“Yo pertenezco aquí”: Academic Identities, Formal Spanish, and Feelings of
Belonging
Denise Minor
Hispania, Volume 99, Number 4, December 2016, pp. 666-679 (Article)
Published by Johns Hopkins University Press
For additional information about this article
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/641990
Access provided by California State Univ @ Chico (22 Dec 2016 22:15 GMT)
“Yo pertenezco aquí”:
Academic Identities,
Formal Spanish, and
Feelings of Belonging
Denise Minor
California State University Chico
Abstract: This study examines the impact that membership in a Spanish language theater and poetry troupe
had upon a group of Mexican and Chicano university students in terms of the development of academic
identities, feelings of belonging, connections with friends and family, and other factors that correlate with
academic perseverance. Also examined was the degree to which students believed that participation in the
troupe’s events had improved their ability to employ formal Spanish. Analysis was based upon the results of
a two-part written survey taken by ten members and video-taped interviews conducted with five members.
Respondents to the written survey reported that membership had positively impacted all of the factors listed
above. Data gathered in the interviews supported the findings of the survey. Additionally, the interviewees
stated that participation in the troupe’s meetings and presentations had influenced their decisions about
their professional goals and their confidence in their ability to reach those goals. The five interviewees
were contacted four years after the study to determine educational outcomes. All five had graduated from
college and were either high school Spanish teachers or working towards doctorate degrees in Spanish.
Keywords: academic identities/identidades académicas, academic persistence/perseverancia académica,
Hispanic student organizations/organizaciones estudiantiles hispánicas, Latino university students/
estudiantes universitarios latinos, Spanish poetry/poesía española, Spanish theater/teatro español
Introduction
S
panish instructors have long employed great works of theater and poetry to teach both
language and culture in their classrooms. The benefits of such study, particularly in terms
of theater, have been documented in improved communicative abilities and cultural
understanding (Fernández García and Biscu 2005) as well as improved pronunciation and
comprehension (Rabell 1977). Other academics have documented the importance of Spanish
(Sandoval-Sanchez and Saporta Sternbach 2001) and Spanish-English code-switching (Jonsson
2005, 2010) in the expression of identity in Chicano theater. But little research has been done
on the impact that participating in presentations of great plays and poetry in Spanish, as well
as the preparation for the presentations, has upon the development of academic identities and
feelings of belonging among Latino students at the university level.
With these issues under consideration, this study was launched to investigate the potential
outcomes of membership in a Spanish language theater and poetry troupe for the Mexican
and Chicano students at a state university in Northern California. Members of the troupe had
reported in casual conversations an increase in their ability to employ formal Spanish, their
academic confidence, their connections to other troupe members, and their sense of belonging at
the university since they had joined the group. Additionally, some had reported that productions
put on by the troupe provided a connection between the university and their families. These are
not only factors that promote feelings of psychological well-being or create positive memories of
college. According to the research conducted in the fields of education, psychology, and sociology,
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Minor / Identities and Formal Spanish 667
they are among the factors that correlate highly with academic persistence for Latinos, a term
which refers to students’ actions, processes, and decisions to stay in school.
Understanding the systems that promote academic persistence of Latino college students
is crucial, particularly in light of the fact that although Latinos are slightly more likely to go to
college than White students, they are much less likely to complete a four-year degree. In 2012,
69% of Latino high school graduates enrolled in college compared with 67% of their White
counterparts, a significant change from the previous decades (Fry and Taylor 2013). However,
Latinos are less likely to enroll in a four-year university or a selective college than White students.
(Fry and Taylor 2013). Latinos are more likely than any other ethnic group of college students
to be enrolled only part-time. (Gloria and Segura-Herrera 2004). More concerning still is the
fact that Latinos are much less likely to finish college, with only 23% of those who enter college
ending up with a four-year degree in comparison to 47% of Whites (Fry 2004). In terms of the
US population as a whole, 15.5% of Latinos in the United States complete a bachelor’s degree in
comparison to 36.2% of White Americans (US Census 2015).
Literature Review
There are some factors that influence academic persistence of all students, regardless of
ethnic background, such as the level of preparation afforded by high school courses (Kinnick and
Kempner 1988) and financial constraints (Zhai and Monzon 2001). However, some investigations have found that the issues impacting success in higher education are not the same for all
ethnic groups. For instance, studies have shown that academic achievement variables such as
the SAT fail to predict college persistence of Latinos whereas they are very good predictors of
persistence for Whites. (Fuertes and Sedlacek 1994; Longerbeam, Sedlacek, and Alatorre 2004).
In comparison, numerous studies have shown that psychological, social, and cultural factors are
of greater consequence than cognitive factors for Latino students (Gloria, Castellanos, Lopez,
and Rosales 2005; Gloria and Rodriguez 2000; Storlie, Moreno, and Portman 2014).
Parsing the myriad elements that are parts of the psychological, social, and cultural factors
affecting persistence has been fodder for numerous academic studies over the past decade.
Among the most important elements is the formation of an academic identity in the university
environment (Tapp 2014). Hungerford-Kresser and Amaro-Jiménez (2012) conducted five case
studies of college-aged Latinos and found that they faced considerable challenges in reconciling
their identities with the type of people they imagined to be successful university students. The
authors advocate for identity theory to be central to investigations meant to influence policies
and strategies to better serve students of color.
They not only had to deal with trying to be successful college students, but also deal with
complex identity processes, encased in issues of power and race. . . . This data indicate a need
to incorporate identity theory into secondary and university practices and pedagogy in order
to better serve students of color. Investigating the complex identity negotiations of underrepresented minority students can provide a foundation for formulating new and successful
strategies aimed at retention and completion of a four-year degree. (Hungerford-Kresser and
Amaro-Jiménez 2012)
Numerous scholars in the fields of social sciences and education have explored issues
which impact academic identity formation of Latino students employing terms such as “self
efficacy” and “self esteem” (Delgado-Guerrero and Gloria 2013; Gloria and Rodriguez 2000),
“self beliefs and attitudes” (Castellanos and Gloria 2007) “sense of self ” (Arellano and Padilla
1996) and “academic self-confidence” (Crisp, Taggart, and Nora 2014). All of these issues have
been shown to be very important in the academic success of Latino college students.
One of the most significant factors in persistence for Latino students is their perception
of the university as having a positive cultural climate for Latinos (Aguinaga and Gloria 2015;
668
Hispania 99 December 2016
Crisp, Taggart, and Nora 2014; Delgado-Guerrero and Gloria 2013; Gloria, Castellanos, Lopez,
and Rosales 2005; Gloria and Segura-Herrera 2004; Hurtado, Carter, and Spuler 1996). When
students of Hispanic heritage are integrated into the college social and academic communities,
their persistence increases greatly (Tinto, 1997), particularly when they join organizations with
Hispanic themes such as MECha or Latino fraternities and sororities (Aguinaga and Gloria
2015; Cabrera and Padilla 2004; Delgado-Guerrero and Gloria 2013). Pride in Latino culture,
relationships with role models and mentors, and opportunities to mentor others have also been
found to be contributing factors (Arellano and Padilla 1996). Also, including family, particularly
parents, in the education process and bridging the divide between home and university cultures
increases student adjustment and persistence (Gloria and Segura-Herrera 2004).
A limited amount of research has been done on the factor of language and how the development of academic Spanish impacts identity formation and educational persistence in a US
university. Hurtado, Cervantez, and Eccleston (2010) maintain that there is a shifting perception
of Spanish/English bilingual abilities and that those abilities are coming to be seen as desirable
“linguistic capital” within educational systems. Petrov (2013) undertook an investigation into
how service learning jobs that required the use of Spanish in “pre-professional roles” affected,
among other factors, identity and language use among her students in a Spanish heritage speaker
course. Petrov found that the experience improved students’ communication skills in Spanish,
positively influenced their Latino identities and their self-esteem, and developed beneficial
attitudes towards the language. Petrov’s findings correlate to some degree with the implications
of this study because both groups had the opportunity to use Spanish beyond the classroom as
a professional/academic linguistic tool.
This article will explore the majority of the issues listed above as they pertain to participation in the theater and poetry association. These issues include: the formation of an academic
identity, the value of membership in an organization with a Hispanic theme, relationships with
role models and mentors, opportunities to mentor others, bridging the divide between home
and university cultures, and the development of academic Spanish. Student perception of the
campus environment for Latinos, though an important factor in academic persistence, is beyond
the scope of this study.
Institutional Context and Background
The site of this investigation is a four-year university in a Northern California college town
located in a large agricultural area famous for growing rice, almonds, and walnuts. According
to the US Census Bureau figures of 2011, the Hispanic population in the immediate region is
about 25% (US Census 2011). According to the university’s demographic figures, students who
self-identified as Latino at the time the research was conducted was about 15%, but that figure
increased to 25% by 2014 (Demographics 2016). There are groups at the university that provide
both academic and social support for Latino students, including a fraternity, a sorority, and an
office for MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán). Until 2009 there also was a
Spanish club that promoted Spanish language events such as movies and traditional holiday
celebrations. There were, however, no clubs or associations that focused on literature, theater,
or poetry in Spanish until the formation of the troupe central to this study.
In 2002, the university’s Spanish program hired an assistant professor whose specialty was
Mexican and Chicano theater and poetry. The professor had come to the United States at the age
of 14 and worked as an undocumented field laborer for about 10 years in the California Central
Valley. In night school he learned English, earned a General Education Degree (GED), and earned
an Associate Degree from a community college. He transferred to a four-year university where
he earned first a BA and then an MA in Spanish. While studying at that university, he joined
Teatro Tortilla, a Spanish language theater group that put on works by playwrights such as Luis
Minor / Identities and Formal Spanish 669
Valdez. Participation in that group became central to both his identity and his success at the
university. “Tuve la oportunidad de participar en una obrita que se llama ‘La Chacha Micaila,’
y esa obra me dejó marcado positivamente. Después de haber actuado en esa obra me sentí que
era parte de la universidad (Male Professor, 2010).”
The professor went on to complete a doctorate at a research university in the southwestern
United States and was subsequently hired at the university central to this investigation. From his
first year as a professor, he taught a theater class that put on small evening productions for the
general public. With time, the professor and his students began to incorporate poetry readings
as part of the evening performance, usually just before the play. Most of the poetry had been
written by the students. The success of the plays and poetry readings grew quickly, and by 2005
they were drawing audiences of about 400 people, some of whom were students but many of
whom were family and friends from the region.
In 2007, students that had participated in the theater class decided to form a bilingual theater
and poetry troupe that they named la Asociación de Teatro y Poesía. The members decided
that in the fall semester of each year they would present a poetry reading, and in the spring
they would present one or two plays. They also decided that they would engage in significant
outreach to area high schools, in particular to encourage them to submit to their annual poetry
competition. The association hoped to encourage students to visit the campus and to begin
imagining themselves as university students.
Membership to the association was open to everyone, although a person would need some
proficiency in Spanish in order to participate. Funding came from small grants awarded by
the university and from money raised through the sale of food, ice cream, and fruit drinks in
public spaces on campus. The plays and poetry readings were advertised though posters hung
throughout campus and downtown as well as by members who visited regional high school and
university Spanish classrooms to promote the events. Among the plays presented by the association were Yerma by Federico García Lorca, Perfume de Colibrí by Osiris Gómez, Historia del
hombre que se convertió en perro by Osvaldo Dragún, and Los Vendidos by Luís Valdéz. Among
the poems recited were works by Pablo Neruda, Alfonsina Storni, Sor Juana, Julia de Burgos,
and Mario Benedetti.
Many of the association members were Spanish majors and took the three linguistics courses
offered by the Foreign Languages and Literatures department. As the program’s linguistics
professor, I came to know them well. In the fall semester of 2009 in a Spanish phonology class,
I could not help but notice the improvement in the ability of association members in giving oral
presentations in Spanish in comparison to their presentations in previous years. I complimented
those students and asked them to reflect on the change that had occurred in their abilities. In
our discussions, the students reported that by participating in la Asociación de Teatro y Poesía
they had experienced an increase in confidence in their ability to speak Spanish in front of large
groups, an increase in their confidence in their ability to engage in interactions in academic Spanish (particularly with professors), and an increase in their feelings of belonging at the university.
Their responses prompted me to design a study that looked more closely at those outcomes,
because studies have linked them to the factors that educational psychologists have determined
to be instrumental in development of academic identities.
Study Methodology
In recent years, academics have called for more qualitative research into factors that impact
academic perseverance such as academic identities, feelings of belonging, and mentor relationships in order to better understand the perspective of Latino university students (Aguinaga and
Gloria 2015; Storlie, Moreno, and Portman 2014; Zurita 2004). Allowing students to tell their
own stories is essential for some researchers.
Hispania 99 December 2016
670
“The breadth and depth of Hispanic college student experiences can be fully appreciated when
expression of these accounts emerge from the students’ own voices. Statistical analyses may fail to
capture the true essence of these students’ experience within higher education and so examination of the qualitative research becomes paramount” (Storlie, Moreno, and Portman 2014: 66).
My original intent had been to undertake a qualitative study employing semi-structured
interviews in order to allow the students’ perceptions and opinions to emerge holistically.
However, upon further consideration I reasoned that the quantitative data gathered through a
survey would provide information about the group as a whole and about their attitudes, family
background, and use of Spanish in a way that would allow patterns to emerge. Therefore, I
decided to employ a quantitative and qualitative methodological mix of 1) surveys with the
association’s members, followed by 2) semi-structured interviews with any members willing
to participate.
The study began with informal interviews of the mentor professor and the association
students who had taken my linguistics courses. From those interviews emerged five central
themes that became the nucleus of the investigation and from those themes questions were
developed for the survey. The survey and interviews were designed to better understand the
impact of membership in the association upon:
1) Self-perception of the ability to employ an academic register of Spanish in oral communication, particularly in front of large groups.
2) Identity as successful college students.
3) Identity as mentors to younger Latinos.
4) Feelings of pride for the respect shown by family members because of participation
in association events.
5) Feelings of belonging to the university.
After securing appropriate institutional review board approval, I attended an association
meeting and distributed the survey to the 10 members in attendance. It took about 15 minutes
to complete. After handing out my business cards to the group, I invited all of them to contact
me in order to participate in the interviews. Four of those attending the meeting contacted me
and interviews were set up for the following month. One member who had not attended the
meeting also contacted me to ask if he could participate in the interviews. I met with four of
the participants in a meeting room at the university and interviewed them one by one. The fifth
participant was interviewed at his home. Each interview took about 15 minutes. All have been
given pseudonyms.
The Survey
The survey was available in English and Spanish. Nine of the 10 participants chose to fill
out the Spanish version. The Spanish survey is available in the Appendix.
Results of the Survey: Part One
The ten students who participated in the written survey joined the association sometime
between 2007 and 2010. Eight were enrolled university students at the time they took the survey.
Below are the results of the section of the survey designed to learn more about the participants:
•
•
•
Nine considered themselves to be native Spanish speakers.
Eight considered themselves to be heritage Spanish speakers.
The parents of eight spoke Spanish to each other.
Minor / Identities and Formal Spanish •
•
•
671
Eight spoke mostly Spanish to their parents.
Nine had family members attend the theater or poetry presentations.
Six came from the counties surrounding the university. Two came from Mexico,
and the families of both of those students had settled in the region of the university.
Therefore, eight of the ten had family living in close proximity to the university. Of
the two who came from outside the region, one came from the Central Valley of
California and one came from San Francisco.
It should be noted that one of the participants was neither a native nor a heritage speaker of
Spanish. Although this study focuses upon the perceptions of Mexican and Chicano students, I
decided at the meeting that I did not want to deny her participation in the survey both because
it might be seen as exclusionary and, in addition, I was curious to see her responses. As can be
seen from the results below, all of the responses concerning the benefits of participation in the
troupe were very similar (with the exception of statement seven) which would indicate that there
was no difference in perceived benefits for this student.
Results of the Survey: Part Two
Responses showed that eight of the participants strongly agreed and two agreed that the
association had positively impacted both their ability to speak academic Spanish and their
identity as university students. Eight strongly agreed and two agreed that one or more members
of their family were proud of their participation in the association. Nine strongly agreed and one
agreed that membership had positively impacted their ability to speak in front of an audience.
Seven strongly agreed, two agreed, and one disagreed that the experience of the mentoring
high school students had been satisfying. The two survey statements that received the strongest
indication of agreement were the one that queried about friendships and the one that queried
about pride of membership. All ten strongly agreed they had made new friends through the
association and that they were proud of belonging to the group. Below are the results:
Table 1. Survey results
Academic Spanish
Public Speaking in Spanish
Academic Identity
Pride of Membership
Pride from Family
Friendships
Mentoring
0% 20%40% 60%80%100%
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
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Hispania 99 December 2016
The Interviews
The narrations captured during the interviews reinforced the validity of the data gathered
through the surveys. For example, four themes continually arose in at least three of the five
interviews and those were: 1) increased confidence in the ability to speak formal Spanish;
2) increased confidence in the ability to speak in front of a large group; 3) greater connection
to the university; and 4) greater confidence in academic abilities. These findings mirror the
results of the survey.
However, the interviews captured nuances of individual experiences in ways that the survey
could not. For instance, all five interviewees spoke of the affect that membership in the association had upon both their professional goals and their confidence in their ability to reach those
goals. All five spoke of the importance of the connection between the association and the Latinos
of the region, whether it was the high school students that participated, the family and friends
that came to the plays or the Spanish speakers from the town who came to the events because they
enjoyed seeing theater in their language. Below are some of the salient features of each interview.
Juan
The theme that emerged most clearly from Juan’s interview was the significant increase in
confidence that he had gained through his participation in the association. Juan had come to
the United States in his early teens and reported that it was a very difficult time of his life. He
said that the most frustrating part of the experience was being surrounded by a language that
he didn’t understand and being unable to communicate.
With time, Juan’s English improved to a high level of fluency and he began to take community college classes, but he felt insecure about himself as a college student. He reported that
coming to the university, joining the association, and successfully presenting in front of large
audiences had given him a confidence he had never had before. As one of the only students in
the group who had been raised in Mexico and who spoke standard Spanish, he was afforded
great respect for his language abilities and had been chosen as the association president. In that
position, he had to employ academic English as well as Spanish in numerous situations, including
for writing grant applications, for intercollegiate academic affairs, and for inviting and organizing
accommodations for academics from other universities who presented at association events.
“La asociación es uno de los únicos clubes, las únicas organizaciones donde podemos
presentar materiales, proyectos, discursos, poemas, obras de teatro en ese lenguaje [español].
Esto me ha ayudado bastante. . . . Yo pertenezco aquí porque me identifico, me puedo identificar
con la asociación. Me identifico con los miembros.”
Juan said that his success in the association had convinced him that he was capable of
achieving a long-held dream, that of completing a teaching credential and becoming a high
school Spanish teacher.
Liliana
The theme that continually arose in Liliana’s interview was the satisfaction she felt from
the connection that the association had provided for her both with her family and with the
high school students in the area. Liliana was one of the only association members who had left
her family to move to the university as a freshman. She was born to Mexican immigrants and
had been raised in the Central Valley of California. From childhood she had spent many hours
working in her family’s restaurant there and caring for her disabled brother. She recalled that
during high school the only question regarding education that circulated among her friends was
“Will I graduate from high school or not?”
Minor / Identities and Formal Spanish 673
But a counselor had encouraged Liliana to aim for college and her parents supported that
goal. However, leaving her family and community had been very difficult. She was concerned
that her parents were working extremely long hours in order to pay for her university education
and she struggled with explaining to them exactly what she was learning. But when she began
participating in the association, she was very proud to have her family among the 400 audience
members attending the plays and poetry readings.
“Ahora puedo tener a mi familia aquí para ver lo que estoy haciendo, como no los puedo
tener en mis clases.”
Additionally, Liliana became the most active member in outreach to the region’s high
schools. She visited numerous heritage Spanish classes to invite the students to submit poetry
to the association’s poetry competitions, to attend the plays and poetry readings, and to even
consider joining the association. (Membership was open to high school students and people
from the community, as well as university students.)
Liliana said that she wanted those young people to begin imagining themselves as college
students. She wanted them to see the campus and to see Latinos performing in Spanish in a
large theater. Like Juan, Liliana had decided that she wanted to become a high school teacher.
However, she very specifically wanted to teach heritage Spanish speakers because she wanted to
connect young people to the joys of great literature and theater in their home language.
Liliana also reported that one of the greatest benefits from membership for her was the
chance to improve her academic Spanish through interaction with the mentor professor and
the other native Spanish speakers in preparation for the plays and poetry readings. She had
served as the association co-president the year previous to this interview.
Tania
The theme that most clearly emerged from Tania’s interview was the connection that the
association had given her with people who thought and behaved in ways that were new to her.
At the association meetings, members discussed (and sometimes argued) in Spanish with great
passion about the merits of different authors and plays. They also evaluated their classes and
professors in ways that influenced her way of thinking, which in turn had great impact on the
way she viewed herself and her situation at the university.
“Conocía a personas que de verdad están aquí para aprender y para enriquecerse del conocimiento. Eso me gustó mucho porque no había conocido a personas así, que están interesadas
en aprender más.”
Tania was the only interviewee who had begun her involvement during high school. She had
attended a school just blocks from the university and during her junior year started participating
in the evening meetings and rehearsals. At the time of the interview, she was in her second year
at the university.
The interest in theater she had developed through the association had motivated her to take
classes in theater, music, and dance. She spoke with great enthusiasm about the importance of
theater in people’s lives and hoped that someday she could work professionally in theater as a
teacher or director.
Antonio
From Antonio’s interview the themes that most clearly emerged were the increase in confidence he had gained from his participation and the connections he had made with professors.
Antonio was born in California to Mexican immigrant parents and had been raised in a rural
area close to the university. He had attended community college and taken university classes on
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Hispania 99 December 2016
and off for about seven years, time that was interspersed with various jobs and the establishment
of a home with his wife.
Antonio reported that he had often been frustrated in school, particularly because he had
a very difficult time retaining information that he had read. He believed that he had problems
with his memory and for some time believed that it was unlikely he could finish college. When
Antonio joined the association, he struggled at first to remember the lines he had to memorize
for his parts in the plays. But in the end, he always did it. Those experiences helped him develop
his own methods of processing and remembering material.
Antonio also reported that he had been very shy and nervous about speaking in front of
a class in Spanish or English. He often realized in presentations that he had a habit of looking
down and covering his mouth with his hand. After only one season of performing with the
association, he found that he was able to step in front of a class with considerable confidence
for oral presentations.
Lastly, Antonio said that presenting in the plays had helped him make connections and gain
respect from professors. His Spanish professors usually complimented him on his performance
in the weeks after a play. But professors from other departments as well had attended the plays
and stopped him on campus to tell him how well he had done.
“Hay una profesora que, cada vez que me ve, me dice, ‘Recuerdo cuando sales en la
obra.’ . . . De una forma [la asociación] me ayudó tener conexiones con mis profesores aquí en
la universidad.”
Like Juan, Antonio had gained the confidence from his participation to set his sights on
becoming a teacher. At the time of the interview, he had been accepted into a teaching credential
program for the following semester. He wanted to become a special education teacher who
specialized in working with bilingual elementary school children.
Ricardo
The themes that emerged most clearly from Ricardo’s interview were the pride that he felt
from being a founding member of the association and the satisfaction he felt from engaging
with others in the production of great works of theater in Spanish. Ricardo was one of the most
intellectual members of the association. He was born in Mexico to a middle-class family and had
been educated until junior high in private schools where he had learned some English. Ricardo
said that he had been raised in a home full of books, and that he had always been inspired by
great writing.
After moving to the United States, he quickly attained a high level of English proficiency
and was considered an excellent student. During high school, his teachers who did not speak
Spanish often called on him to help teach material to English language learners. It was during
high school that he became interested in poetry and began to write his own.
At the university, Ricardo was highly respected by both teachers and the other students in
the Spanish program. He worked very closely with the association’s mentor professor to form the
group, an endeavor that involved considerable political acumen in order to facilitate decisions by
the interested students in deciding on a purpose, a name, goals, and parameters for membership.
Ricardo believed that the association had provided an opportunity for its members to become
better students and to gain a position of respect at the university.
“Entre mis compañeros [que hablan] español de herencia, he notado que les ha ayudado
académicamente. Hay un sentimiento de progreso. . . . El grupo está entusiasmado de expresarse
mejor, de ser mejor estudiantes.”
Ricardo said he had personally benefited greatly from the association in two principal ways.
It had given him the opportunity to engage with others in analyzing and better understanding
poetry and drama in an informal, peer-mediated venue. Secondly, the association presented two
short plays that Ricardo had written. These experiences further cemented his professional goal,
Minor / Identities and Formal Spanish 675
which was to become a playwright and university professor. At the time of the interview, he was
preparing to take the Graduate Record Examination in order to apply to a graduate program in
Spanish at a research university.
Educational Outcomes
The five interview participants were contacted four years after the study to determine
educational outcomes. All five had graduated with bachelor’s degrees in Spanish. Juan, Liliana,
and Antonio had gone on to complete one additional year of study in a rigorous educational
credential program at the same university and were subsequently employed as high school Spanish teachers. Liliana had achieved her goal of becoming a teacher for heritage Spanish speakers.
Juan wrote in an email that, because of his experience in la Asociación de Teatro y Poesía, he
was using poetry and drama in the high school Spanish classes he taught. Antonio’s original goal
of becoming a special education teacher had changed when he entered the credential program.
Instead he entered the program that trained high school teachers. Upon graduation, he found a
full-time job teaching both Spanish and English Language Learner classes at a local high school.
Antonio wrote in an email that one of the most important aspects of having been a member of
the troupe had been the chance to share his culture with other people, something he continues
to do as a teacher. Tania’s original goal had been to become of teacher of theater and music,
but as she neared graduation her goal changed to that of becoming a Spanish professor. When
she was contacted in the spring of 2015, she was completing a master’s degree in Spanish and
had been accepted into three PhD programs. She had already chosen to attend the program
at a prestigious university in the Southeast. Ricardo had completed a master’s degree and was
working towards a PhD in Spanish at a research university in California. He wrote in an e-mail
that he continued to have very fond memories of his time in the association and was grateful
for the opportunity it gave him to present plays he had written.
Discussion
Central to this study is the importance of Spanish for these students. The profile of the typical
member of la Asociación de Teatro y Poesía was someone from the region for whom Spanish
was the language of home and family. Although Spanish was central to their identities, when
they came to the university, they lacked the academic register of Spanish and many of them were
insecure about their speaking abilities. The association gave them the opportunity to improve
their academic register under the guidance of their mentor professor, as much through their
meetings and rehearsals as through their performances. Furthermore, participation in the theater
and poetry events had given them the opportunity to demonstrate that proficiency on a stage.
Many of the other benefits claimed by the survey participants seemed to be intricately
intertwined: the new friendships, the development of an academic identity, the connection for the
families, and the pride of being able to mentor others. Two topics arose in the interviews that had
not been covered in the surveys, the first of which centered on the type of interactions that the
students had with one another. Tania spoke about how grateful she was for the chance to interact
with people whom she considered to be intellectuals. “Conocía a personas que de verdad están
aquí para aprender y para enriquecerse del conocimiento.” These interactions influenced her
greatly, not only in how she thought about the work they were doing but how she thought about
her classes and her professors.
Secondly, all five interviewees spoke of how participation in the troupe had impacted their
professional goals and their confidence in their abilities to achieve them. Antonio and Juan said
that they had been insecure about themselves in the university environment, but had gained
confidence as members of the association and had set their sights on becoming teachers. Juan’s
native-speaker fluency had gained him status within the organization, and this in turn affected
676
Hispania 99 December 2016
how he saw himself. Antonio had gained the confidence to speak in front of a group of people,
an essential component of teaching. Both Juan and Antonio secured high school teaching jobs
in the region.
Liliana said her dream had been to become a teacher even before she joined the association.
However, her goals had shifted in response to the satisfaction she felt working with Latino high
school students in preparation for poetry events, and she then decided that she very specifically
wanted to work with heritage Spanish speakers. Tania, in the interviews, expressed the hope of
becoming a drama teacher or a director. Over the next two years her goal changed, and she ended
up deciding that she wanted to become a Spanish professor. Ricardo, on the other hand, had
always known that he wanted to be a Spanish professor. He also wanted to become a playwright,
and was given the opportunity by the troupe to present two of the plays he had written. This
experience increased his confidence that he could reach that professional goal. Four years after
the interviews, both were in graduate school studying Spanish.
It should be noted that the small sample size of both the number of survey respondents and
case study participants precludes making any generalized conclusions. However, the positive
opinions expressed by the members about their experiences in the troupe would indicate that
examining the impacts of Spanish language theater and poetry upon college students is worthy
of further study.
Conclusion
Results from both the surveys and the interviews demonstrated numerous perceived
benefits by the students from their participation in the theater and poetry troupe. The strongest
indication came in response to survey statements about pride of membership and the development of friendships in the association, with all ten strongly agreeing that those two issues had
resulted from their participation. They also maintained that their ability to speak Spanish in
front of an audience or large group had improved, their perception of themselves as university
students had improved, and their families were proud of their membership in the association.
Finally, the majority responded that they were proud of their work mentoring local Latino high
school students through the association, with one person disagreeing with that assertion. The
five interview participants echoed the same sentiments captured by the survey and were able to
expound upon those issues and raise others that had not been addressed before.
The question remains as to whether or not non-Latino members would similarly feel
that participation in the theater group had greatly influenced their language abilities, sense of
belonging, and friendships. The survey responses by the one non-Latino member would indicate
that the benefits can be similar for a student who is not connected to the culture or language
by heritage. Additionally, in the two years prior to the study, I had mentored a non-Latino
student who expressed to me similar sentiments. During her senior year, she served as the
association’s president.
Although this study cannot make a claim of direct correlation between membership in
the association and completion of a university degree, the survey and interviews show that
participation did affect a number of the factors that are tied to academic persistence for Latinos.
In addition, the remarkable success of the five interview participants does provide anecdotal
evidence to support the contention that membership had a significant impact on the formulation
of their professional goals and their belief in their ability to attain those goals.
The findings of this study point to the many benefits to Latino students, particularly heritage
Spanish speakers, of participating in similar organizations where they make connections with
other Latinos, employ Spanish in a professional or formal venue, and engage with peers in the
evaluation of works of literature, poetry, or drama.
The investigation also points to a possible future study centered on the issue of the development of oral academic Spanish among heritage speakers who are members of la Asociación
Minor / Identities and Formal Spanish 677
de Teatro y Poesía. Participants in this study reported feelings of greater confidence in their
formal Spanish, but it would take detailed discourse analysis to determine to what degree this
­perception was determined by psychological factors and to what degree it was based upon
changes in language production.
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APPENDIX
Encuesta
1. ¿Cuándo te hiciste miembro de la asociación?
2. ¿Todavía eres miembro?
3. ¿Todavía eres estudiante universitario/a?
4. ¿Te consideras nativo hablante de español?
5. ¿Te consideras hablante de español como lengua heredada?
6. ¿Tus padres hablan español entre sí?
7. ¿En qué idioma hablas con tus padres? Puedes elaborar si quieres.
8.¿Alguien de tu familia ha asistido a un evento de la Asociación de Teatro y Poesía?
9. ¿Dónde pasaste la mayoría de tu niñez y adolescencia?
Abajo vas a encontrar una lista de beneficios posibles que un miembro de la Asociación de Teatro
y Poesía pueda haber experimentado. Por favor, comunica tu opinión sobre la importancia de
esos beneficios en tu propia vida según lo siguiente:
Estoy muy de acuerdo
Estoy de acuerdo
Estoy un poco de acuerdo
Estoy un poco en desacuerdo
No estoy de acuerdo
Estoy completamente en desacuerdo
1. Participación en la Asociación de Teatro y Poesía ha tenido un impacto positivo en mi
habilidad de hablar el español académico o formal.
Minor / Identities and Formal Spanish 679
2. Participación en la Asociación de Teatro y Poesía ha tenido un impacto positivo en mi
habilidad de hablar el español en frente de una audiencia o un grupo grande de personas.
3. Participación en la Asociación de Teatro y Poesía ha tenido un impacto positivo en cómo
me veo a mi mismo/a como estudiante universitario/a.
4. Me siento orgulloso/a de ser miembro de la Asociación de Teatro y Poesía.
5. Mi participación en la Asociación de Teatro y Poesía ha sido una fuente de orgullo para
una o más personas de mi familia.
6. A través de la Asociación de Teatro y Poesía he hecho nuevas amistades.
7. Me ha dado satisfacción poder ser mentor/a de estudiantes de la escuela secundaria a través
de la Asociación de Teatro y Poesía.