Spanish as a Heritage Language in the United States: The State of the Field

Afterword: Future Directions for the Field of Spanish as a Heritage Language

Afterword FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR THE FIELD OF SPANISH AS A HERITAGE LANGUAGE Guadalupe Valdés, Stanford University A S THIS VOLUME MAKES PATENTLY CLEAR, research and writing focusing on heritage languages and heritage learners have increased enormously in the last two decades. This book provides an expert synthesis and a panoramic view of the various subareas and subfields that are contributing to scholars’ and practitioners’ understanding of the multiple theoretical, contextual, ideological, educational, and individual issues in what is now known as the field of Spanish as a heritage language (SHL). The book’s editors have done an outstanding job in organizing the volume, in selecting knowledgeable researchers to probe and summarize the existing literature, and in asking each chapter’s author to include an agenda for future research. It is an outstanding effort and will no doubt serve as a foundational text in the field of SHL itself as well as in the broader study of applied linguistics. In the introduction, the editors point out that the volume is intended to contribute to ‘‘the field of SHL generally and to the field of Heritage Language (HL) education within applied linguistics more narrowly.’’ For this reason, they adopt Fishman’s (2001) broad definition of an HL learner or speaker ‘‘as an individual who has a personal or familial connection to a non-majority language .’’ They note that this definition foregrounds both speakers’ connection to the language as well as the status of the language in question vis-à-vis the dominant or majority language. It also avoids invoking the language proficiency requirement embedded in Valdés’s (2001) definition of the same speakers. Nevertheless, the editors acknowledge that though the volume takes an interdisciplinary perspective on SHL research, they recognize ‘‘the central position of SHL education within the field.’’ 279 280 GUADALUPE VALDÉS From my perspective, this is an important distinction. The focus of the collection is clearly on what Cook (1992, 1996) terms ‘‘multicompetent’’ Latino speakers —that is, on speakers who use two languages in their everyday lives. Interest here is in the number of different dimensions that need to be considered in grouping or profiling this population, including the historical, educational, affective, and cultural factors that are central to its study. Additionally, the editors suggest that a thorough profiling of this population must of necessity provide details about the acquisition of varieties of both languages, the experience of language contact, and speakers’ proficiency or perception of proficiency in each of the two languages. Given this positioning, Spanish language teaching and learning are conceptualized as only one important aspect of the complex lived experiences of Latinos in this country—rather than as the central dimension of the field of SHL. The chapters in this book successfully build on the editors’ conceptualization of the field of SHL and propose key directions for future work that are congruent with this perspective. Each chapter, moreover, directly addresses educational issues. Part I, which comprises chapters 1 through 4, gives an overview of the field. In chapter 1, Rivera-Mills raises important questions about Fishman’s three-generational model of language shift and argues that the situation of US Spanish calls for a reworking of the classic intergenerational model. She argues for an alternative option that takes into account the notion of a reacquisition generation—that is, ‘‘one that takes into account the experience of the heritage speaker who seeks to develop or reacquire Spanish in formal courses.’’ From her perspective, it will be important to consider the effect of this reacquisition experience on the shift process and on the dynamics of the speech community— which, she also maintains, must be more carefully defined. In closing, she reminds readers of the need to take into consideration the lines drawn between newly arrived and established residents of Latino communities, the ever-debated use of Spanglish, and the presence of stable contact varieties of Spanish present in many communities. She urges those working in the field of Spanish as a heritage language not to collude with dominant language ideologies that view the language of Latinos as inferior. The subject of language ideologies is developed further in chapter 2, by Jennifer Leeman, which provides a synthesis of the literature on language ideologies and draws in particular from the work of Kroskrity (2004). Leeman illustrates how perspectives on, for example, European Spanish and code-switching are ideological and often remain unexamined by the very individuals who are...