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Part of
Recent Developments in Hispanic Linguistics: Studies in structure, variation, and bilingualism
Edited by Michael Gradoville and Sean McKinnon
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 41] 2024
► pp. 197–219

Chapter 8
Critical language awareness, heritage learners, and (non)dynamic language ideologies in a Spanish in the US course

ORCID logo | Texas A&M University
| University of Texas at San Antonio
Given exposure to hegemonic language ideologies from multiple sources and actors in larger society, a key component of critical language awareness (CLA) pedagogy is to raise students’ critical consciousness about them. Therefore, the present study examines how seven Spanish heritage language speakers’ language ideologies influence their linguistic self-conceptualization before and after taking a CLA-informed course on Spanish in the US. The results provide evidence that most participants either questioned dominant language ideologies (e.g., monoglossic and standard language) when it came to conceptualizing their own Spanish or directly challenged them in their daily lives after completing the course. However, some participant reflections expressed hegemonic language ideologies at the end of the semester, which mirrors findings from previous research that measure critical awareness post-instruction.
Keywords: critical language awareness, language ideologies, Spanish as a heritage language, Spanish in the US
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Language ideologies
    • 2.2Critical language awareness
    • 2.3Measuring critical awareness
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Course design
    • 3.3Data collection and analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Challenging hegemonic language ideologies
    • 4.2From awareness to action
    • 4.3Maintaining dominant language ideologies
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
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