Interdisciplinary Approaches to Reconceptualizing an SHL Program in South Texas

Abstract

The field of Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL) has grown significantly in the past two decades. However, SHL programs continue to face several challenges, such as low enrollment, limited resources and support, a shortage of formally trained instructors, and both curricular and programmatic obstacles. At a mid-sized institution in the US Southwest, a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and one of the few HSIs to achieve R1 status, a growing SHL Program is housed within the Modern Languages and Literatures (MLL) Department’s Spanish Program. THIS INSTITUTION has intermittently offered SHL courses since 1973, with some gaps between course offerings extending over a decade (Pino & Pino, 2000). Within the last five years, the Spanish Program has offered a few SHL sections of the first two courses in the sequence. An evaluation of these courses revealed that their methods and materials were more reflective of Second Language (L2) instruction rather than SHL approaches. Therefore, this article first discusses the initiatives taken over the past two years to reimagine the SHL Program, aligning it with both innovative and critical advancements in the SHL field and THIS INSTITUTION’s Strategic Plan, Seal of Excelencia, and status as a Hispanic Serving Research University. Second, we detail the development of a place-based Open Educational Resource (OER) that reflects the program’s recent changes. Finally, we highlight the successes and challenges encountered during the redesign of the SHL Program.