Balam, Osmer and de Prada Pérez, Ana
(2017)
Attitudes Toward Spanish and Code-Switching
in Belize: Stigmatization and Innovation in the
Spanish Classroom.
Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 16 (1).
pp. 17-31.
ISSN 1534-8458
Abstract
Through the analysis of survey and interview data, we investigated the
attitudes and perceptions of 32 multilingual teachers of Spanish in Belize,
a code-switching (CS) context where Spanish is in intense contact with
English and Belizean Kriol. More specifically, we examined teachers’ and
students’ attitudes toward Spanish and CS and teachers’ perceptions
vis-à-vis students’ attitudes toward Spanish instruction. The study revealed
that whereas some teachers held negative views of Northern Belizean
Spanish, they did not markedly perceive standard Spanish as “better” than
the local variety of Belizean Spanish. The analysis also showed that most
teachers had a positive predisposition to the use of CS as a pedagogical
tool in their classrooms, a finding that suggests that ultra-normative attitudes toward Spanish varieties are not prevalent among these educators. In
view of students’ attitudes, teachers concurred that students had overwhelmingly negative attitudes toward standard Spanish, in line with previous
findings. We argue that educational reforms and status-planning efforts are
vital to destigmatize Spanish and to promote its maintenance alongside
Belizean Kriol and English.
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