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Advocating for Critical Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching Spanish as a Heritage Language: Some Considerations
Author(s) -
Correa Maite
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
foreign language annals
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.258
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1944-9720
pISSN - 0015-718X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1944-9720.2011.01132.x
Subject(s) - variety (cybernetics) , heritage language , order (exchange) , linguistics , pedagogy , mathematics education , teaching method , register (sociolinguistics) , language education , psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence , philosophy , finance , economics
This article makes the case for using critical pedagogical approaches to the teaching of Spanish as a heritage language (HL). Having different language tracks is not enough: As long as HL learners hold negative linguistic attitudes about their own language variety, they will be unable and unprepared to learn successfully. First, I define who HL learners are and why they need to be in a separate track from traditional language learners. Later, I discuss the basic premises of critical pedagogy in order to recommend that HL instructors take this pedagogical approach to maximize Spanish HL learner potential. Last, I recommend the importance of providing sociolinguistic tools in order to corroborate that standard Spanish is not a replacement for local varieties but simply a register students can use once they appreciate their own language.