Una historia de la enseñanza del español en los Estados Unidos

The article presents various complexities that have influenced the history of the acquisition and teaching of the Spanish language in the United States. Following a brief introduction of language acquisition research between the years of 1950-1970, the article focuses on describing the history of second language teaching from the perspective of studies that employ a communicative methodology. Several theoretical frameworks are discussed within the communicative approach, among them psycholinguistic and sociocultural models, and the effect that they have had on pedagogy. Additionally, the article highlights the special case of Spanish as a heritage language since there are millions of Spanish-speakers that have learned Spanish in the home but without having access to formal education their native language until high school. The article concludes emphasizing the challenges and difficulties encountered in the training of second language teachers.