Learning for All: Addressing Issues of Access and Participation in Mixed Classes

Response 1 to "Meeting Student Needs: Integrating Spanish Heritage Language Learners into the Second Language Classroom"

Mixed classes are the most common instructional context in which heritage language (HL) learners study Spanish. From a teaching standpoint, they are also the most challenging due to the considerable differences that exist between HL and second language (L2) learners and the scarcity of pedagogical tools for addressing these differences. Many L2 textbooks include HL annotations, but this is not enough. Specialized textbooks and methodologies are needed.

The suggestions offered by Burgo speak to two general strategies that should guide instruction and the design of pedagogical materials: 1) leveraging the complementary strengths of HL and L2 learners for reciprocal learning; and 2) addressing differences between learners that undercut teaching and learning (Carreira 2016).

In terms of complementary strengths, HL learners have strong aural skills and implicit knowledge of grammar, as well as familiarity with informal registers. Second language learners have strong writing skills and explicit knowledge of grammar, and they are most familiar with formal registers. In mixed classes, this situation can translate into two very different scenarios: it can create valuable reciprocal learning opportunities or it can get in the way of teaching and learning. The difference between these two scenarios comes down to how instructors deal with the special needs and knowledge gaps of their students.

By way of illustration, it is useful to compare the conversational performance and disciplinary literacy of HL and L2 learners. Relative to HL learners, L2 learners have special needs in the area of conversational performance, particularly with spontaneous, informal language. Disciplinary literacy refers to the knowledge base, background experiences, and skills associated with a given discipline (Moje 2008). With foreign languages, this includes knowledge of grammatical terminology and concepts, as well as familiarity with classroom routines and common pedagogical interventions. Heritage language learners have less disciplinary literacy than L2 learners because they usually enter the language learning sequence somewhere beyond the first semester of study, by which time L2 learners have developed this type of knowledge (Carreira 2016). Crucially, gaps in disciplinary literacy put HL learners at a disadvantage compared to L2 learners. To this point, Torres's (2013) study of a task-based pedagogical intervention found that L2 learners were better than HL learners at recognizing the intended purpose of the task, which in the case of this particular study was learning the subjunctive. Treating this task as an authentic situation, HL learners were not focused on its purpose.

As Burgo explains, limitations such as these can create feelings of insecurity in both types of learners and interfere with the establishment of meaningful class relationships. They can also undermine learning by preventing L2 learners from engaging in communicative activities and rendering grammar instruction inaccessible to HL learners. Countering these outcomes involves equipping each learner with the knowledge and skills they need to fully participate in and derive benefit from instruction. For L2 learners, it entails previewing and practicing the language concepts that will be required to participate in communicative activities with HL learners. For HL learners, it involves preparing them to follow grammar explanations in order to benefit from form-focused activities. These kinds of interventions are best addressed in homogeneous (HL-only and L2-only) groups and should be conceived of as creating the conditions for reciprocal learning and addressing issues that undercut learning for each type of learner.

As a final point, staying focused on the big ideas behind instruction is always important, but it is all the more so in mixed classes, where the day-to-day challenges can loom large. Big ideas answer essential questions such as: Why exactly are we teaching this? What do we want our students to understand and be able to do five years from now? (Tomlinson and McTighe 2006: 32). Orienting instruction around the big ideas extends the horizon of learning beyond any instructional unit or course and directs the gaze to promoting long-term learning...