Following several calls in recent scholarship for increased attention to the study of the Central American diaspora in the United States, this article offers readings of Honduran-born author Roberto Quesada's novels "Big Banana" (1999) and "Nunca entres por Miami" (2003). Written in New York City, where he has resided since…

The present study examines the lack of representation of minority communities in the existing literature by examining the representation of Afro-Latinxs in texts and visuals in seven Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL) textbooks, and the ideologies behind these representations. Drawing upon Norman Fairclough's (1995) model for conducting Critical…

Detailing the integration of Spanish language teaching in an authentic setting, this article contributes to empirical research on the positive value of community-engaged learning in foreign language pedagogy. "Reading to Play, Playing to Read" is an innovative model for community-engaged teaching that combines learning goals from…

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…

We longitudinally investigated parental language context and infants' language experiences in relation to Dominican American and Mexican American infants' vocabularies. Mothers provided information on parental language context, comprising measures of parents' language background (i.e., childhood language) and current language use during interviews…

The importance of input factors for bilingual children's vocabulary development was investigated. Forty-seven Argentine, 42 South Korean, 51 European American, 29 Latino immigrant, 26 Japanese immigrant, and 35 Korean immigrant mothers completed checklists of their 20-month-old children's productive vocabularies. Bilingual children's vocabulary…

Decries the stereotypes and prejudices that affect U. S. relations with the Hispanic world and with its own Hispanic minorities. Points out that these attitudes also affect the study of Spanish as a foreign language and suggests means by which educators can improve the Hispanic image among Anglo Americans. (MES)

The purpose of this manual is to guide users of the nutrition education project produced by Padres Hispanos en Accion por Una Sana Generacion (Hispanic Parents in Action for a Healthy Generation). The project provides nutrition education materials to trainers who provide nutrition counseling to parents of Head Start children. The project has two…

This article discusses the complex and subtle reasons why many people of Spanish-speaking ancestry, both Latin Americans and Spaniards, like to call themselves Latinos. Among other things, this word, coined by the Mediterranean countries to resist Anglo dominance in the 19th century, is currently being used by people of Spanish-speaking ancestry…

Latin America is the most widely used of the terms, but a more precise designation, at least in scholarly usage, would be useful. Distinctions are made on the basis of language in favor of the terms in the title. A bibliographical note for further reference is appended. (AMH)

The history, culture and practices of Central America are inadequately addressed in teacher preparation and professional development across the United States, and especially in California based on the author's analysis of teacher preparation. Information about the histories, cultures and practices add to the linguistic and pedagogic knowledge-base…

The present study evaluates the discriminating ability and psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Draw-A-Person Questionnaire (DAPQ). The DAPQ is an instrument that uses both free-response and fixed-response methodologies and has been recently translated into Spanish. A group of 60 psychiatric patients of Latin American origin is…

Songs and poems with origins in Hispanic-American cultures are presented for the classroom use of Spanish teachers. Some information about the selections, their characteristics and idiosyncracies, and their specific uses in instruction is provided. (MSE)

Contrasts current pronunciation of some Spanish consonants with the teachings and theory of pronunciation manuals, advocating more realistic standards of instruction. Gives a detailed phonetic description of common variants of the sounds discussed, covering both Spanish and Latin American dialects. (MES)

This guide is intended to be a resource for teachers of the newly arrived Hispanic immigrant child. The number of children who enter U.S. schools without knowledge of English or whose first language is Spanish is growing and will continue to grow. Teachers will need to meet the challenge of educating students whose native language is not English…