Learning and Not Learning in the Heritage Language Classroom

Provides unique and frank insights into Mexican-origin student engagement with and resistance to learning Spanish as a heritage language

This book examines the first year of a charter high school and presents a case-study of compulsory Spanish heritage language instruction with both a dominant and non-dominant Spanish teacher. The study also follows the same students to their humanities-English class, bringing into focus what works and what does not with this group of learners.

Kimberly Adilia Helmer is a Teaching Professor in the Writing Program at the University of California Santa Cruz, USA. Her research interests include Latino/a student engagement in learning and the pedagogies that support that learning; multilingual writers and writing; and English for Academic Purposes.

Kimberly Adilia Helmer is a Teaching Professor in the Writing Program at the University of California Santa Cruz, USA. Her research interests include Latino/a student engagement in learning and the pedagogies that support that learning; multilingual writers and writing; and English for Academic Purposes.

In this compelling ethnographic portrait of the challenges of heritage language study, Helmer exposes the intricate interplay of identity, community and institutionality through the critical conceptual lens of resistance. Her artfully woven narrative not only sheds intimate light on the social and political situation of the nation’s burgeoning young Latinx population but on the possibilities for educational reform in general.

This book deftly demonstrates why teachers of heritage speakers must be culturally and linguistically sensitive, utilize students’ strengths and community knowledge, and engage critically via relevant materials. Readers come away understanding how doing otherwise can lead to exacerbation of societal power imbalances and student non-participation. Important cautionaries for teacher professional development abound.