Retrospectives, Advances, and Current Needs in the Teaching of Spanish to United States Hispanic Bilingual Students

DESPITE the damaging repercussions of the current anti-immigrant climate and of persistent state legislative initiatives to make English the official language, I nevertheless have a deeper optimism today about advances made by the foreign language profession in teaching Spanish as a heritage language, more commonly known as Spanish for native speakers. That statement does not mean that I overlook either the sociopolitical atmosphere affecting instruction or the pedagogical problems that teachers and learners have faced and continue to face.