Co-Designing Practices to Support Spanish Heritage Language Maintenance in Midwestern Communities

• In Event: Research In Progress Roundtables Session 4
  In Invited Roundtable: Cultural Issues in Education: Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Media (Table 3)

Abstract

In the Midwestern United States, while non-urban communities are seeing new growth and accommodating large numbers of recent immigrants, intergenerational language loss of the children of immigrants continues to be exacerbated by limited resources for language preservation. The situation poses significant challenges for the retention and use of heritage languages. In the context of the US, a heritage language (HL) is a minority language that holds less societal prestige than the majority language spoken in the country. This study aims to identify and understand parents' perceptions of their children's HL and culture. The investigation employs a five-step co-design approach (Cultivate, Engage, Design, Research, Produce; (Leanlab Education, n.d.)) in order to better assess how parents express these perceptions and attitudes.

Authors

• Viviana Velez Negron, University of Michigan

• Teresa Satterfield, University of Michigan