Anthony Andrade-Villatoro
Research Mentor: Teresa Satterfield
Mentor Department: Romance Languages Literatures, LSA
Author(s): Anthony Andrade-Villatoro, Jacqueline Aguiar, Sophia Sims, Saydy Bravo-López , Teresa Satterfield-Linares
Session: Session 7 (4:00 PM – 4:50 PM)
Presentation Type: Poster 83
Abstract
Previous research on language and ethnic/racial identity examines bilingual speech, with attention to Spanish as a racialized ethnic marker (Zentella, 1997; Bucholtz, 2011; Rosa, 2019); however, the focus has been largely on adults and adolescents. The current study builds on recent investigations of Latino child language and identity development (Arredondo et al., 2016; Méndez & Satterfield, 2024), with a novel focus on young US Latino children’ s perceptions of racial/ethnic identities of Spanish language varieties. We generate LLM audiovisual stimuli of children’s Spanish varieties from numerous Spanish-speaking regions, including a limited Spanish proficiency “No Sabo Kidâ€_x009d_ US Latino sample. Using a videogame format, Phase 1 examines participants’ categorization of child Spanish varieties based on AI audio of children reading the story “Querido Primo.â€_x009d_ Phase 2 introduces AI visual stimuli (children corresponding to different dialectal regions). For each task, participants identify AI Child’s race and rate their friendliness, intelligence. PARTICIPANTS: (N=40, 7 – 9 years) US Spanish-speakers in Michigan. Group AA (N=20) attends Saturday Spanish heritage language classes. Group GR (N=20) receives no formal Spanish instruction. Participants’ Spanish proficiency assessed through standardized LexTale measures. HYPOTHESIS 1: Group AA will distinguish more Spanish varieties than Group GR, due to higher Spanish proficiency. HYPOTHESIS 2: Participants will rank dialects as “betterâ€_x009d_ or “worseâ€_x009d_ in comparison with other varieties. PILOT RESULTS: Supporting Hypothesis 1, Group AA correctly identified more Spanish varieties. Partially supporting Hypothesis 2: Groups AA and GR preferred all other dialects over the “No-Saboâ€_x009d_ dialect. Group AA had more positive views of children across variations, but linked more dialects to specific racial/ethnic traits. 80% of participants judged the “No Sabo Kidâ€_x009d_ as “unintelligent.â€_x009d_ Since Latino students make up 29% percent of US schools (NCES, 2024), it is important to understand how racial/ethnic and linguistic markers impact their lived experiences.
