About
11
Publications
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Introduction
I am an Assistant Professor, Spanish and Director of the Spanish Heritage Language Program at the University of Washington. Also, I am a researcher, educator, and linguist activist who works in and outside the classroom towards reclaiming and promoting the use of Spanish in a society with low ethnolinguistics vitality. In my current research, I examine how university Spanish heritage language courses can contribute to narrowing the Latinx student achievement gap.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
August 2015 - August 2020
Position
- Graduate Teaching Associate
Description
- During these years at ASU, I have gained extensive teaching experience with second and heritage language as well as linguistic and graduate courses, in a variety of face-to-face, hybrid, and online formats.
Education
July 2015 - May 2021
Publications
Publications (11)
Given the fast-paced growth of Heritage Language (HL) education in higher education institutions, the goal of this research study is to analyze in what ways HL classes can reinforce the development of social consciousness in the HL students through a pedagogy anchored in ethnic studies and critical pedagogy. Ethnic studies departments across the na...
In this En Acción paper, I show how we (director, coordinator, and instructors) have fostered Latinx/e students' familial capital in the Spanish Heritage Language Program at the University of Washington. Familial capital recognizes the nurtured relationship students have with their immediate and extended family members and communities. This capital...
In 2000, I began my journey here in the United States, a country so linguistically diverse yet without significant efforts towards bilingualism and language maintenance. Two factors, the lack of resources to continue studying Spanish and my education being primarily in English, led to the loss of my literacy in Spanish. Unfortunately, I am not the...
The pandemic amplified the educational disparities that Latinx students face in virtual courses. This research project describes Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) learners’ experiences with remote instruction, and it proposes using the Community of Inquiry Model (Garrison et al., 2000) and modified versions of the Theory of Social Presence (Fayram, 2...
This study explores how principals of dual language (DL) programs draw on two dominant societal discourses around language education—linguistic instrumentalism/neoliberalism and equity/social justice—to make sense of their programs. Through in‐depth interviews with 19 principals of Spanish‐English elementary school DL programs in Arizona and Califo...
As Spanish heritage courses multiply all over the United States, the need to reexamine the curriculum and pedagogical approaches that are most appropriate to meet instructional goals is becoming increasingly pressing. Although several researchers have called for developing students’ critical language awareness (CLA) in the Spanish heritage classroo...
Spanish is the first or heritage language of many Latinxs in the U.S., whether speakers are fluent in it or not. Even though Spanish is the most frequently spoken language after English (U.S. Census), it continues to be publicly repressed and stigmatized. Since the 2016 elections, there has been an increase in anti-immigrant sentiment and Anglocent...
Critical language awareness (CLA) is increasingly identified as a central component of the Spanish heritage language (SHL) classroom (Leeman, 2005; Martínez, 2003; among others). As a minority language, SHL is subject to sociopolitical, cultural, and economic forces that devalue its status. It is devalued in the eyes of the public, as a legitimate...
