This article presents a developmental pathway for the acquisition of morphosyntactic variation. Although there is abundant evidence that morphosyntactic variation is pervasive among adults, much less is known about how children acquire such variation. The literature thus far indicates that the pathway of development involves first producing only…

Standardized forms are those used by the upper-middle class, and the promotion of them is a way to benefit the institutions of power. Therefore, the ideal curriculum should promote critical language awareness (CLA) to use linguistic ideologies to the benefit of US Latinx students, and Spanish programs should work towards de-foreignizing the…

Language ideologies are a powerful way of perpetuating inequalities, as peripheralized speakers who have internalized the lack of legitimacy attributed to them often end up reproducing censure rather than resisting it. Foregrounding the affective dimension, this paper explores the role of shame as a fulcrum articulating the individual with the…

In this theoretical paper, we aim to (re)imagine and (re)conceptualize biliteracy as an anti-colonial endeavor to destabilize colonial projects that continue to permeate how language and literacy are conceptualized in schools. We build on previous scholarship that has theorized Spanish-English biliteracy and extend this scholarship by centering…

Spanish language diversity has been a reality in the United States. The Spanish language has been featured in children's books since the late 1960s and early 1970s, with much of it carelessly represented, with translation mistakes and stereotypical portrayals of English language learners. With the increase of Latinos/as authors, representations of…

Recent empirical research in sociolinguistics and social psychology has established the existence of the socio-psychological phenomena known as linguistic stereotyping (LS) and reverse linguistic stereotyping (RLS), which have an implicit or unconscious effect on listeners' perception of speech and speakers. Despite such findings, little research…

This article emphasizes the importance of embracing and mobilizing students' linguistic practices, particularly in bilingual settings. The authors reflect on their experiences as bilingual teachers, initially correcting students' use of regional Spanish variations and translanguaging (mixing English and Spanish). However, through advanced studies,…

The paper provides an example of how immigration is constructed by receiving societies as a comprehension or language problem that requires special solutions. It focuses on the application of Easy-to-Read, a simplified register currently in expansion which addresses different groups of people with intellectual disabilities, to immigrants in Spain.…

This paper argues for bringing insights from linguistics into the world language classroom. At any level of study, such insights can add intellectual interest to the study of a target language (TL), and can also help students accept and acquire aspects of the TL that are different from their first language or that are inherently challenging. As a…

Despite the increasing number of U.S. born Latinos, placing heritage and native speakers in the Spanish curriculum is still a challenge (MacGregor-Mendoza & Moreno, 2020). The present article: (1) addresses the unique needs of heritage speakers in the Spanish curriculum; (2) problematizes traditional grammar-based placement exams; and (3)…

Translanguaging has opened up spaces to recognize the dynamic multilingualism of students in classrooms taught in dominant languages, and problematized concepts such as 'additive bilingualism'. This article aims to further explore two issues that remain little understood. First, translanguaging is often seen as simply the acknowledgement or use of…

Even though study abroad programs in Spanish-speaking countries are increasingly popular, there are hardly any programs specifically designed for Spanish heritage language learners (Beaudrie, Ducar, & Potowski, 2014). However, there are many heritage language learners who still choose a Hispanic country to study abroad. How can we as…

In this personal reflection, Sonia Nieto recounts the lessons she learned about language and literacy from learning to speak Spanish and then English; to reading and writing; and the impact of these lessons on her identity, teaching, research, and life; and, more broadly, on the fields of education and literacy.

Classrooms act as linguistic sieves when they continue to accept only dominant forms of English as the "correct" and "appropriate" language choice for all students. Students who speak other languages, such as African American Language or Spanish, are often encouraged to use those languages on the playground or at home but not…

This article builds on the foundation of the importance of students' voices and experiences in heritage language instruction and how they are rarely asked to consider their lived experiences as rich cultural and historical knowledge outside the HLL classroom.