Bilingual Initiatives Symposium 2026 Presentations

Generational Language Loss: What Contributes to it and What Effect Does it Have on Identity 

Magdalena Aguilar Ortiz, Junior Student, Tucson High Magnet School

Research on the topic of culture and language cites political, demographic factors, and historical events that contribute to generational heritage language loss, posing a threat to the continuation of cultures, and pointing to larger issues ingrained in systems and societal attitudes that push out language diversity, and by extent, diversity as a whole. Findings show a concerning pattern of heritage language loss specific to the U.S. This study explores the various mental, social, cultural, and generational factors that contribute to heritage language loss. Stemming from personal experience and trends tracked by preexisting research, it draws a connection between language loss and a broader and lasting disconnection between individuals and their culture. This study uses a combination of both qualitative and quantitative data that has been gathered from 20 participants between the ages of 40 and 60 who responded to a questionnaire. Through identifying repeated phrases, findings show that perceptions related to their heritage languages importance, the opportunities to speak this language, and the experiences of their parents/grandparents, largely impacted respondents' relationship and proficiency to this language. Furthermore, respondents who reported a lack of or reduced proficiency also cited feelings of disconnection and sadness because of it. Recommendations for future research include expanding the pool of participants, further examining the correlation between language proficiency and socioeconomic factors, and focusing on younger generations.

From K-12 to College: Building Bilingual Pathways Through Dual Language Education

Panel Moderator: Anaid Moreno, ELD & TWDL Coordinator ^{1, 2}, Anna Manzano, Director of Two-Way Dual Language¹ , Jose Urquijo Ocano, Undergraduate Student, University of Arizona Student, Alumni ²  Angela Villela Salazar, University of Arizona, Undergraduate Student, Pueblo HS Alumna²

1. Tucson Unified School District, 2. Pueblo High School

This panel highlights the lived continuum of bilingual education from K-12 dual language programs to higher education pathways within a Hispanic-Serving Institution context. Grounded in the experiences of Pueblo High School’s Two-Way Dual Language (TWDL) program, this session brings together K-12 leadership and former students who are now navigating the University of Arizona as bilingual scholars.
 

Translation & Interpretation (T&I): Connecting research, teaching & service in UA’s Department of Spanish & Portuguese

Panel Moderator: Sonia Colina, PhD, Regents Professor ^{1, 2}, Director of T&I program 

Panelists: Alejandra Torres, PhD, Coordinator & Instructor of T&I program^{1, 2}, Macarena Llamas & Sara Arrutia, Graduate Students^{1, 2}, &  Nayeli Bickerton, Undergraduate Student^{1, 2}, 

1. Department of Spanish & Portuguese, 2. College of Humanities

Translation and Interpretation: Connecting research, teaching and service in UA’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese

This panel provides an overview of translation and interpretation (T&I) activities in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese (DSP) at the University of Arizona.  It focuses on three areas: teaching, research and service, highlighting the connections between translation and interpretation, on the one hand, and heritage language teaching/research, on the other.  The panel, moderated by Sonia Colina, will include the following topics and presenters:

Research: 
Macarena Llamas Molina and Sara Arrutia García will present their dissertation research investigating the use of translation activities in two intermediate heritage language classrooms.  More specifically, Llamas’ study found that multimodal pedagogic translation materials enhanced heritage learners’ acquisition of Spanish idioms and low-frequency words, contributing to their lexical development (when compared to monolingual pedagogic translation materials and materials without translation activities).  Arrutia’s findings indicate that the use of functionalist translation activities in the heritage language classroom contribute to higher Critical Language Awareness (CLA) (Fairclough, 1995; Leeman, 2018) scores and improved translation proficiency. By aligning classroom practices with learners’ real-world experiences—such as informal translation and linguistic brokering (Tse, 1995; Valdés, 2003)—both studies seek to strengthen evidence-based approaches to Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) instruction across the bilingual continuum.

Teaching:  
Sonia Colina, Director of the T&I program, will describe the Translation and Interpretation emphasis of the Spanish major as well as the online intensive translation and interpretation certificates. She will discuss program requirements, goals and career pathways.

Service: 
Alejandra Torres, T&I program coordinator and instructor, will describe several internship opportunities T&I students are engaged in, with a special emphasis on the Arizona Model United Nations (AZMUN). AZMUN is an annual student-run bilingual, bicultural, and binational conference that employs T&I student as interpreters for its meetings.  
Nayeli Bickerton, T&I student, will share student perspectives about the T&I program and internships, with special attention to her experiences with AZMUN and the Catalina Foothills Spanish Robotics course.

References
Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. London, UK/New York, NY: Longman.
Leeman, J. (2018). Critical language awareness and Spanish as a heritage language: Challenging the linguistic subordination of US Latinxs. In The Routledge handbook of Spanish as a heritage language (pp. 345-358). Routledge.
Tse, L. (1995). Language Brokering among Latino Adolescents: Prevalence, Attitudes, and School Performance. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 17(2), 80–193.
Valdés, G. (2003). Expanding Definitions of Giftedness: The Case of Young Interpreters from Immigrant Communities. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
 

The Bilingual Scholar: Integrating Dual Language Approaches in Honors Thesis 

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Panel Moderator: Nadia Alvarez Mexía, PhD, Assistant Professor of Practice & Assistant Director of Learning Development & Community Involvement

During this panel session, attendees will learn about thesis and projects that Honors students are conducting, grounded in bilingualism experiences, including the use of Spanish as a research and academic source. Students will present their experiences, challenges, and needs regarding this bilingual approach, and how they are visualizing themselves as professionals through this experience.

Panelists: 

Alivia Alexander, Spanish and Leadership & Learning Innovation Majors, Theatre Arts and Music Minors.

Honors Thesis: Creativity and Connection through Songwriting.

Elaine Kang, Molecular and Cellular Biology Major, Health and Human Values and Biochemistry Minors, & Sanvi Lamba, Public Health and Physiology & Medical Science Majors, Spanish Minor. 

Honors Project:

Delivering Healthcare Through Community-Based Clinics in Agua Prieta, Mexico: A Quantitative Program Evaluation and Needs Assessment. 

Honors Students, W.A. Franke Honors College 

Serving to Build Bicultural Bridges: A K-12 Story of Persistence.

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María Christina Federico Brummer, M.Ed.,  Ph.D. Candidate in Mexican American Studies

Director of Mexican American Students Services Department

Tucson Unified School District

Beyond Translation: Bilingual Exhibition Interpretation at the Center for Creative Photography

Denisse Brito, Learning and Engagement Manager, Center for Creative Photography

This session reflects on a JustArts 2025-2026 Fellowship project, Common Threads, in which a local artist facilitates a series of Mexican embroidery workshops within the University of Arizona’s library makerspace. With the teaching artist being a monolingual speaker of Spanish, an interpreter is present to ensure a greater range of access to students and faculty; still, Spanish is the dominant language in the space. As the project works to involve cultural craft within the ethos of ‘making’ and innovation that structures university makerspaces, it also creates an environment for bilingual and cultural exchange, where both heritage and non-Spanish speakers can share in an activity centered around the language. English takes a backseat in knowledge dissemination, resulting in a greater number of participants coming as they are in their level of Spanish fluency and working through both visual learning and delayed English translation to fill in their gaps of understanding. It also generates a place to engage in Spanish first, for both troubleshooting and conversation, giving the floor to students who may have not felt that explicit invitation elsewhere on campus. While this project is not focused on linguistic aspects, these findings provide important insight into the disruption of language hierarchies on campus when promoting cultural interventions.

JustArts: Language Dominance in Cultural Making on Campus

Riqué Duhamell Escobedo, Graduate Student & JustArts Fellow, Arizona Arts

This session reflects on a JustArts 2025-2026 Fellowship project, Common Threads, in which a local artist facilitates a series of Mexican embroidery workshops within the University of Arizona’s library makerspace. With the teaching artist being a monolingual speaker of Spanish, an interpreter is present to ensure a greater range of access to students and faculty; still, Spanish is the dominant language in the space. As the project works to involve cultural craft within the ethos of ‘making’ and innovation that structures university makerspaces, it also creates an environment for bilingual and cultural exchange, where both heritage and non-Spanish speakers can share in an activity centered around the language. English takes a backseat in knowledge dissemination, resulting in a greater number of participants coming as they are in their level of Spanish fluency and working through both visual learning and delayed English translation to fill in their gaps of understanding. It also generates a place to engage in Spanish first, for both troubleshooting and conversation, giving the floor to students who may have not felt that explicit invitation elsewhere on campus. While this project is not focused on linguistic aspects, these findings provide important insight into the disruption of language hierarchies on campus when promoting cultural interventions.

Shifting the Narrative: Evidence, Equity, and Action in Bilingual Development

Génesis Arizmendi, PhD, CCC-SLP - Assistant Professor & Director of the Multicultural Bilingual 

Certificate Program, Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences, College of Science

From Bilingual Engagement to Real-World Impact: A Replicable Collaborative Model for Public Health & Education

Zenén Salazar, MPH, Director, HealthCare Partnership, Department of Psychology, College of Science & Alma Tejeda Padron, PhD, Assistant Professor of Practice, Department of Psychology, College of Science

This presentation shares an ongoing bilingual initiative within the Health Care Partnership in the Psychology Department at the University of Arizona, focused on addressing commercial tobacco, smokeless tobacco, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), and nicotine pouches. Since Spring 2024, through a collaborative effort between program leadership and faculty, we have created hands-on experiential learning opportunities that actively engage bilingual Spanish-English speaking undergraduate students in the development of public health interventions. These opportunities include independent research, directed research, and internships, with students directly contributing to the creation and revision of culturally and linguistically responsive training materials used to educate health professionals in tobacco use and dependence treatment.

A Bilingual Approach to Academic Advising with Dual Degree Students in Mexico

Hope Noriega, Program Coordinator, Global Health Institute, Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health

At the Global Health Institute, one of our goals is to provide meaningful global educational opportunities that equip students locally and globally with the skills and tools necessary to become globally minded and culturally competent public health professionals. Being an HSI only one hour from the Mexican border, partnerships with Mexican universities and organizations are essential for maintaining positive relations and carrying out the university’s mission. One way we do that is by offering a dual degree program, in collaboration with Arizona International, where students studying medicine at Universidad del Valle de Mexico (UVM), one of our partner universities in Mexico, can simultaneously study a BS in Public Health from the College of Public Health. All students who participate are native Spanish speaking students, and English is their second language. 
 

Borderlands Writing Program: Placement & Curricular Innovation for Bicultural/Bilingual Writing

Melani Martinez, MFA - Associate Professor of Practice & Assistant Director of Placement & Writing Programs, Department of English, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences

Incoming freshman at the University of Arizona must take a first-year writing sequence to fulfill their Gen-Ed requirements. Historically students have been randomly enrolled in writing course sections in their first semester, separated into the mainstream or international student/EAL binary tracks. But what about students in Nepantla? To support our students ni de aquí, ni de allá–those from the liminal spaces between two different worlds, cultures, languages, and identities–we reimagined our placement and enrollment infrastructure towards HSI servingness. Inspired by our university’s Heritage Spanish Program, we revised the student self-placement tool and created capacity for enrollment in a third track, Borderlands Writing. The Borderlands Writing program, though currently unfunded since the discontinuation of the Department of Education's Title V HSI grant awards, was created to help students in the in-between to build a sense of belonging at the university through a place-based, culturally responsive writing curriculum that opens paths for bilingual academics. This program serves predominantly first-generation college students from U.S. / Mexico Border regions who are bi-cultural and/or bilingual by providing a course option that recognizes their experiential knowledge. The program, now in its 3rd year, has shown a growth from 1 to 18 Borderlands sections and has provided over 800 seats for Borderlands writing students. Our 2025 data also shows an 11% increase in Hispanic student persistence for those who were enrolled in both semesters of Borderlands Writing compared to general courses. Despite the development of infrastructure to place and enroll students with positive persistence rates, the program is at risk. We hope that opportunities to connect and collaborate with partners within and beyond the university can help sustain Borderlands Writing. We look forward to sharing more about our tools and curriculum and would love to learn more about how this work intersects with others!

Bilingual Minds in Action: Research and Community Engagement in the Arizona Applied Psycholinguistics Lab

Tania Leal, PhD, Assistant Professor ^{1, 2}, 

Francisca Fabiola Urrea Salazar, Undergraduate Student ³, Mark Papag Cruz, Undergraduate Student ⁴, Hannia Rojas Barreda, Graduate Student ^{1, 2}, Carlos Krapp López, Graduate Students ^{1, 2}, Davo Acevedo Cardona, Graduate Student ^{5, 6}

1. Department of Spanish & Portuguese,  2. College of Humanities, 3. Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, 4. College of Science, 5. Department of Linguistics 6. Social & Behavioral Sciences 

The Arizona Applied Psycholinguistics Lab (AAPL) at the University of Arizona investigates how bilingual speakers acquire and process language, with a particular focus on Spanish in heritage and second-language contexts. Situated within a Hispanic-Serving Institution in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, we integrate perspectives from psycholinguistics, second language acquisition, and theoretical linguistics to better understand how bilingual minds represent and process linguistic structures. A central goal of our work is to combine experimental methods with theoretically informed questions about bilingual grammar, processing, and learning.
 

Spanish Departments' Role in Preparing Bilingual Teachers

Carmen King Ramírez, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Spanish & Portuguese, College of Humanities

Dual language immersion (DLI) programs have experienced impressive growth during the first part of the 21st century. In a recent canvas of DLI programs, 44 of 50 U.S. states reported offering academic curriculum that pairs English with another language, 80% of those programs focused on forming students who are biliterate/bilingual in Spanish (American Council for International Education, 2021).  Despite the growing demand for DLI, there is a national shortage of educators who have the linguistic proficiency and educational training necessary to teach in such programs. Current data shows that while 21% of the U.S. student population speaks Spanish at home, only 13% of K-12 teachers do so (Century Foundation, 2023). Of the 13% of bilingual teachers identified, many lack the linguistic proficiency to teach academic content in a Spanish immersion setting (Hernández & Alfaro, 2020).