Description
The growing presence of speakers of Spanish as a heritage language (SHL) in the United States was the main motivation in this research study that aimed to determine the benefits of using music as a teaching tool in the SHL classroom in post-secondary education. This research was based on theoretical basis that state that music offers affective and social benefits as it promotes integration and classroom participation, given the linguistic variation found in song lyrics and their cultural richness. In this quantitative research that was developed in a completely virtual mode, data were collected from 29 college-level participants who completed an initial questionnaire on their musical tastes and a pretest to measure their previous knowledge of various Spanish speaking music genres, some linguistic varieties, and their cultural perception in relation to music. They also participated in the implementation of the pedagogical intervention that was created for this research and, lastly, they completed a posttest. Once the intervention was concluded, the data collected in the surveys were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Then, comparative results were obtained that supported the hypothesis of this research, which anticipated an expansion in the bilingual spectrum of participants and a cultural enrichment after the pedagogical intervention. Finally, the researcher presented the conclusions and limitations that were observed in this study, as well as recommendations for similar future studies aimed at the maintenance and enrichment of the SHL speakers at the college level in the United States. Keywords: Spanish as a heritage language (SHL), music, cultural enrichment, linguistic enrichment, pedagogy, Spanish in the United States.
