|
María Dolores Gonzales, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Spanish Research areas:
|
|
|---|
|
As a native New Mexican I was raised with Spanish all around me;
my grandparents and parents spoke the northern New Mexican variation
of Spanish, fluently. What a surprise it was when I enrolled in my first
university Spanish class, and was told that the Spanish I spoke was “incorrect”.
Of course, I defended my mother’s tongue like any other Nuevo Mexicano
would, but I also made the important decision to continue my studies in
Spanish. Today, I’m cognizant of the fact that all the language use experiences
I had in the past, formed my passion for Sociolinguistics. I wanted to understand
why linguistic attitudes existed, how they evolved, and why my abuelitos
native language was menospreciado, stigmatized? Those experiences also
prepared me to be Coordinator of the Sabine Ulibarrí Spanish as a Heritage
Language Program (SHL), to better understand the students who had similar experiences,
and to create a program which would build confianza and orgullo rather than eradicate
what the students had learned from their parents and grandparents.
In addition, the graduate and undergraduate students who enroll in my Spanish of the Southwest, or Language, Gender and Race classes are required to conduct research on various sociolinguistic themes, i.e., the politics of language, language attitudes, and language maintenance / language shift. The Teaching Assistants in the SHL program must take a methodology class, which includes a sociolinguistic approach, to prepare them to teach SHL students who are in the process of taking back their heritage language. |
|---|
| Class Syllabi | Curriculum Vitae | Books Published | Visit the SHL website | Home |
|---|