Spaces of Colonization and De-colonizing Possibilities in Early Spanish Education in USA

Alejandro AzocarUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison

saazocar@wisc.edu

Purpose

To deconstruct dominant and colonizing discourses that have shaped the “truth” about instruction of Spanish as a foreign language in early elementaryeducation in USA (Kindergarten, first and second grades).

Research project and Who I am as a researcher

•Multiple identities

•Insider/outsider complexities.

Spanish Education in USASpanish education = Spanish as a foreign language.

The most common foreign language that is taught inthe American educational system.

Bilingual education (English/Spanish) and SpanishEducation.

While bilingual education tends to be suppressed, Spanish education is encouraged.

The Otherness of Spanish.

Focus : Spanish instruction as a foreign language in early elementary grades (Kindergarten to second grade)

In this field, theory heavily informs practice. Theory reflects a grid of dominant discourses thatjustifies early foreign language instruction and dictates appropriate methods to teach foreign languages.

Theory => Foreign Languages for Elementary Schools (“FLES”)

I prefer to call this field “Early Spanish Education”.

The formation of subjects as a colonizing process.

-The child as a “Spanish student”.-The Spanish language, Latin-American culture and Early Spanish education.

The theory of foreign language for elementary schools has been informed by notions of child development derived from developmental psychology.

Appropriate methodologies : child-centered and play-based instruction.

Second Language Acquisition theory.

Scientific research on Second Language Acquisitionencourages learning foreign languages “early”.

“Brain research”

Colonization of Spanish in daily classroom practice

Instrumental rationality - Expectation of concretecommunicative outcomes (oral).

Standard of “connections”.Notion of Spanish as a tool for effective learning of other subject matters, e.g., math and sciences.

Spanish is a teachable linguistic entity= vocabulary, grammar and “culture”. This technical (and dominant) vision of the language suppresses feelings, emotions and meanings of the “Other”.

Colonization of Spanish by Spanish teachers.

Who teaches Spanish as a foreign language?Mostly while, middle class women who have learned Spanish as a foreign language in the United States.

Little or no self-exploration of who they are as“cultural beings”.

Concrete and pre-determined vision of what Spanish is, and the possibilities and impossibilities in Early Spanish education.

Objectification and Exotization of Spanish.

Contradiction: Spanish is “loved”, and yet it isseen as something distant, different of “us”.

Culture is taught via representative objects.(Objectification), ignoring the complexity anddiversity of Latin-American cultures.

Toward a Reconceptualization of Early Spanish Education (and Spanish education in general).

Working questions:

Reggio Emilia principles.

Ethics of the encounter.

“Pedagogy of Love”: teaching language beyond the communicative (oral) purpose.