Saydy Bravo-Lopez
Research Mentor: Teresa Satterfield
Mentor Department: Romance Languages Literatures, LSA
Author(s): Saydy Bravo-Lopez, Teresa Satterfield, Jacqueline Aguiar , Sophia Sims, Anthony Andrade-Villatoro
Session: Session 7 (4:00 PM – 4:50 PM)
Presentation Type: Poster 134
Abstract
In the US, 76 million people speak two languages, with Spanish as the second dominant language (Daruma, 2025). Research shows bilingualism is a unique contextual and experiential variable, critical in child development studies. Particularly, the prevalence [frequency], intensity [complexity], and distribution [usage patterns] of the child’s two languages will have bearing on their degree of bilingualism (Bialystock & Werker, 2017). This study design is finalized, but pending implementation. We ask: In the upper Midwest US, without large Latino communities, how does attending a bilingual school versus an all English school affect Latino children’s Spanish proficiency, given factors of prevalence, intensity and distribution of Spanish and English? If these children are raised in homes and a close-knit community where the minority language Spanish is spoken, but attend school and social activities in English, can they maintain the heritage language (HL) at a sufficient proficiency level? We study whether higher Spanish proficiency and HL maintenance directly correlates with Latino/a children’s (ages 7 – 10) participation in a bilingual school compared to those Spanish-speaking children attending an English only school. The study will collect data through an oral Spanish-language survey with N= 30 (15/15) Latino/a child participants in Western Michigan, to measure prevalence, intensity and distribution of Spanish and English for each child. Statistical analyses will determine possible correlations between the two study populations. We hypothesize that Latino children attending bilingual schools for 3 or more years will have higher Spanish proficiency, but only if prevalence and intensity for Spanish are also higher.
