As an applied linguist, my research interests are concerned with exploring issues involved in language practices in an effort to gain insights into unsolved problems, especially in relation to language learning and teaching. My research areas of interest are the following:

Spanish heritage language education

          My interest in this area was sparked by my work assisting dominant Spanish speakers at a local middle school. In this context, I witnessed the excessive focus on English development on the part of school teachers to the detriment of Spanish. At the University of Arizona, I was fortunate to receive both academic training and teaching experience that have prepared me to became an active scholar in this field. I conducted research on the students' attitudes, beliefs and experiences in the language classroom and a study on the student perspectives on curriculum and program issues and the pedagogical implications thereof. I have also conducted a study that examines the students' perceptions of their ideal SHL teacher and another one which surveys SHL programs in the Southwestern United States. I am currently conducting research on the acquisition of spelling and Spanish language maintenance.

Teacher development and program administration

          Guiding language teachers in their search of effective teaching practices has been a long-standing interest of mine. It stems directly from my own struggles along the journey towards better teaching practices and the desire to assist others in similar circumstances. In this area, I conducted a study with two colleagues that explored the different perspectives students, teachers, and peer-evaluators hold with respect to effective language teaching. An additional area of interest within teacher development is the relationship between theory and practice and how teachers learn to make that connection. In a study completed about this topic, I found that language teachers do not find this relationship to be straightforward and need considerable assistance in making it explicit. In the future, I would like to explore the following topics:

          • Effective teaching practices
          • Technology integration in language and teacher development programs
          • The relationship between theory and practice in language teaching
        

Language acquisition and teaching methodologies

         My pursuit for effective language practices has led me to conduct research on different aspects of Spanish heritage and foreign language acquisition. I completed a quasi-experimental study that explored the role of perception of the stressed syllable in the acquisition of written accent marks. This article, entitled, “La enseñanza del acento ortográfico en español y su relación con la percepción de la sílaba tónica” is going to be published in Hispania this December, 2007. My dissertation research filled a gap in the existing literature by examining the Spanish language development and recovery of a group of HL learners that possess strong receptive proficiencies but limited productive abilities. This study examined the role the language classroom plays in their language development process by assessing the impact of two different types of curricula on the students’ language accuracy and complexity, as well as on their attitudes and use of Spanish after one semester of instruction. In the future, I plan to continue my research in the following areas:

           • Spanish heritage language writing and reading competence

• Spanish spelling instruction

           • Heritage language grammar development