ABSTRACT
The benefits of undergraduate research for students from traditionally underrepresented groups are well documented in STEMM. However, few studies have focused on similar programs in the humanities. The objective of this chapter is to do so by describing an inclusive research initiative grounded in Learning by Design that involved the collaboration of a first-generation faculty member, a first-generation graduate student mentor, and 21 heritage- and second-language (L2) Spanish undergraduates in an American university. The initiative had research, pedagogical, and service-oriented goals, as its main purpose was to develop a research-guided, theoretically—and pedagogically—sound open-source L2 Spanish textbook. The project also featured applied, collaborative learning activities, and critical reflection and practice. This work describes the initiative in detail, and it presents the participants’ reflections on their work, the ways in which they contributed to the project, and the effects it had on their perceptions of their Spanish and bilingual–bicultural identity.
