Promoting Language Maintenance Among Latino Adolescents: Additive and Subtractive Practices of Spanish Teachers

• In Event: Programs for Critical Language Development and Maintenance

Abstract

This qualitative study investigated the instructional practices of an entire Spanish language faculty at a high school in a new gateway state for immigration. The study examined additive and subtractive practices of teachers as they strived to teach Spanish to heritage language learners (HLLs) enrolled in mixed Spanish-as-foreign-language classrooms (that is, classes comprised of both HLLs and traditional foreign language learners). The study found that although at the philosophical level teachers had additive, pluralistic views of acculturation, they often opted for instructional practices that promoted subtractive acculturation and, in some cases, linguicism. This study sought to deconstruct those practices and offer recommended changes in teacher education, curriculum development, and institutional culture to promote bilingualism and language maintenance among Latino adolescents.

Author

• Linwood John Randolph, University of North Carolina - Wilmington