Sneak Peek: What to consider during the placement of new students into the appropriate Spanish class.
Have you encountered the difficulty of deciding where to place students who already speak Spanish? In many schools the norm is to just put them straight into Spanish I, II, or III. But, that most likely won’t be the best fit, and honestly goes against the current research. The evidence now suggests that heritage learners should be taught separately from those who are acquiring a second language. Read on to explore who should be placed in a Heritage Spanish class and why!
Why Placement Matters
When heritage or native speakers are placed into a regular-leveled Spanish classroom, the dynamic can become frustrating quite quickly. While the school counselor’s intent was likely to give them a class they could feel comfortable in, the heritage learners will be severely underserved.
It’s nearly impossible as a teacher to regularly meet the needs of beginning language learners while, at the same time, creating meaningful activities and learning tasks for students who already comprehend Spanish at a high level. We already have multiple preps, so, it would stand to reason that we wouldn’t want to try and split our preps further! It’s the classic battle of work-life balance clashing with the needs of the students.
A follow up visit to the counselor who did the placements may result in them suggesting the student be moved into a higher level of Spanish, but that’s still not best practice.
Heritage learners need a separate class where they can develop and advance their literacy skills. They deserve a course that meets them where they are at, and then challenges them to grow. As educators, we will struggle to help heritage learners feel challenged to grow if we simply lump them into classes designed for second language (L2) learners.
According to Echevarría, L., & Pascual y Cabo, D. (2023) and their article, Examining the Effects of Spanish Heritage Language Instruction in Students’ Writing Performance Over the Course of a Semester, the article indicated that students who received specific instruction designed for heritage learners had significantly improved linguistic outcomes in regard to writing.
The heritage speakers that participated in the study were divided into two groups: in one, students were enrolled in a Specific Heritage Learner class; in the other, students were not. Consistent with Potowski et al. (2009), and Montrul and Bowles (2010), their findings also showed that students who were attending Heritage Language classes achieved higher scores on a cloze test examining a number of morphosyntactic and semantic properties.
Who should be placed in a heritage language class
For starters, let’s define this out to reduce potential for confusion. Heritage learners are students who grew up with Spanish at home and/or in their community. They will be proficient at comprehending spoken Spanish, but may struggle to produce oral responses. Heritage learners do not need to have perfect responses, nor make perfect marks on an oral exam…but they will show proclivity with listening and comprehension due to their repetitive exposures to the target language throughout their lives. These are the students that should be in your heritage class. If you aren’t sure if your students are heritage speakers or native speakers, read this blog post.
Additionally, the areas of reading and writing in Spanish can often be difficult for heritage speakers. Bearing this in mind, your heritage Spanish class should focus on literacy development, in addition to preservation and celebration of language and culture.
Others may argue that their inability to read, write or speak fluently should put them back in beginning Spanish, but our purpose is to meet them where they are at, and help them grow. Putting them in Spanish I is not the answer. You want to curate a classroom dynamic that is comfortable for heritage learners to acknowledge their skill gaps without pressure or judgement. When we do this, we give them the best chance at success. Remember, this is not about separating, but rather supporting, to ensure the needs of all learners are met.
Conversely, placing heritage Spanish speakers in a Spanish I class also hinders the learning experience for L2 learners who are truly beginning their language learning journey with their first exposure to the target language. They can feel intimidated when heritage Spanish speakers are in the class and readily know the all the answers, and know them much more quickly as well. It can make an L2 learner feel behind and like there isn’t room for them to make their mistakes it would take to learn the language at their own pace.
Truly, even a level 4 or 5 Spanish class is often not the fit we are looking for either. While these class offerings would certainly come closer to the heritage student’s levels, the problem still remains that these classes are still designed with L2 learners in mind – just at a more advanced level.
Placement Test
Informal conversations and questionnaires are helpful for learning about heritage learner backgrounds and goals, as well as written tasks to gauge writing skills. This free digital comprehension assessment is one you can use to check their ability to comprehend Spanish, as well as collecting a written sample from each student.
Not only can you see their spelling abilities, but also the overarching components of their overall writing ability…how to punctuate…how to put a coherent paragraph together. You won’t know where you’re trying to get your students, until you know their starting point.
A soft caution here is in order, as it’s important to remember that proficiency is not a prerequisite for enrollment in the heritage Spanish course. Many heritage students will struggle with the writing portion of the comprehension assessment and that’s perfectly fine.
To qualify for the course, we really just need them to be able to comprehend spoken Spanish and have some reading skills as well. If students score a 7/10 on the assessment linked above, we consider them ready for Heritage Spanish class. You may be able to ask your guidance counselor to administer this assessment and have them deliver you the written excerpt the students submitted. This way you can look over the student’s work before officially putting them in your class.
Who should not be placed in a heritage language class
- Students who are true beginners in the sense that they have not heard spoken Spanish on any sort of regular basis (Latino students are sometimes mistakenly placed because of their last name, but they have not had any Spanish exposure).
- Students who have relatives who speak Spanish but they themselves, do not.
- High level second language learners (L2 learners) who gained their skills from taking classes (in this instance, a Spanish 3, 4, or AP placement may be better)
- Fully proficient bilinguals (think advanced level native speakers) who may be ready for a more advanced pathway like taking another foreign language class Note: I only recommend heritage Spanish speakers take another foreign language class instead of heritage Spanish class if their reading and writing skills in Spanish are on grade level with Spanish speaking countries and they are academic students looking for a challenge. I don’t recommend placing a heritage Spanish speaker in another foreign language class if they haven’t solidified their literacy skills in Spanish yet.
Remember, heritage classes are designed for students who grew up with Spanish, but have gaps in formal academic Spanish. If a student doesn’t fit that profile, a beginner or advanced pathway is probably the more appropriate choice.
There will still undoubtedly be some grey areas where you aren’t sure where to place a student. For example, if a student grew up speaking and hearing Spanish but has a learning disability with language processing. In these instances, lean into what the student prefers. Would they prefer to be in the class with the heritage students and hear a lot of spoken Spanish or would a lower level class ease their anxiety? What are their goals for credits they need to earn?
Benefits of proper placement
Educational researchers have been focusing on how critical language awareness (CLA) affects heritage learners. Essentially, heritage speakers often receive criticism for their “non-standard” ways of speaking, and unfortunately this promotes a hierarchy where certain varieties of a language are regarded as supreme. This ultimately serves to undermine their identity.
In her piece, Developing Critical Language Awareness in the Heritage Language Classroom: Implementation and Assessment in Diverse Educational Contexts, Sara Beaudrie says, “Current pedagogy suggests including CLA instruction in every heritage language classroom to help students to develop awareness of language and power, to value and appreciate all linguistic varieties, and to defend their own uses of a given language in their communities.”
A proper classroom dynamic is the key to harmony. This dynamic has a significantly better chance to shape the minds and culture of a class if students are properly placed beforehand.
Separating heritage learners from beginner students who are initially acquiring the language is the first step. As heritage learners work to learn new vocabulary and how to read for comprehension in their personal classroom environment, they will build confidence in Spanish. Their bilingualism will be celebrated, leading to greater gains not only in academics, but culturally and socially as well.
What to do if your school doesn’t offer a heritage course
See this blog post about how to get a program started! Just know, that while it can feel daunting, we LOVE helping teachers feel resourced to start their journey in proposing and developing a heritage course. We are here for you and you are certainly not alone!
Curriculum Planning
If you’re finding the thought of planning an entire heritage curriculum from scratch to be overwhelming, let me take something off your already-full plate. You can access engaging and empowering lessons that are ready-to-use with your learners by signing up here for the Ascendencia (high school) or Linaje (middle school) curriculum. We also accept purchase orders from districts.
Our Ascendencia Curriculum has three full years of lessons. Choose Year One, Year Two, or Year Three, or mix and match between them all by choosing All Access.
We also have Linaje, a year-long middle school curriculum, prepared! While this curriculum is designed with middle schoolers in mind, it is also a perfect fit for those situations where a high school class has a lot of students with very early emerging Spanish literacy skills, or a group of students who came up through an immersion elementary school program!
If you’re looking for more information about the standards we used to align Ascendencia and Linaje, check out this blog post: The Best Standards For Heritage Spanish Class.
If you are worried that textbooks will be too difficult or not engaging enough for your students, we’ve got you covered with engaging materials for students and best practice for teachers.
Here’s what to expect inside this curriculum:
- Content-based Instruction
- Writer’s Workshops
- Social Emotional Learning
- Hands-on Projects
- Identity Work
- Community Building
- Games
- Printable Readings
- Daily Lesson Plans for the Teacher
- Novel Studies & Literary Circles
- Differentiation for text levels
Here’s a free letter of support template you can use:
Free Download:
Letter of support
What Should You Do If You Still Have Heritage Speakers in Lower Level Classes?
Sometimes this struggle is unavoidable and it takes time to get a new course approved. In the meantime while you are working on getting enough student interest to get a separate course approved for heritage Spanish speakers, what should you do with those students when they are added into your Spanish 2 or Spanish 3 class?
We now offer a membership level in Heritage Spanish Club called Differentiation for Spanish Speakers in L2 Classes. This provides you with a library of resources to pull from in order to differentiate for your students who need more of a challenge.
Final Thoughts
As the number of heritage language learners in the U.S. continues to grow, educators need to understand the unique linguistic and cultural backgrounds these students bring to the language classroom. If Spanish speaking students lack access to specialized language instruction that caters to their unique linguistic needs, this can lead to feelings of inadequacy and frustration. Ultimately, this hinders their ability to fully develop their language skills, creating an inequitable learning experience compared to students learning Spanish as a second language.
Taking the time to distinguish heritage speakers from L2 learners is a critical first step towards deepening their language skills in a meaningful and respectful way. It aligns with the research, giving students the best chance at success.
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