San Juan, Puerto Rico. Raquel Mattson-Prieto presented at the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) 2022 conference. Her presentation focused on testimonies from four focal participants of Hispanic heritage enrolled in an university intermediate-level Spanish language course. The aim of this presentation was to show how participants navigated classroom discourses that centered on the acquisition of “Standard” Spanish, which often contradicted their own experiences with non-standard varieties of Spanish. The testimonies used in this presentation underscore the practices of the classroom that promote a linguistic hierarchy among particular varieties of Spanish, whether intentionally or not, that can relegate heritage speakers’ linguistic and cultural experiences and proficiencies in Spanish to those of “novice” language learners. Professor Mattson-Prieto’s research has implications for the creation of specialized courses for heritage speakers of Spanish at the university level since their linguistic and affective needs differ dramatically from those of the L2 learner.
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