Perceptions of Linguistic Legitimacy Among Students
Megan Frate, OWLA Membership Chair
Spanish Teacher, Westerville City Schools
Cat. Cow. Water.
These three words are all students hear before weighing in on the question, “Does this baby speak Spanish?” The hypothesis is that students will grant more linguistic legitimacy to a baby’s first words than to their own developing proficiency—even when that proficiency consists of hundreds or thousands of words. To explore this, I followed up with another question, “Do you speak Spanish?” These questions were posed to 103 students enrolled in Spanish levels 2 and 4.
Overall, the results support the hypothesis. Sixty-three percent of students responded that the baby does speak Spanish, but only 48% perceive themselves as Spanish speakers. “Speaker” is the term I used for this study, even though there are many ways we can qualify and/or quantify linguistic proficiency. “Speaker” conveys to students what the study is looking for without influencing their interpretation of the word and concept.
These results provide meaningful insights into the minds of language learners and how our students perceive linguistic competence and legitimacy. Sociolinguistic research has long documented the powerful role of nativeness ideologies—the belief that language competence is tied to a native-like mastery, often defined as complete, error-free, and monolingual control. These ideologies are reinforced not only by broader social institutions such as employers and policymakers but also, at times unintentionally, by educational systems and classroom practices.
To further explore these beliefs, the survey was followed up with an extension question: At what point can (or should) a language learner say that they are a speaker of a language? The results reflected the nativeness perspective. Many students view language as something with totality, a finite system: “When they know everything,” “every word,” “the whole language,” many students responded. Some responses held a deficit-oriented view of their own linguistic competence: “Other people would say that I don’t speak Spanish”, or “I have only been studying for a few years.”
These perceptions may be one of the contributing factors to long-term language study. Why study a language for years if one feels linguistically incompetent? Especially when legitimacy is tied to an unattainable goal of total mastery? When knowing a language is equated with perfection, learners may struggle to see themselves as legitimate speakers at any age of development.
If I could have a few more minutes with these students, I would invite them to reflect on all the things they can do that the baby cannot yet do. They can write, interpret meaning, ask and answer questions, and communicate using complete sentences! Most importantly, I would emphasize that there is no finish line in language learning, which takes the pressure off of having to “finish” it. Language learning is a lifelong process, and participation at any level constitutes speakerhood.
When students redefine themselves as Spanish speakers, they are also redefining their relationship with the language. From there, the path they choose is up to them: they can stop at the end of the course or continue to integrate Spanish into their daily lives and identities. In this sense, even novice communication counts, because it’s communication, not perfection, that makes someone a speaker.
Sources:
The Cardinal 