Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Designing a Comprehensive Curriculum for Advanced Spanish Heritage Learners: Contributions from the Multiliteracies Framework

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Multiliteracies Pedagogy and Language Learning

Abstract

This case study describes the curriculum design and results of an advanced college-level course for Spanish heritage students based on the tenets of Learning by Design. The goal of this class was to strengthen students’ oral and written Spanish skills and to develop their socio-cultural and linguistic awareness. Seven students participated in the study. Data were based on the participants’ initial and final self-evaluations, the tracking of their reading progress, their multimodal art projects, and their written reflections on the meaning of Spanish in their lives. The results showed the benefits of the framework used for the strengthening of heritage learners’ Spanish as well as for their personal growth and reaffirmation of their ethnolinguistic identity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Funding for this international and interdisciplinary collaborative research project was granted by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University. The project started in May 2013 and ended in December of the same year, and it included three meetings: two in Mexico City and one in Cambridge, Mass. The overall objective of this collaborative project was to consolidate a Harvard University-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) team that would contribute to the development of resources for supporting Spanish literacy skills in Latino students through the design of the online reading program LIHL. Since its first implementation in 2013, students taking this course have had free access to the software LIHL thanks to the generous support of LI authors.

  2. 2.

    Some of the artists included in the course were José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Fernando Botero, Santa Barraza, Esther Hernandez, Alma Lopez, and George Yepes, among others.

References

  • Achugar, M., and M. Cecilia Colombi. 2008. Systemic Functional Linguistic Explorations into the Longitudinal Study of Advanced Capacities. In The Longitudinal Study of Advanced L2 Capacities, ed. Lourdes Ortega and Heidi Byrnes, 36–57. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. 2012. Performance Descriptors for Language Learners. Alexandria: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aparicio, Frances R. 1997. La enseñanza del español para hispanohablantes y la pedagogía multicultural. In La enseñanza del español a hispanohablantes, ed. M. Cecilia Colombi and Francisco X. Alarcón, 222–232. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaudrie, Sara M. 2012. Introduction: Development in Spanish Heritage Language Placement. Heritage Language Journal. Special Issue on Spanish Assessment 9 (1): i–xi.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016. Advances in Spanish Heritage Language Assessment: Research and Instructional Considerations. In Advances in Spanish as a Heritage Language, ed. Cabo Diego Pascual y, 143–158. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Beaudrie, Sara M., Cynthia Ducar, and Kim Potowski. 2014. Heritage Language Teaching: Research and Practice. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhatia, Vijay K. 1999. Integrating Products, Processes, and Participants in Professional Writing. In Writing: Texts, Processes and Practices, ed. Christopher N. Candlin and Ken Hyland, 21–39. London: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bordieu, Pierre. 1991. Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, Jerome. 1983. Child’s Talk: Learning to Use Language. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carreira, María. 2000. Validating and Promoting Spanish in the United States: Lessons from Linguistic Science. Bilingual Research Journal 24 (4): 423–442. doi:10.1080/15235882.2000.10162776.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012. Meeting the Needs of Heritage Language Learners: Approaches, Strategies, and Research. In Spanish as a Heritage Language in the United States: The State of the Field, ed. Sara M. Beaudrie and Marta Fairclough, 223–240. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carreira, María, and Tom Beeman. 2014. Voces. Latino Students on Life in the United States. Santa Barbara: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colombi, M. Cecilia. 1994. Perfil del discurso escrito en textos hispanohablantes: Teoría y práctica. In La enseñanza del español a hispanohablantes, ed. M. Cecilia Colombi and Francisco X. Alarcón, 175–189. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2003. Un enfoque functional para la enseñanza del ensayo expositivo. In Mi lengua: Spanish as a Heritage Language in the United States, ed. Ana Roca and M. Cecilia Colombi, 78–95. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012. Advanced Biliteracy Development in Spanish. In Spanish as a Heritage Language in the United States: The State of the Field, ed. Sara M. Beaudrie and Marta Fairclough, 241–258. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2015. Academic and Cultural Literacy for Heritage Speakers of Spanish: A Case Study of Latin@ Students in California. Linguistics and Education 32 (Part A): 5–15. doi:10.1016/j.linged.2015.05.006.

  • Cope, Bill, and Mary Kalantzis. 2009. Multiliteracies: New Literacies, New Learning. Pedagogies: An International Journal 4: 164–195. doi:10.1080/15544800903076044.

  • ———. 2015. The Things You Do to Know: An Introduction to the Pedagogy of Multiliteracies. In A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Learning by Design, ed. Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis, 1–36. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairclough, Marta. 2012. Language Assessment: Key Theoretical Considerations in the Academic Placement of Spanish Heritage Language Learners. In Spanish as Heritage Language in the United States: The State of the Field, ed. Sara M. Beaudrie and Marta Fairclough, 259–278. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flores, Juan. 2000. From Bomba to Hip-Hop. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flores, Rosa, and Araceli Otero. 2013. Lectura inteligente: leyendo psicología, un software educativo para apoyar la prevención del fracaso escolar. In Tercera conferencia latinoamericana sobre el abandono en la educación superior, ed. J. Arriaga, 667–675. Madrid: EU.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flores, Rosa, A. Otero, M. Lavallée, and F. Otero. 2010. Lectura Inteligente: un software para apoyar la formación de lectores en la escuela secundaria. Mexico: Facultad de psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia en Tecnología (CONACYT).

    Google Scholar 

  • Flores, Rosa, J.E. Jiménez, and E. García. 2015. Adolescentes pobres lectores: evaluación de procesos cognoscitivos básicos. Revista electrónica de investigación educativa 17 (2). http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S160740412015000200003&lng=es&tlng=es

  • Freire, Paulo. 1970. Cultural Action and Conscientization. Harvard Educational Review 40 (3): 452–477. doi:10.17763/haer.40.3.h76250x720j43175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2005. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 30th Anniversary Edition. Trans. M.B. Ramos. New York: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freire, Paulo, and Donaldo Macedo. 1995. A Dialogue: Culture, Language, and Race. Harvard Educational Review 65 (3): 377–403. doi:10.17763/haer.65.3.12g1923330p1xhj8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giroux, Henry A. 1991. Postmodernism as Border Pedagogy. In Postmodernism, Feminism, and Cultural Politics: Redrawing Educational Boundaries, ed. Henry A. Giroux, 217–256. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldenberg, Claude. 1991. Instructional Conversations and Their Classroom Applications. NCRCDSLL Educational Practice Reports, National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning. Berkeley: UC Berkeley. http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/6q72k3k9

  • González, Norma, Luis C. Moll, and Cathy Amanti. 2005. Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities, and Classrooms. New York: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halliday, M.A.K. 1994. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. 2nd ed. London: Edward Arnold.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halliday, M.A.K., and Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen. 2014. Introduction to Functional Grammar. 4th ed. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • He, Agnes W. 2014. Identity Construction Throughout the Life Cycle. In Handbook of Heritage and Community Languages in the United States: Research, Educational Practice, and Policy, ed. Terrence G. Wiley, Joy Kreeft Peyton, Donna Christian, Sarah Catherine K. Moore, and Na Liu, 324–332. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016. Across Generations and Geographies: Communication in Chinese Heritage Language Speaking Households. In Multilingualism in the Chinese Diaspora Worldwide, ed. Li Wei, 293–311. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Healy, Annah. 2008. Multiliteracies and Diversity in Education. Oxford: Oxford University Press/.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalantzis, Mary, and Bill Cope. 2012. New Learning: A Charter for Change in Education. Critical Studies in Education 53 (1): 83–94. doi:10.1080/17508487.2012.635669.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalantzis, Mary, Bill Cope, and Ann Cooland. 2010. A Multiliteracies Perspective on the New Literacies. In The New Literacies: Multiple Perspectives on Research and Practice, ed. Elizabeth A. Baker, 61–87. New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalantzis, Mary, Bill Cope, Eveline Chan, and Leánne Dellay-Trim. 2016. Literacies. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kern, Richard. 2004. Literacy and Advanced Foreign Language Learning: Rethinking the Curriculum. In Advanced Foreign Language Learning: A Challenge to College Programs, ed. Heidi Byrnes and Hiram H. Maxim, 2–18. Boston: Heinle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacorte, Manel. 2016. Teacher Development in Heritage Language Education. In Innovative Strategies for Heritage Language Teaching: A Practical Guide for the Classroom, ed. Marta Fairclough and Sara Beaudrie, 99–122. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lave, Jean, and Etienne Wenger. 1991. Situated Learning. Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Leeman, Jennifer. 2005. Engaging Critical Pedagogy: Spanish for Native Speakers. Foreign Language Annals 38 (1): 35–45. doi:10.1111/j.1944-9720.2005.tb02451.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leeman, Jennifer, and Lisa Rabin. 2007. Reading Language: Critical Perspectives for the Literature Classroom. Hispania 90 (2): 304–315.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leeman, Jennifer, and Ellen J. Serafini. 2016. Sociolinguistics for Heritage Language Educators and Students: A Model for Critical Translingual Competence. In Innovative Strategies for Heritage Language Teaching: A Practical Guide for the Classroom, ed. Marta Fairclough and Sara Beaudrie, 56–79. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, Andrew. 2014. The First Decade of the Heritage Language Journal: A Retrospective View of Research on Heritage Languages. Editorial comment in Heritage Language Journal 11: 224–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martínez, Glenn. 2005. Genres and Genre Chains: Post-Process Perspectives on HL Writing. Southwest Journal of Linguistics 24 (1 & 2): 79–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016. Goals and Beyond in Heritage Language Education: From Competencies to Capabilities. In Innovative Strategies for Heritage Language Teaching: A Practical Guide for the Classroom, ed. Marta Fairclough and Sara Beaudrie, 39–55. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parra, María Luisa. 2013. Expanding Language and Cultural Competence in Advanced Heritage- and Foreign-Language Learners Through Community Engagement and Work with the Arts. Heritage Language Journal 10 (2): 115–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2014. Strengthening Our Teaching Community: Consolidating a ‘Signature Pedagogy’ for the Teaching of Spanish as Heritage Language. In Rethinking Heritage Language Education, ed. Peter P. Trifonas and Themistoklis Aravossitas, 213–236. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016a. Critical Approaches to Heritage Language Instruction. In Innovative Strategies for Heritage Language Teaching: A Practical Guide for the Classroom, ed. Marta Fairclough and Sara Beaudrie, 166–190. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016b. Understanding Identity among Spanish Heritage Learners: An Interdisciplinary Endeavor. In Advances in Spanish as a Heritage Language, ed. Cabo Diego Pascual y, 177–204. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Parra, María Luisa, and Elvira G. Di Fabio. 2016. Languages in Partnership with the Visual Arts: Implications for Curriculum Design and Training. In Issues in Language Program Direction: Integrating the Arts: Creative Thinking About FL Curricula and Language Program Direction, ed. Lisa Parkes, Colleen Ryan, and Stacey Katz-Bourns, 11–36. Boston: Cengage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potowski, Kim, and María Carreira. 2004. Towards Teacher Development and National Standards for Spanish as a Heritage Language. Foreign Language Annals 37 (3): 427–437. doi:10.1111/j.1944-9720.2004.tb02700.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samaniego, Malena, and Chantelle Warner. 2016. Designing Meaning in Inherited Languages: A Multiliteracies Approach to HL Instruction. In Innovative Strategies for Heritage Language Teaching: A Practical Guide for the Classroom, ed. Marta Fairclough and Sara M. Beaudrie, 191–213. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulman, Lee S. 2005. Signature Pedagogies in the Professions. Deadalus 134 (3): 52–59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20027998

  • Torres, Julio, and D. Pascual y Cabo. 2017. What’s Next?: Heritage Language Learners Shape New Paths in Spanish Teaching. Hispania (Forthcoming).

    Google Scholar 

  • Valdés, Guadalupe. 2001. Heritage Language Students: Profiles and Possibilities. In Heritage Languages in America: Preserving a National Resource, ed. Joy Kreeft Peyton, Donald A. Ranard, and Scott McGinnis, 37–77. McHenry: Delta Systems.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, David, Jerome Bruner, and Gail Ross. 1976. The Role of Tutoring in Problem Solving Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 17 (2): 89–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zentella, Ana Celia. 1997. Growing Up Bilingual: Puerto Rican Children in New York. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    María Luisa Parra

  2. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

    Araceli Otero & Rosa Flores

  3. Laval University, Québec, Canada

    Marguerite Lavallée

Authors
  1. María Luisa Parra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Araceli Otero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rosa Flores
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Marguerite Lavallée
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

    Gabriela C. Zapata

  2. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Manel Lacorte

Appendix

Appendix

Solicitud para el curso

Por favor completa, lo más que puedas en español, el siguiente formulario y envíaselo a (NOMBRE) (FECHA).

Nombre: ________________________________________________________

Correo electrónico: ________________________________________________

Año que cursas: ___________________________________________________

Concentración: ____________________________________________________

¿De dónde es el español que sabes? (Escribe el país o estado)

  1. 1.

    ¿Has tomado los cursos de primer año de español en el Departamento de Romance Languages and Literatures? Sí No

    ¿Cuáles? ____________________________________________________________

  2. 2.

    ¿Cuál es tu motivación para tomar este curso? ¿Qué esperas aprender en él?

  3. 3.

    Biografía lingüística. Describe tu historia con el español y el inglés: ¿Cómo los aprendiste? ¿Dónde y con quién hablas estos idiomas ahora? ¿Para qué usas el español y para qué usas el inglés? ¿Cómo te sientes hablando en español y cómo te sientes hablando en inglés? ¿Sabes otros idiomas?

  4. 4.

    Autoevaluación. Háblanos de tus habilidades para hablar, leer y escribir en español. Marca el número que mejor represente cómo te sientes tú:

Habilidad

l

Mal

2

3

Regular

4

5

Muy bien

Comunicarme con familia y amigos

     

Hacer presentaciones en la escuela

     

Leer textos sencillos (revistas, cuentos o novelas sencillas)

     

Leer textos de literatura y académicos

     

Escribir correos electrónicos y cartas a familiares y amigos

     

Escribir ensayos académicos

     
  1. 5.

    Escribe 3 cosas específicas o puntos gramaticales que quieras aprender en el curso (por ejemplo, reglas de acentuación, ortografía, los usos de pretérito/imperfecto, subjuntivo, otros)

  2. 6.

    ¿Qué temas te interesan más o son tus favoritos sobre la cultura de la comunidad Latina? (por ejemplo, la historia y la relación de Latinoamérica con Estados Unidos, las tradiciones, la comida, la música, los Latinos en los medios de comunicación, el bilingüismo, otros)

  3. 7.

    ¿Cuáles son tus intereses personales? (deportes, familia, comunidad, la historia, el medio ambiente…)

  4. 8.

    ¿Tienes alguna habilidad especial? (pintar, dibujar, escribir, fotografía)

  5. 9.

    ¿Cuáles son tus intereses profesionales?

  6. 10.

    ¿Qué papel crees que tendrá el español en tu vida futura?

    ¿Algo más que quieras compartir?

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Parra, M.L., Otero, A., Flores, R., Lavallée, M. (2018). Designing a Comprehensive Curriculum for Advanced Spanish Heritage Learners: Contributions from the Multiliteracies Framework. In: Zapata, G., Lacorte, M. (eds) Multiliteracies Pedagogy and Language Learning . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63103-5_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63103-5_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63102-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63103-5

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation