Intro

The purpose of this project is to bring awareness to university Spanish language instructors on students that they may have in their classroom who are known as Heritage Spanish Speakers. Heritage Spanish Speakers are a growing population of students who grew up in a home where Spanish was spoken but received their formal education in English These students may speak a stigmatized variety of Spanish and can feel alienated in Spanish classes where traditional Spanish language pedagogy is implemented. It is important for instructors to understand the social, cultural, and linguistic profiles of these students and how their learning needs differentiates from other students. This project will help university Spanish language instructors better understand and support Heritage Spanish Speakers as well as become informed on critical approaches and classroom dynamics in mixed L2 and heritage Spanish classes in order to implement appropriate teaching strategies.