Mara Barbosa (Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi)
The presence of harmful ideologies that associate Spanish and its U.S. varieties with backwardness and a lack of education poses significant challenges to second and heritage language education in the country. Previous research has shown that teachers and pre-service teachers are also susceptible to these stereotypes, with varying levels of ideological clarity. This presentation examines the potential educational implications of teachers’ negative attitudes toward students’ language varieties and the pervasive ideologies that devalue these forms of speech. Specifically, it analyzes the language attitudes of pre-service Spanish teachers toward Spanish varieties spoken in South Texas and their relationship to pervasive language ideologies in the United States. The analysis revealed that participants generally held positive attitudes toward South Texas Spanish varieties, often labeled as TexMex or Spanglish, which incorporate elements of both English and Spanish. Participants also showed resistance to ideologies that portray non-standard local varieties as inferior and expressed a preference for teaching a Mexican variety of Spanish in schools. However, evidence of negative attitudes and ideologies regarding local Spanish varieties was also present. Despite the largely positive attitudes toward non-standard Spanish varieties in South Texas, pre-service teachers still reproduced elements of the standard language ideology, which positions certain Spanish varieties as superior to others. Given that pre-service training is a critical phase in teacher development, teacher education programs could play a pivotal role in fostering critical reflection on the relationships between language and power. By cultivating students’ awareness of these dynamics, such programs could promote greater respect for students’ language varieties.
Cercle Benveniste Circle 
Leave a comment