Sociolinguistics and Heritage Language Knowledge in High School Classrooms A Social Justice Perspective

Abstract

Understanding the sociolinguistic dimensions of heritage and minority languages has been shown to have positive effects on students’ ethnolinguistic identity, academic confidence, and development of social consciousness (Dee & Penner, 2017; Holguín Mendoza, 2022; Vásquez, 2006). However, most students do not encounter the sociocultural aspects of language until they attend university, and even then, only a small number are exposed to them (Carter & Sánchez-Muñoz, 2023). This En Acción piece argues that students can and should be exposed to sociolinguistic issues, particularly those issues concerning minority and heritage languages (HL), earlier in their education and describes a pedagogical model for doing so with high school students.