Spanish-speaking immigrant students, particularly those from Central America, constitute a rapidly growing subpopulation in U.S. public schools. As primary institutions for socialization, cultural learning, and academic knowledge development, schools often offer immigrant students their first experience of U.S. cultures and the English language.…

This study explored the experiences of recently arrived Latin American parents to the UK related to their children's education, to highlight how these experiences can inform educational practice. A small-scale qualitative design employed semi-structured interviews to give voice to five parents who had each arrived in London after time spent living…

The sociopolitical, sociocultural, and sociolinguistic issues many Latino immigrants face as they embark on the process of adjusting to American society have been depicted by many Hispanic American writers in the United States. Julia Álvarez's "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" attempts to raise awareness of these issues through…

This morphosyntactic dissertation study compares the use of MOOD (indicative & subjunctive) in first- and second-generation Spanish speakers in New York City. The data for this study are from a transcription of naturalistic Spanish conversations with New Yorkers of different generations, representing the six primary Spanish-speaking groups in…

This study explores the connections between language policy implementation in three Barcelona-area secondary schools and the language attitudes and behaviors of Spanish-speaking Latin American newcomers. Data were collected through interviews and ethnographic participant observation document indexes of different forms of language socialization…

This study examines a major linguistic event underway in New York City. Of its 10 million inhabitants, nearly a third are speakers of Spanish. This community is socially and linguistically diverse: Some speakers are recent arrivals from Latin America while others are lifelong New Yorkers. Some have origins in the Caribbean, the historic source of…

This article draws upon three years of interviews and participant observation research in the Chelsea Public Schools, to discuss the impact of the Chelsea Family Literacy Program on promoting Latin American immigrant mothers' involvement in their children's education. The authors present the voices of Latin American immigrant mothers who describe…

This article explores how class might be brought to the fore as an identity inscription in studies of second language learning, alongside other identity inscriptions such as gender, ethnicity and national identity, which have been the focus of rather more research. It begins by clarifying what is meant by class through a brief discussion of the…

The contact between Dominicans and Puerto Ricans is targeted for study as much for its linguistic import as for its social context. Dominican and Puerto Rican Spanish are considered varieties of Caribbean Spanish that differ only by a few phonological and syntactic patterns and a small number of lexical items. Although both varieties are heavily…

An excerpt from the "Play of the Congos," given in Congo, Spanish, and English, exemplifies the sociolinguistic features of the combined play and ritual language used by the Afro-Hispanic population in the Caribbean region of the Costa Abajo in north-central Panama. The sociolinguistic norms are an important part of the "regulation…

This investigation focuses on the literacy practices of a young Dominican immigrant woman attending a high school in the United States. Drawing from multiple bodies of research and the qualitative research genre of portraiture, the author relies on ethnographic classroom observations and interviews during one and a half years to provide a nuanced…

The Nativity Mission School in Manhattan's Lower East Side offers an alternative to public schools for poor immigrant families unable to afford tuition in local Catholic Schools, preparing students to transfer to Catholic high schools and college. Features small classes, committed teachers, extended school day/year and scholarships for graduates.…

The problems affecting the reception, adjustment, and placement of Spanish-speaking students into the Toronto school system are discussed, and include immigration patterns, Spanish values, and the Latin American school. (Author/HP)

This theme issue presents literature selections that treat the United States Hispanic experience. The selections are organized under seven headings: The Immigrant Experience, Humor and Folklore, Family and Religion, Cultural Heritage, The Spanish Woman, Obligations and Compromise, War and Death. (AMH)

Findings from a study of the status of Hispanic Americans in South Minneapolis (Minnesota) are presented. Data are from interviews with 34 individuals identified as knowledgeable about the conditions of Latinos in Minneapolis, 4 focus group meetings with an additional 46 community residents, and information from published sources about the size…