positioning as heritage speakers in a bilingual academic setting. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), we analyze the written production of seven bilingual students enrolled in a Native Speaker Program at a large, public university. We focus on the development of their academic language through the support of a heritage language tutor and explore the role of the peer tutor as a facilitator in this process. Additionally, we employ Appraisal Theory to analyze interviews in which the same participants explore their bilingual identities and how they position themselves interpersonally as a result of conversations held with a peer mentor, thus demonstrating the benefits of learning Spanish as a heritage language through peer-led learning in academic contexts.

RESUMEN

Este estudio explora el desarrollo de la lectoescritura de estudiantes de español como lengua heredada que participan en sesiones de tutorías individuales y obligatorias fuera de la clase. Su objeto consiste en analizar no solamente el desarrollo académico de estos estudiantes, sino también su posicionamiento como hablantes de lengua heredada en contextos profesionales bilingües. La Lingüística Sistémico-Funcional ha sido aplicada para analizar las producciones escritas de siete estudiantes inscritos en un programa de español para hablantes de herencia en una universidad pública. El análisis se centra en el desarrollo del lenguaje académico con el apoyo de los tutores y explora su rol como facilitadores a medida que los estudiantes adoptan características del lenguaje académico. Además, se utiliza la Teoría de la Valoración para analizar las entrevistas en las que los propios participantes exploran sus identidades bilingües y cómo se posicionan en el plano interpersonal a través de su colaboración con el tutor. El estudio demuestra las ventajas de las tutorías en el aprendizaje del español como lengua heredada en el ámbito académico.

KEYWORDS:

• Spanish as a heritage language
• academic literacy
• peer-to-peer tutoring
• bilingual identities
• Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)
• appraisal/evaluative language

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Español como lengua heredada
• lectoescritura
• tutorías
• identidades bilingües
• lingüística sistémica funcional
• teoría de la valoración

ORCID

Lina M. Reznicek-Parrado http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2151-0208

Notes

1 Latinx” is the term used by the authors in an effort to adhere to terminology that is inclusive of all gender representations as related to the United States’ populations with cultural and linguistic ties to Latin American and Spain.

2 At the University of California Davis, for example, and according to Spring ‘18 enrollment numbers, UC Davis has met the eligibility requirements to be designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) by enrolling at least 25 percent of its domestic undergraduate students from economically disadvantaged populations. HSI designation is given by the US Department of Education to educational institutions where Hispanic/Latinx/Chicanx students make up at least 25% of those enrolled and provides opportunities for federal funding to support student success and retention initiatives.

3 While the second author collected student’s essays and undertook the analysis, the first author worked with the same students in the collection of interviews and transcription analysis.

4 Martin and White (2005) construct three main types of possible positionings: attitudinal, dialogic and intertextual. For the purposes of this project, we limit our analysis to that of attitudinal positionings given its potential for interpersonal meaning ascribed beyond the written text.