Abstract
In the United States there is a lot of pressure for students in the educational system to stop speaking their heritage language in favor of Standard English. By the time native Spanish speakers enter into high school their abilities in their mother tongue vary. Some students have maintained high levels of language proficiency including oral comprehension, reading, writing and grammar, while other students have very low levels of language proficiency. This thesis is a study of the factors influencing Spanish language maintenance and loss among Latino students in the context of the United States. The research focuses on students' language proficiency, language use, and attitudes towards their heritage language and the degree to which they maintain or lose their native language skills. A sample of 16 Latino high school students took the Language Attitudes and Use Survey and a Spanish language proficiency test (McGraw-Hill Glencoe, n.d.). Data from the survey and proficiency test formed the basis of this study, which compared language attitudes to language use and proficiency scores of each of the students. The results of this study demonstrated that while students have positive outlook towards the home language, their use of Spanish is low outside of the classroom setting. The student's had varying proficiency levels in the language. Dual Immersion students were shown to have higher language proficiency scores and more use of the language outside of the classroom. More contexts within school need to be found that facilitate the use of the Spanish language for heritage language speakers.