Additive Bilingualism for Hispanic-American Learners in U.S. Schools

Introduction

Latin Americans represent the largest non-white population group and will account for approximately half of all student growth over the next decade. Yet Latino Americans remain the least educated of any ethnic group (Nuñez, Ramalho & Cuero, 2010). Promoting the academic success of Latino Americans and other students of color is a major concern for educational systems that serve increasingly diverse student populations and face growing accountability to external institutions. At the same time, the teaching workforce does not reflect this demographic reality — the majority of teachers and lecturers in American schools are white. This divergence means that most teachers are unfamiliar with their students' daily experiences, including their cultural backgrounds, dialects, family structures, home environments, and communities. Because teachers tend to draw educational examples from their own experiences, these meaningful connections are rarely made for students.

Moreover, Hispanics in the United States have historically suffered ridicule and abuse from mainstream culture due to their use of non-standard Spanish and English and their practice of code-switching — that is, switching between two or more languages or language varieties. In education, code-switching and the use of non-standard English and native languages among students with low socioeconomic status (SES) — including Latino Americans — are widely treated as deficiencies that must be corrected (Alfaro & Bartolomé, 2017). It would therefore help mainstream school teachers to develop ideological clarity that enables them to question deficit views of low-SES bilinguals and the non-standard languages those students bring into the classroom. This paper contributes to that endeavor by establishing a practical teaching pedagogy to remedy the harm that has been done to Hispanic populations within the American schooling system. Specifically, it discusses the use of additive bilingualism to address subtractive educational challenges for Hispanic-American learners.

Description of the Challenge

English as a Second Language (ESL) students in the United States — especially Hispanic students — are frequently characterized as language deficient. This characterization stems largely from a national language policy that does not support the development of biliteracy in learners or, by extension, in citizens (Ochoa & Cadiero-Kaplan, 2004). Bilingualism, properly understood, involves developing academic skills in the primary language while simultaneously pursuing English-language and academic skills, ultimately leading to fluency in both the first language (L1) and the second language (L2). Students who achieve this can listen, speak, read, and write fluently in at least two languages. Despite this potential, most schools and programs impose an English-only curriculum without regard for the linguistic backgrounds of students whose primary language is not English (Ochoa & Cadiero-Kaplan, 2004).

According to Valenzuela (1999), there are three major themes in subtractive schooling: caring, subtractive schooling itself, and social capital. Caring in education is primarily expressed through student-teacher relationships, attitudes, goals, expectations, and priorities. The second theme concerns the subtractive education of Hispanic-American students: rather than allocating resources to these students, schools effectively divert resources away from them. When teachers explicitly refuse to build genuine, two-way relationships with their students, they implicitly reject Hispanic culture. Furthermore, subtractive schooling tends to be assimilative — it attempts to remove or eliminate traces of Hispanic culture and language from the learner. The third theme, social capital, is grounded in social exchange theory and is defined by its function within group structures. Valenzuela (1999) views academic success as a collective process shaped by gender, nativity (U.S.-born versus immigrant), generational status, and ethnicity among Mexican-origin youth. Consistent with broader Latino cultural values, young Hispanic Americans place great importance on their social networks and take pride in their language and heritage.

Language, Culture, and Teaching

Language and culture are inextricably linked. Language is culture in practice and manifests across a wide range of forms and contexts. Cultures and communities are complex, living systems, and culture itself is full of systematic variation. Sociolinguistics is the field that examines the relationship between language and society; it is founded on interdisciplinary features and nuances and is not bound by any single theoretical method (Spolsky, 1998). Language is associated with national identity, and all patterns and variations within a language can be described as dialects, styles, or registers.

The choice of a particular style or register is shaped by several factors, including setting, the role-relationship between speaker and listener, and topic. Style choice also varies based on accommodation, solidarity, and gender (Spolsky, 1998). Accommodation occurs when a speaker adjusts their language to suit someone outside their community, or when a speaker seeks to align their language with that of another group. The register and language variety chosen signals which social role or relationship is dominant at a given moment. Language can also be used to establish local or social identity — as in the case of slang, which resists formal rules and thrives on experimentation, cross-pollination, and reinvention. Slang expresses solidarity and group membership and is commonly used among young people and marginalized communities. Finally, language reflects, records, and conveys social differences (Spolsky, 1998, p. 36), sometimes with precision and sometimes less so, as seen in the social dimensions of gender and speech.

Some language teachers and program administrators view culture as an optional enhancement to teaching macro skills, since a speaker's linguistic decisions are partly based on what is contextually appropriate. Others regard culture as a core element of classroom instruction, recognizing that linguistic choices are always shaped by culturally bound contexts. As Moran (2001) observes, language is a window onto culture: individuals need language to engage with cultural products and participate meaningfully in cultural practices, and they need cultural knowledge to use a foreign language properly.

Language is a means of explaining and expressing culture. Seelye (1984) argued that the study of language and the study of culture are inseparable. This integration can be achieved when language administrators design classroom activities that encourage learners to move beyond surface-level facts and engage with deeper levels of a language-speaking culture. As Seelye (1984) explains, knowledge of linguistic structure alone provides no special understanding of a people's politics, social organization, religion, or economic systems. Entry into language education that ignores this essential connection to culture may prevent language learners from understanding or experiencing the defining characteristics of the language they are studying (González, 2018).

Culture plays a crucial role in education and, in particular, in language learning. For ESL students, their culture forms the foundation of their learning, and teachers must account for this cultural background. According to Sheets (2005), teachers need to create safe, supportive educational conditions that enable students to interact with others. Doing so enriches the learning experience by encouraging students to form their cultural identities while simultaneously building bonds with fellow learners and teachers. Sheets argues that culture is the raw material for reasoning, citing "reasoning skills: the ability to apply knowledge from personal cultural practices, language and ethnic experiences to gain command of one's thinking" (2005, p. 146).

Culture manifests in the classroom through three key dimensions: social interactions, interpersonal relationships, and classroom management. Social interactions encompass the shared contact among all stakeholders within the classroom, enabling the exchange of resources and ideas while fostering a sense of belonging and security (Sheets, 2005). Interpersonal relationships develop reciprocity among students and encompass the familiar social associations that generate support, trust, companionship, and emotional well-being (Sheets, 2005). Classroom management concerns the setting and environment in which learning takes place. Sheets (2005) holds that teachers bear primary responsibility for establishing a productive classroom environment. To that end, teachers must consider the impact of any given rule or activity on learners, involve students in decision-making around classroom procedures, encourage students to bring their full selves into the classroom, and build a community structure that fosters friendships and mutual acceptance among peers.

Conclusion

The instructional strategies described in this paper can help Hispanic students thrive within an additive bilingual framework. They honor students' eagerness to learn and the cumulative knowledge those students bring to the classroom. At the same time, reforms in classroom practice must be supported by policy changes that reflect the diversity of school contexts. Instructional approaches are important, but they are not the only lever for improving schools. No single solution will address all of the educational challenges Hispanic students face. Each school should be treated as distinct, and educators should select from a range of research-based strategies tailored to the specific needs of the Hispanic students they serve. In addition to incorporating these techniques into the school environment, educators should acknowledge the importance of family and community influences and other critical out-of-school factors that shape educational outcomes.