High School Spanish Heritage Language Learners’ Perceptions of their Writing Abilities

Abstract

The state of Illinois is home to the fifth largest Spanish-speaking population in the United States. The state’s board of education includes Spanish heritage language (SHL) classes among its high school elective options, and 158 out of roughly 800 total public high schools in Illinois offer SHL classes (Potowski, 2020). These programs serve SHL learners from a variety of ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds and proficiency levels (Montrul, 2015). While research has explored English language and world language learner language ideologies and beliefs about their proficiency in the target language (Garrett, 2010), fewer studies have explored this topic among adolescent heritage language (HL) learners, particularly with regard to writing (Del Carpio & Ochoa, 2022; Magaña, 2021; Martínez, 2005). This article analyzes qualitative data from an open-ended questionnaire administered to a group of SHL
students attending a suburban public high school in Illinois (N = 29) focusing on their language ideologies and beliefs about their speaking, reading, and writing abilities. With particular attention to SHL literacy, we analyze how students express uncertainty, or hedge, about their writing abilities according to their perceived audience and genre of use. We conclude this article by offering implications for HL curricular design and teacher training.