“Native speakers” are people who learned the language at home from their families or friends in the way children normally learn to speak. In contrast, “Second Language Learners” were taught Spanish from books, with structured language lessons. “Heritage Learners” at UNC are mostly Latino students who are picking up their home language where they left off when they entered school or moved away from their parents’ country of origin.
Occasionally English-dominant students have experiences similar to the home environment and their Spanish develops in an intuitive way. These students may also apply for the Heritage Learner courses, but will be accepted only after an interview to assess their language skills.
Do I know enough Spanish?
In every language course, every student’s level of proficiency (skill in speaking, reading, writing, etc.) and knowledge of the language (competence) is different, so you don’t have to meet a standard or fulfill a minimum language requirement to be a native speaker of Spanish. The only requirement is that you learned the language in a different way, so that now the way you analyze and use the language is different from L2 (Second Language) learners.
Why should I take these courses?
The Department of Romance Languages’ courses in Spanish are geared towards L2 learners. They focus on normative grammar and practice formal structures that are problematic for English speakers. Since your brain manages English and Spanish differently from an English dominant speaker and the experiences that you have had with the language have been different, what you need to practice and the errors you make are different too. The courses offered for Heritage Speakers are the only ones designed to meet the needs of native speakers.
What will I get out of taking Span 266 or Span 326 if I already speak Spanish?
What does an English speaking student get out of taking English at UNC? Think about it.
Without Span 266 and 326, your university education would be missing one of the salient ingredients of the teaching and learning experience of all Spanish speakers who study in a Spanish speaking country: the professional development of his or her native language. Now you will be asked to perform in Spanish at the level of a professional, talking and writing about topics that are not discussed every day and proving your proficiency at tasks such as
- convincing others of your point of view,
- explaining your perspective on issues,
- teaching others what you know,
- questioning the assumptions and beliefs of other speakers,
- challenging collectives and individuals with whom you disagree,
- defending yourself from challenges both academic and personal.
In other words, the Spanish courses for heritage learners, or native speakers, give you the opportunity to grow up linguistically, to bring your Spanish to the level of your English, to take the familial Spanish you learned at home, in the private sphere, and make it ready for use in the marketplace, the academy, the places of power, in public.
Will I get an A in this course?
Only if you work for it… but lots of people have.
Grammar and Composition for Heritage Learners 