Introduction
Presented by Dr. Flavia Belpoliti (Texas A&M Commerce) & Dr. José Esteban Hernández (UT Rio Grande Valley)
About the presenters:
Dr. Flavia Belpoliti is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is currently an assistant professor of Spanish and the director of the Spanish Graduate Studies of the Department of Literature and Languages at Texas A&M University-Commerce. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses related to the areas of Spanish language pedagogy, teaching methods, and Hispanic linguistics. Her primary areas of research include Spanish as a second and as a heritage language, curriculum design, and Spanish sociolinguistics.
Dr. José Esteban Hernández is a professor of Hispanic linguistics at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. His research interests include sociolinguistic variation, dialect, and language contact in the US setting, and the study of discourse analysis and discourse markers. He has focused on language and identity issues under language contact situations and he has taught courses on the dynamics of language variation and change, and the sociolinguistics of the US Latino/a community.
About this module:
This module shows how essential the sociolinguistic component is in the heritage language classroom. As educators, awareness and knowledge of this subject matter will benefit your teaching, your understanding of the social context of your students, and enhance the classroom experience for the heritage language learner.
This module is organized in the following lessons:
- Lesson 1: Understanding the Social Context of our Students
- Shares statistics and data of the Hispanic population within the United States to show the diversity and social reality of the heritage language learner.
- Lesson 2: Who is the Heritage Language Learner?
- Shows the complexity of the heritage language student profile that leads to diversity in the HLL classroom.
- Lesson 3: Applying Sociolinguistics in the HLL Classroom
- Shows how to apply elements of sociolinguistics to enhance the students’ understanding and awareness of language use.
Clarification of Terms:
HL: Heritage languageHLL: Heritage Language Learner
L2: Second language
L2L: Second language learner
HL: Spanish as a Heritage Language