Speaking Identity: Language Investment and Agency Among Spanish Heritage Speakers

This dissertation investigates how Spanish heritage speakers (HS) in Chicago negotiate their bilingual identities and invest in their heritage language amid competing social forces. Drawing on frameworks of identity, agency, and critical language awareness, the study explores how Spanish shapes participants’ Latine identities and what factors influence their language investment. Using a qualitative grounded-theory approach, I collected data from ten undergraduate heritage Spanish students (ages 19–23) through linguistic autobiographies, semi-structured interviews, and a group discussion. Data were analyzed inductively, identifying themes related to identity, language use, and power dynamics. Findings reveal that agency is central to heritage language investment. In schools, participants experienced both support (e.g., translanguaging) and exclusion (e.g., English-only norms). They resisted marginalization by strategically asserting their bilingualism, demonstrating Critical Linguistic Agency (Cibils, 2011). Beyond school, family and community networks served as “counterspaces,” where Spanish was valued for cultural connection and social support. Participants leveraged Spanish to maintain family ties, navigate social networks, and assert their linguistic identity. The study concludes that HS actively negotiate bilingualism, balancing the cultural value of Spanish with institutional pressures favoring English. Even when their Spanish skills felt “incomplete,” participants found ways to validate their linguistic identity. The dissertation advocates for educational practices that recognize students’ hybrid language practices, promote translanguaging, and challenge deficit perspectives, empowering heritage speakers as agents of cultural continuity.