ABSTRACT

As Spanish heritage courses multiply all over the United States, the need to reexamine the curriculum and pedagogical approaches that are most appropriate to meet instructional goals is becoming increasingly pressing. Although several researchers have called for developing students’ critical language awareness (CLA) in the Spanish heritage classroom, this model has yet to make its way fully into the curriculum. A CLA approach is essential to help students become aware of issues of language and power and the privileging of certain dialects over others. Spanish language maintenance in the United States cannot be achieved unless learners develop this awareness in order to challenge dominant language ideologies that have been reproduced through education. This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a four-module curriculum designed to develop Spanish heritage learners’ CLA. The modules address (1) language variation and diversity; (2) language ideologies and linguistic prejudice; (3) Spanish in the United States and bilingualism; and (4) language maintenance. Pretest and posttest results show the curriculum effectively improved students’ level of CLA. Pedagogical implications and recommendations are discussed.

摘要

随着西班牙的遗产课程在美国各地兴起，重新审查最适合实现教学目标的课程和教学方法的需求变得越来越紧迫。尽管一些研究人员呼吁在西班牙传统课堂中培养学生的关键语言意识（CLA），但该模型尚未完全融入课程中。CLA方法对于帮助学生了解语言和权力问题以及某些方言相对于其他方言的特权至关重要。除非学习者发展这种意识以挑战通过教育复制的主流语言意识形态，否则在美国无法维持西班牙语。本文介绍了设计，实现，评估旨在发展西班牙传统学习者CLA的四模块课程。这些模块解决（1）语言变化和多样性；（2）语言意识形态和语言偏见；（3）美国的西班牙语和双语；（4）语言维护。前测和后测结果表明，该课程有效地提高了学生的CLA水平。讨论了教学的意义和建议。