Word Analysis is an approach to teach second language (L2) students about cultural perspectives which are understood collectively as the ideas, values, beliefs, and experiences many native speakers have regarding cultural domains within their own cultures. Word Analysis is anchored on the relationships between language and communication, and…

An accurate portrayal of contemporary Spanish in Costa Rica necessitates the inclusion of a discussion of forms of address. Costa Rica is commonly listed among the countries that include "voseo" as part of its pronominal paradigm. The present descriptive study elucidates the sociolinguistic reality of "voseo" in Costa Rica and…

This analysis is but one small fragment of a broader project exploring conceptions of response-able Spanish bilingualism in Australian secondary education. An initial thematic analysis revealed patterns and trends in the data but overlooked the nuanced, subtle differences regarding the ways in which Spanish bilingualism might be entangled with a…

The objective of the study is to explore the possibilities of pedagogical translanguaging as a strategy to develop critical language awareness among a group of primary school students from the Basque Autonomous Community (Spain). The study is part of a broader ethnographically based research project, which was developed over two school years in…

As critical approaches to Heritage Language (HL) instruction are increasingly more widespread, it is now more pertinent than ever to conduct research on Spanish linguistic variation that reveals systematicity and refutes hegemonic notions of 'incorrectness'. This variationist study examines the use and distribution of the Preterite and Imperfect…

Hispanic college enrollment in the U.S. will surpass 4.4 million students by 2025, far exceeding the growth rate of any other racial or ethnic group. Hence, the number of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) identified by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) increased to nearly 570 in 2020 and is likely to accelerate…

This dissertation explores Spanish copular verbs, "ser" and "estar" (both 'to be' in English), in pre-adjectival contexts within two Spanish varieties: first-language (L1) Chilean speakers from Santiago (N = 29) and second-language (L2) English-speaking learners studying in Chile (N = 31). Bridging sociolinguistics and second…

This article discusses the effectiveness of Participatory Action Research-PAR to foster linguistic mudas, transformative processes among young new speakers of Basque leading to linguistic mudas (Pujolar and Gonzàlez. 2013. "Linguistic Mudes and the Deethnicization of Language Choice in Catalonia." "International Journal of Bilingual…

In a present-day global world, immigrant communities manage multiple cultural and linguistic contexts. To better understand these cross-cultural connections, and bridge the fields of linguistics and transnationalism, the present study analyzes the interconnection between language use and symbolic transnationalism among heritage speakers of…

This article extends two conversations in the heritage language (HL) scholarship: 1) the need to strengthen the linguistic self-confidence among receptive bilinguals (who are typically associated with beginning-level HL students); 2) the need for more critical explorations of receptive bilinguals' self-reported, albeit minimal, spoken Spanish in…

Scholars have advocated for critical approaches to language education (e.g., Del Valle, 2014; Leeman & Serafini, 2016), including those that promote the development of "Critical Language Awareness, CLA" (e.g., Alim, 2010; Leeman, 2018). The goal is to develop students' critical knowledge of the cultural, political, and social…

This paper examines how in-service teachers enrolled in an MA in TESOL program demonstrated critical language awareness (CLA) as they designed and implemented ethnographic action research projects anchored in funds of knowledge. The action research project aimed to introduce teachers to school-based ethnographic research and to provide an…

The present study explores how translanguaging serves as vehicle to (help) re-configure linguistic attitudinal and ideological structures in a university Spanish course for heritage speakers. Specifically, it focuses on the links between exposure to (and engagement in) classroom translanguaging and the participants' challenging of traditional…

This article presents the outcomes of a 2-year pilot study of a teaching innovation project in an English-medium instruction course on sociolinguistics, in a languages degree at a Catalan university. Following the tenets of Critical Linguistics Education, our proposal aimed at promoting the students' development of metalinguistic awareness of…

This article reports the findings of sociolinguistic research investigating the use of second-person singular pronouns in Costa Rica. The study was carried out onsite and involved 132 interviewees from all seven provinces of the country. These subjects reacted to scenarios in which they had to choose their preferred pronoun of use…