Prof. Claudia Holguín Mendoza

Beyond Critical Language Awareness: Reflexivity and positionality for antiracist critical literacy in language education

What does transformation for social and linguistic justice look like in Spanish language teaching? What is the relationship between language education and critical literacy for social and linguistic justice? How can we achieve transformative language education on a daily basis in the classroom? In this presentation, Dr. Holguín Mendoza describes the design and implementation of a comprehensive Critical Sociocultural Linguistics Literacy approach that deconstructs and questions sociopolitical hierarchies, challenges the racialization and subordination of heritage language students’ linguistic practices, and elevates students’ voices and agency. This framework is based not only on Critical Language Awareness (CLA) but also on the consideration of identity construction through stylistic language practices, the symbolic power of language, and critical reflexivity. Examples are taken from Latinx Spanish and their relevance is explored in connection with all speakers of heritage languages. Dr. Holguín Mendoza also describes research on assessment tools that have demonstrated how comprehensive critical literacy programs have proven to be a valuable model for language education and student empowerment, and how this model can be exported to other language curricula as well.results and implications are discussed.