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Reported Literacy, Media Consumption And Social Media Use As Measures Of Relevance Of Spanish As A Heritage Language, Isabel Velázquez

Spanish Language and Literature

Aims and objectives: This paper explores one dimension of language maintenance among college-aged heritage speakers of Spanish (HSS) in three communities of the U.S. Midwest. The aim was to understand whether Spanish was relevant at a point in life in which they were developing their own networks away from their families. Research questions: Were reading and writing in Spanish relevant for the participants? Did they use Spanish when on social media? Did they text in Spanish? Was Spanish relevant for them when consuming content on electronic media?

Methodology: This analysis is part of a larger study on HSS in communities …