Bilingual Youth

“This volume is a welcome and timely addition to a growing body of research that focuses on questions of language and identity in young people growing up in bilingual settings. The editors have brought together an excellent collection of quality papers exploring a fascinating range of issues affecting the linguistic practices of Spanish-English youth in English language communities. This collection of papers will undoubtedly become a key reference for the study of Spanish-English bilingualism in all its facets. Among some of the book’s great strengths are its comprehensive coverage in geographical terms, its diverse methodological approaches and its critical examinations of the complex questions around language choices and linguistic identity. In addition, it is highly accessible to different audiences: researchers, students of multilingualism as well as community workers, teachers and policy makers will find a lot in this book that will help them understand language choices, problems and issues linked to children growing up bilingually.”

“It has long been acknowledged that language change usually begins with children, and few would deny that today’s children hold our future—and our future language—in their hands. Bilingual youth: Spanish in English-speaking societies breaks important new ground in researching the sociolinguistic realities of raising bilingual families and growing up bilingual in English-dominant societies. From kindergarten classrooms and quinceañera birthday parties to home and school literacy and language attrition, the essays explore attitudes and anxieties from within and without Spanish-speaking families and communities. Spanish is on the front line, always under scrutiny and often under duress, in societies where English is regarded as not only necessary but also sufficient, and interloper languages are unwelcome. In the worst instances children, as society’s most vulnerable members, bear the brunt of adults’ ignorance and intolerance, and battered egos lead to loss of languages and cultures. Another unique and highly desirable aspect of this volume is the geographical coverage: not only the United States, but also Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. For the first time ever scholars and students can explore the full range of Spanish-surrounded-by-English bilingual encounters worldwide. The common thread, shared by researchers from a broad cross-section of disciplines and perspectives, is the inseparable bond between language and personal identity, and the vehement assertion that no child—bilingual or otherwise—should suffer because of language.”

“Developing effective research agendas to support Spanish language development, maintenance and identity in foreign contexts is the best way forward and Bilingual Youth gives us solid and inspriring ground to continue the work.”