Critical language awareness and L2 learners of Spanish: An action-research study

This action-research study describes a course that emphasized critical language awareness (CLA)-an understanding of how language intersects with identity and power-for additional language (L2) learners of Spanish. As L2 learners have been shown to reproduce racist and monolingual discourses, educating them to recognize and question language ideologies are crucial. First, this paper explores the current state of Spanish language curricula in the United States and how CLA is a necessary, yet missing, component of L2 Spanish instruction. Second, the article describes a course that integrated critical service learning, structured reflection, and CLA to encourage participants to reflect on their beliefs about Spanish, bilingualism, and Hispanics in the United States. Next, survey and written reflection data are presented and analyzed to investigate how participating in a critically oriented course develops L2 Spanish learners' CLA.