The Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies is pleased to support Alejandro Acero Ayuda, a PhD candidate in Romance Languages, through the CLLAS Graduate Research Grant.
Acero Ayuda’s project, Post-graduation Critical Language Awareness: Voices of SHL Alumni, examines the long-term impact of Spanish Heritage Language courses on Latinx students after they graduate from college. Spanish Heritage Language programs are designed to support students who grew up speaking or hearing Spanish at home, while also helping them build literacy, professional language skills, and stronger connections to their cultural and linguistic identities.
His research focuses on a key question in the field: do critical approaches used in Spanish Heritage Language classrooms continue to shape how students understand and respond to language discrimination after they leave college? By speaking with alumni, Acero Ayuda’s project explores whether students continue to challenge harmful ideas that frame U.S. Spanish speakers as “inauthentic” or less legitimate.
This work is especially important because many Latinx students in the United States do not have access to formal bilingual or heritage language education until college. Acero Ayuda’s research helps show how university programs can support language maintenance, cultural connection, and positive ethnolinguistic identity beyond the classroom.
With CLLAS support, Acero Ayuda will continue the data analysis phase of his dissertation. His project offers valuable insight into the lasting impact of humanities-based research and critical pedagogy on Latinx and Latin American communities in Oregon.