ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 provides both quantitative and qualitative data to assess the impact of the Spanish–English learning community program on students’ success. Metrics indicate that students who benefitted from linked Spanish and English academic literacy courses performed better in terms of course pass rates, retention, average grade point averages, credit accumulation, and progression through the developmental English course sequence. Qualitative data collected through ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews suggest that a mother tongue–friendly environment facilitates second language acquisition by creating a “safe space” where students feel comfortable expressing themselves in their second language, which, in other situations, makes them feel excluded from the learning process. Translanguaging allows students to engage agentively with an academic discourse of greater complexity while developing positive identities as learners. Far from constituting an impediment for second language and literacy acquisition, if used effectively, the mother tongue provides additional opportunities for strengthening students’ command of English lexical, syntactical, and rhetorical features by building on what students already know. The instructor’s participation in the Spanish course facilitated the adoption of a translanguaging approach and a shift from “coercive” to “collaborative” power relations, which made students more willing to take risks while using English for academic purposes.
