Sixth International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education: Connecting Research and Practice Across Contexts

Discussion Session (1 hour)

Spanish

One-Way Developmental Bilingual Education

An interactive discussion exploring a grassroots Spanish heritage language program, Immersion for Spanish Language Acquisition (ISLA), and its influence in shaping cultural identity and literacy development of the Hispanic families it serves through cultural socialization and familism. This research takes an in-depth look at the processes of promoting cultural competence and pride in Hispanic youth.  

Benavides Research Support is in the process of completing an exploratory study researching the experiences and perspectives of the Hispanic community participating in ISLA (Immersion for Spanish Language Acquisition); a grassroots Spanish heritage language program. Through our study we are looking to gain greater insight into the influence of ISLA on students’ and their parents’ Spanish literacy and cultural identity development. In using the alternation theory as our theoretical framework we are finding that ISLA functions as an acculturation facilitator by promoting bicultural competency in both parent and child through cultural socialization and familism.

ISLA is a non-profit heritage language literacy program created with the intent of supporting the heritage Spanish-speaking population in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. As a heritage program, one of ISLA’s goals is to strengthen personal and familial cultural agency by encouraging ethnic and lingual pride through a culturally responsive curriculum. ISLA’s curriculum and pedagogical practices were designed to entail the wide variety of cultures, languages, customs, indigenous knowledge and beliefs of our Latin American heritage students and their families. Cultural awareness and competence are a high priority for the ISLA community, therefore it is embedded into every aspect of the curriculum. The curriculum is based on student centered learning, is solely taught in Spanish and focuses on four conceptual units: Our Culture and History; Ourselves; Our Systems; and Our Natural World.

ISLA is a center of support for the entire family providing parents English classes, guidance, and access to valuable resources. The parents’ group shares different skills and cultural knowledge that they then use to further the program through fundraising strategies. In addition, parent participation is required with “Tiempo Cultural” which brings parents into the classroom to pass down knowledge, stories, or histories from their cultural heritage.