Papers by Claudia Holguín Mendoza
Languages, 2024
This study examined different degrees of awareness regarding the stigmatization of Southern Calif... more This study examined different degrees of awareness regarding the stigmatization of Southern California (SoCal) Spanish across four groups of Spanish–English bilinguals from Southern California (n = 87). The participants were presented with Spanish sentences and asked to decide which profile of speaker would likely express that sentence, given six options, such as: “someone living in Los Angeles/SoCal who grew up in Mexico” or “a Spanish-English bilingual who grew up in Los Angeles/SoCal”. Experimental stimuli included seven different linguistic categories of stigmatization, including English contact forms. The participants tended to attribute the stigmatized forms to bilinguals who grew up in Southern California. Central Colloquial and Taboo categories were more salient and perceived as forms used by people in Mexico. In contrast, English borrowings and redundancies seemed to be recognized by the participants, particularly for simultaneous bilinguals who grew up in Southern California, as salient forms of an identified Southern California Spanish variety. The results are interpreted within Exemplar Theory, with certain stigmatized forms indexing “Mexican Spanish” exemplars, and English borrowings identified as exemplars of SoCal Spanish. We advocate for usage-based approaches to understanding language perceptions and critical approaches to interrogating academic discourses.
Digital Flux: Linguistic Justice and Minoritized Languages, 2024
This chapter is situated within the complex and changing context of Spanish language education in... more This chapter is situated within the complex and changing context of Spanish language education in the U.S. and is an answer to the present-day call for changing paradigms in Spanish language scholarship and teaching (e.g., Valdés 2017; Charity Hudley & Flores 2022). Our contribution addresses crucial matters related to minoritized Latinx Spanish students in the U.S. who have historically faced many struggles in relation to their identities as well as their cultural and linguistic practices. We argue that it is our responsibility as educators to promote student agency and social justice in the current historical context. For this purpose, this paper examines the state of critical language education, particularly in Spanish language instruction in the United States. It presents an analytical framework that suggests a way in which transforming language curriculum is possible through critical literacy, including antiracist approaches that focus on critical historicity and reflexivity. And it includes an example of how scholars and educators can engage in class reflections that promote antiracist critical literacy in their courses and programs through the Critical Sociocultural Linguistic Literacy (CriSoLL) framework (Holguín Mendoza, 2022).
Journal of Latinos and Education
This study examines how Latina students attending a predominantly white university in the Pacific... more This study examines how Latina students attending a predominantly white university in the Pacific Northwestern United States describe their academic and social wellbeing in relation to their racial subjectivities and the raciallycharged campus interactions they have experienced. Critical Race Theory and Latina/o Critical Race Theory help us interpret how these students assert the authenticity of their identities in ways that either validate or contest the whiteness that tacitly frames so many aspects of their academic and social lives. These findings open a conversation on a subject that is taboo within Latinx communities and largely invisible within Predominantly White Institutions: how simultaneous claims to Latinx belonging and white privilege play into systemic racism on campus and throughout the U.S.
Heritage Speakers of Spanish and Study Abroad, 2021
Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 2017
This study investigated the experiences of self-identified Latina/o students at a flagship state ... more This study investigated the experiences of self-identified Latina/o students at a flagship state university. From a university-provided list of self-identified Latina/o undergraduate students, 117 responded to an online survey and 10 elected to participate in follow-up interviews. Students were asked about their participation in on-campus student clubs and organizations as well as interactions with faculty and staff. Nora’s student engagement model framed the qualitative exploration of three emerging themes, students’ levels of engagement in student organizations, their perceptions of levels of faculty support and accessibility, and their views about faculty and staff’s understandings of the unique and diverse roles of Latina/o students. Implications for university administrators, faculty, and staff are discussed.
Identities, 2011
This article analyzes popular narratives surrounding the theme of drug lords in the Mexican borde... more This article analyzes popular narratives surrounding the theme of drug lords in the Mexican border city of Juarez and their multifaceted social, ideological, and material effects. This analysis takes into consideration the historical context of eruptions of violence that Juarez has endured in the last few years. Complex formations of the Mexican identity are now being reformulated in hierarchical, gendered,
The American Historian, 2022
Claudia Holguín Mendoza, Jorge Leal, and Julie M. Weise share their experience developing the bil... more Claudia Holguín Mendoza, Jorge Leal, and Julie M. Weise share their experience developing the bilingual course “Latinos in America” that “engages a broad range of students in interpreting historical primary sources in Spanish and Spanglish. Building upon the idea that students with some high-school and college-level Spanish instruction along with Spanish heritage language speakers could engage in “high-level analysis of Spanish and Spanglish primary sources and original texts” that would greatly enrich historical learning, interpretation, and analysis, but also had the “radical potential to reorient classroom power dynamics.” Both scholarship in the field of Spanish as Heritage Language education and the authors’ classroom experience illustrate how a bilingual approach to teaching Latinx Studies “works against racist narratives and class-based hierarchies that have expressed themselves linguistically in both the United States and Latin America.” Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and OpenOregon, all of us can find primary sources, lesson plans, worksheets, and even sample assessments are available alongside instructor-facing videos at teachspanglish.org.
Applied Psycholinguistics, 2023
Recent years have seen an increased interest in the study of heritage language bilinguals. Howeve... more Recent years have seen an increased interest in the study of heritage language bilinguals. However, much of the research on heritage bilingualism is fraught with deficit framing. In this article, we demonstrate how many of the assumptions that underlie this growing field of research and the way that heritage speakers are positioned as research subjects reveal ideologies that center and value monolingualism and whiteness. We problematize a number of ways in which these ideologies commonly show up in the frameworks and methodologies used in psycholinguistics to study this population. We advocate for frameworks such as usage-based linguistics and multicompetence that center the multidimensional experiences of bilinguals and embrace nuance and complexity. We call on the research community to examine their research designs and theories to dismantle the systems that maintain heritage bilingualism at the margins of bilingualism research.
Heritage Language Teaching: Critical Language Awareness Perspectives for Research and Pedagogy, 2022
Outcomes of University Spanish Heritage Language Instruction in the United States, 2022
In this chapter, I first discuss current understanding of style and register, as
well as prestige... more In this chapter, I first discuss current understanding of style and register, as
well as prestige and stigma, and the way that these are related to, but distinct
from, questions of formality. Next, I describe a critical pedagogical SHL curriculum that incorporates Critical Language Awareness (CLA) of these sociolinguistic constructs. Thus, I present the results from a qualitative study utilizing an attitudinal survey to investigate students’ sociolinguistic attitudes during and after completing the two-course SHL sequence in a CLA-based
SHL program. The qualitative results from the attitudinal survey reveal that since the beginning stages of the program, students (n = 33) were able to differentiate categories of social stigmatization among particular linguistic forms. In addition, the data indicate that after students (n = 31) took more than one SHL course, there was an attitudinal shift from dominant sociolinguistic and culture ideologies to a deeper understanding of social meanings and behaviors informing language use and social perceptions. These results have profound implications for SHL education; they underscore the benefits of critical pedagogies that incorporate CLA combined with careful attention to students’ linguistic confidence and self-esteem.
Heritage Speakers of Spanish in study abroad, 2021
Journal of Latinos in Education, 2021
This study examines how Latina students attending a predominantly white university in the Pacific... more This study examines how Latina students attending a predominantly white university in the Pacific Northwestern United States describe their academic and social wellbeing in relation to their racial subjectivities and the raciallycharged campus interactions they have experienced. Critical Race Theory and Latina/o Critical Race Theory help us interpret how these students assert the authenticity of their identities in ways that either validate or contest the whiteness that tacitly frames so many aspects of their academic and social lives. These findings open a conversation on a subject that is taboo within Latinx communities and largely invisible within Predominantly White Institutions: how simultaneous claims to Latinx belonging and white privilege play into systemic racism on campus and throughout the U.S.
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 2016
This study centers on two Spanish language discourse markers: así in the Spanish-English contact ... more This study centers on two Spanish language discourse markers: así in the Spanish-English contact area along the U.S.-Mexico border and vuelta, a discourse marker used in Andean Spanish which is in contact with Ecuadorian Quichua. Applying Relevance Theory, we observe how these markers convey emergent pragmatic and intersubjective functions. Vuelta is able to function as an enumerator indexing iterativity and as a quotative framing indirect speech. Intersubjectively, it frames discourse to be read as either proud, persistent, or annoying. Así is associated with particular interactional stances of solidarity and politeness. Frequently used by young women signaling prestige, femininity, and socioeconomic status, así indexes values and cultural practices similar to middle-class lifestyles from the U.S. This study argues that in order to understand linguistic permeability and interference in both of these uses, we must first understand speakers' communicative and social needs within their bilingual community.
Resumen: Este estudio se centra en dos marcadores discursivos en situaciones de contacto: el así en el español hablado en la frontera de México y los Estados Unidos en contacto con el inglés, y el marcador discursivo vuelta utilizado en el español andino en contacto con el quichua en Ecuador. Utilizamos el marco de la teoría de la relevancia y observamos cómo estas partículas se comportan como marcadores pragmáticos con funciones intersubjetivas. Vuelta funciona como enumerador indicando ciclos de iteratividad y para enmarcar citaciones en
International Multilingual Research Journal, 2018
Frontera Norte, 2018
Sociolinguistic Capital and Fresa Identity Formations on the U.S.-Mexico Border/Capital socioling... more Sociolinguistic Capital and Fresa Identity Formations on the U.S.-Mexico Border/Capital sociolingüístico y formaciones de identidad fresa en la frontera entre México y Estados Unidos.
Books by Claudia Holguín Mendoza
The American Historian, 2022
Teach in Spanglish (teachinspanglish.org) is founded on a simple idea: while just a small fractio... more Teach in Spanglish (teachinspanglish.org) is founded on a simple idea: while just a small fraction of today’s college students will progress to the high-level, all-in-Spanish courses offered by language departments, more than two-thirds enter college with the ability to understand Spanish when given context in English, support from their instructor, and time. Over nearly a decade in the classroom, our work has shown that students who took Spanish for at least two years in high school, at least one year in college, and/or who were raised in a bilingual environment (Spanish as a Heritage Language speakers, or SHL) can, with proper support, engage in high-level analysis of Spanish and Spanglish primary sources and original texts, utilizing insights from linguistics to both structure the classroom experience and guide students in their engagement.
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Papers by Claudia Holguín Mendoza
well as prestige and stigma, and the way that these are related to, but distinct
from, questions of formality. Next, I describe a critical pedagogical SHL curriculum that incorporates Critical Language Awareness (CLA) of these sociolinguistic constructs. Thus, I present the results from a qualitative study utilizing an attitudinal survey to investigate students’ sociolinguistic attitudes during and after completing the two-course SHL sequence in a CLA-based
SHL program. The qualitative results from the attitudinal survey reveal that since the beginning stages of the program, students (n = 33) were able to differentiate categories of social stigmatization among particular linguistic forms. In addition, the data indicate that after students (n = 31) took more than one SHL course, there was an attitudinal shift from dominant sociolinguistic and culture ideologies to a deeper understanding of social meanings and behaviors informing language use and social perceptions. These results have profound implications for SHL education; they underscore the benefits of critical pedagogies that incorporate CLA combined with careful attention to students’ linguistic confidence and self-esteem.
Resumen: Este estudio se centra en dos marcadores discursivos en situaciones de contacto: el así en el español hablado en la frontera de México y los Estados Unidos en contacto con el inglés, y el marcador discursivo vuelta utilizado en el español andino en contacto con el quichua en Ecuador. Utilizamos el marco de la teoría de la relevancia y observamos cómo estas partículas se comportan como marcadores pragmáticos con funciones intersubjetivas. Vuelta funciona como enumerador indicando ciclos de iteratividad y para enmarcar citaciones en
Books by Claudia Holguín Mendoza
well as prestige and stigma, and the way that these are related to, but distinct
from, questions of formality. Next, I describe a critical pedagogical SHL curriculum that incorporates Critical Language Awareness (CLA) of these sociolinguistic constructs. Thus, I present the results from a qualitative study utilizing an attitudinal survey to investigate students’ sociolinguistic attitudes during and after completing the two-course SHL sequence in a CLA-based
SHL program. The qualitative results from the attitudinal survey reveal that since the beginning stages of the program, students (n = 33) were able to differentiate categories of social stigmatization among particular linguistic forms. In addition, the data indicate that after students (n = 31) took more than one SHL course, there was an attitudinal shift from dominant sociolinguistic and culture ideologies to a deeper understanding of social meanings and behaviors informing language use and social perceptions. These results have profound implications for SHL education; they underscore the benefits of critical pedagogies that incorporate CLA combined with careful attention to students’ linguistic confidence and self-esteem.
Resumen: Este estudio se centra en dos marcadores discursivos en situaciones de contacto: el así en el español hablado en la frontera de México y los Estados Unidos en contacto con el inglés, y el marcador discursivo vuelta utilizado en el español andino en contacto con el quichua en Ecuador. Utilizamos el marco de la teoría de la relevancia y observamos cómo estas partículas se comportan como marcadores pragmáticos con funciones intersubjetivas. Vuelta funciona como enumerador indicando ciclos de iteratividad y para enmarcar citaciones en