Developing Minority Language Resources: The Case of Spanish in California (Bilingual Education & Bilingualism, 58)

This book documents ongoing language shift to English among Latino professionals in California 67% of which studied Spanish formally in high school and 54% of which studied Spanish in college. Taking into account the recommendations about the teaching of Spanish as a heritage language made by these professionals, the book then describes current instructional practices used in the teaching of Spanish as an academic subject at the high school and university levels to “heritage” language students who, although educated entirely in English, acquired Spanish at home as their first language. The suggestions made by the Professionals concentrated almost exclusively on Spanish language maintenance (e.g., making cultural/historical connections; showing relevance and significance of language to students’ lives, teaching other subjects in Spanish, teaching legal, medical, business terms in Spanish). The study of goals currently guiding instruction for heritage speakers of Spanish at both the high school and the college levels, on the other hand, raise questions about the potential contribution of educational institutions to the maintenance and retention of Spanish among the current Spanish-speaking population of California.

Guadalupe Valdés is the Bonnie Katz Tenenbaum Professor of Education at Stanford University. Working in the area of applied linguistics, much of her work has focused on the English-Spanish bilingualism of Latinos in the United States and on discovering and describing how two languages are developed, used, and maintained by individuals who become bilingual in immigrant communities.

Joshua A. Fishman is retired Emeritus Distinguished University Research Professor (Yeshiva University and Stanford University) and a frequent award recipient, lecturer, and publisher. He is also the co-founder of the field of sociolinguistics and founding editor of The International Journal of the Sociology of Language.

Rebecca M. Chavez received a Masters degree in Language, Learning and Policy at the Stanford University School of Education. Her research interests include work-place language acquisition programs and their impact upon employee moral, language rights and institutional liases, and language as it affects access to information, legal services and effective representation within the U.S. legal system. She is currently pusuing a law degree at the University of California, Davis.

William Perez es Profesor en la Facultad de Educación de Loyola Marymount University, EE.UU. Su investigación se centra en el multilingüismo y estudios indígenas, y está particularmente interesado en la experiencia de los estudiantes indocumentados, el compromiso cívico de los jóvenes latinx indocumentados y el acceso de los latinx a la educación superior.

William Perez is Professor in the School of Education at Loyola Marymount University, USA. His research is centered in multilingualism and Indigenous studies and he is particularly interested in the experience of undocumented students, Latinx undocumented youth civic engagement and Latinx higher education access.