Research Paper Ruiz !

Maintaining Cultural Identity

Moises Ruiz

Pacific Oaks College

HD-300 Early Childhood Themes and Life Cycles

Dan Beaman

June 23, 2016

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Introduction

In the Untied States, the land of opportunity, we are now locked in a heated battle about

immigrants rights and the laws that allow or disallow them to stay. Immigrants are essential to

maintain our economy and to take the jobs no one else wants. Beside the fact that they are at the

bottom of societies totem pole, they are constantly struggling to keep their families, residence,

and cultural heritage together (among other things). Maintaining a cultural identity is difficult

when you are in a new foreign country. My theory is by way of language, individuals can main-

taining cultural identity in a foreign country. Part of keeping that cultural identity alive is the

language. For Latinos in general being from a country just as important as speaking and under-

standing the language.

The reason behind this research paper is I faced cultural identity issues in the past be-

cause Spanish was my first language. Although I was born in the U.S. since I spoke Spanish I

was going to be placed in ESL (as they termed it in the 1980s) class, and my mom and preschool

teacher had to go to the district to allow me to be in an all English class. The school official said

I would fail and they would not be responsible for that, but I succeed and thrived in my all Eng-

lish speaking class. What my family and I are instilling in the next generation of our family, that

being my bi-racial nephew, is that he too can learn 2 languages and succeed as well. He will

learn our cultural and maintain it for the future. Author Lisa Delpit make this point Children

have the right to their own language, their own culture. We must fight cultural

hegemony (Delpit, 1995, pg. 37).

What Id like to learn about the outcome of my theory is how many immigrants maintain

their cultural heritage through language. How many continue to speak their native tongue and
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pass this on to their offsprings and the generations to come. Thus being able to keep that connec-

tion to their: past, heritage, tradition and culture; In other words Cultural Pluralism which J.

Mena makes this distinction when referring to a non-dominant culture trying to keep its value

and traditions alive (Mena, 2008).

Methodology

Deciding to poll many individuals that are of various Latino based cultures, including

friends, family, parents from school and some adolescent students.

A Likert Scale was used to create a survey for my participants to do. The first part of the

surveys designed to get some basic information such as; country of origin and spoken language.

The second part of the survey was the rating scale. Eight questions were posed and asked the par-

ticipants to rate: Yes, Sometimes/Often, No. This format was used because it was easy and

fast, and its not too over complicate the survey and make it needlessly long for the participants. I

figured since most restaurant and online survey use a likert scale it be the best, fast and easy for

the participating individuals.

The survey will help the base of my theory and have a strong foundation to support my

theory of maintaining cultural identity, through language in a foreign country. The survey will

give me a general idea of what the views are currently in our state and at this point in time. The

survey will address the key point of: country of origin, and language spoken (mother tongue).

The first section, or base information, will help figure out who is taking the survey, what

country are they from or they consider themselves from. Even if they are born in the United

States I asked what other country they identify themselves as, if any.
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Cultural Language Retention

SURVEY
Section I: Base Information

Country of Origin: Language Spoken

Guatemalan Colombian Brazilian Spanish
Honduran Ecuadorian Guyananian Portuguese

Salvadorian Peruvian Paraguayan French

Mexican Nicaraguan Uruguayan Other
Costa Rican Chilean Caribbean

Panamanian Bolivian Other

Venezuelan Argentinian

Please take this quick survey and be has honesty and truthful as possible. Think about your
answer form an ethnic or cultural stand point only.
Section II: Please rate your answers. Yes. Sometimes/Often. No.
A. I feel language (Spanish) connects me to my family and heritage.
Yes Sometimes/Often No
B. My parent spoke Spanish at home.
Y S/O N
C. I spoke Spanish when I was younger.
Y S/O N
D. I no longer speak Spanish (as fluent as my parents).
Y S/O N
E. I do not teach my children Spanish.
Y S/O N
F. I teach my children Spanish.
Y S/O N
G. I want my children to learn Spanish, somehow.
Y S/O N
H. I used Spanish so my children would not understand some conversations.
Y S/O N
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The second section of the survey was eight statements, each participant will rate their an-

swer in a simple: yes, sometimes/often or no. Each statement will address the culture, connection

to the culture, language and then passing on of cultural heritage (in this case language) The

above page 4 is the sample of the survey used for this research paper.

Critical Assessment of Research Design

There are many limitations to the research for this paper. One being the time limit and the

short time it was allowed to complete this task. With more time a survey the entire family rather

then individuals would be ideal. There is a a possibility that participants could of change or soft-

en a response given to them and therefor creating a flawed measure of the answer I needed.

Collecting objective data is another factor that is an issue. When sampling participants

that are close to you on a personal or professional level it can create a biased effect. Participants

might not be so truthful when the person giving the survey is their friend/co-worker and there-

for the data can be skewed. Participants might not feel comfortable giving honest responses, es-

pecially if the surveyed is the same room.

Results & Analysis

Section I Base Information:

Country of Number of: Results: Language Spoken Number of: Results:

Origin: (out of 28) (out of 28) (other than English) (out of 28) (out of 28)

Mexican 12 43% Spanish 25 89%

Salvadorian 6 21% Portugese 2 7%

Guatemalan 4 14% French 1 4%

Panamanian 2 7% Other 0

Caribbean 2 7%

Peruvian I 4%

Colombian I 4%
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Section II:

Statement YES Percent of Sometimes/ Percent of NO Percent of

YES Often S/O NO

A 16 57% 10 36% 2 7%

B 14 50% 10 36% 4 14%

C 16 57% 9 32% 3 11%

D 4 14% 10 36% 14 50%

E 3 11% 14 50% 11 39%

F 9 32% 12 43% 7 25%

G 10 36% 15 53% 3 11%

H 14 50% 11 39% 3 11%

In question A Spanish connects me to my family and heritage, 57 percent agree that it

does. If you include the sometimes/often individuals it makes it around 93 percent of all Latinos

feel strongly or somewhat strongly, that speaking Spanish connects them to their heritage and

culture. More than 50 percent of those surveyed say that their parents spoke Spanish in the home,

and 57 percent spoke Spanish when they were younger (question C). On the other hand 36 per-

cent want their children to learn Spanish (somehow) and 50 percent used Spanish to communi-

cate sensitive issues and conversations (question H).

Question D indicates that within this group of participants 14 percent no longer speak

Spanish fluently as their parents did. According to Soni Sangha reporter for Fox News Latino in

2014, 37 percent of Hispanics between the ages of 5-17 spoke only English in their home, com-

pared to 30 percent in 2000 (Sangha, 2016). It is clear by the data that there is less and less
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passing on of native language with each generation living outside their country of origin. 11 per-

cent of those survey said they do not teach there children Spanish, as indicated b question C.

Young children are mostly oblivious to the distinctions of race until they are at Ericksons

5th stage of psychosocial development where as they develop some confusion over who they are;

Identity vs. Inferiority (Erickson, 1988, pg. 14). Children at this stage begin to ask where they

come from and learn more about their heritage, they are able to think theoretically, hypothetically

and logically; Piagets Formal operations (McLeod, 2009). Student will ask to translate words

into Spanish, or ask what a particular word their parents said means, or tell stories of meeting

their grandparents and not being able to speak to them because of a language barrier.

Reflection & Conclusion

In surveying families and individuals I did come across a note worthy point. Although

some parents did admit not to teach their children the language they did name their children in

Spanish, just like some parents themselves were named in Spanish (even if they did not like it)

similar to Esperanza in A House on Mango Street (Cisneros, 1992). This individual knew what

her name meant, but used an Americanized English nick-name. Very similar to my fathers sister,

my aunt, whos name is Maria de Refugio, but goes by Ruth or Mary here in the United

States. Underlying all this is still a connection to ones family and ancestry, by way of culture.

There has also been a sense to adapt and conform to standard of society and where you

live. There are many cultural traditions that are being forgotten and lost. What I can do to pro-

mote cultural identity in the classroom is what Ioga says Having opened a safe channel for the

child to share their inner world(Igoa, 1995, pg. 126). Having an open discussion about cul-

ture, inviting families to share cultural traditions by way of: food, music, customs and language.
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As well as place value to their culture by acknowledgment that is makes the individual unique

from everyone else.

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References

Cisneros, Sandra (1992) The House on Mango Street. London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Delpit, Lisa (1995) Other Peoples Children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York, NY:
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Gonzalez-Mena, Janet (2008) Diversity in Early Care and Education: Honoring differences.
New York, NY: McGraw Hill

Igoa, Cristina (1995) The Inner World of the Immigrant Child. Yahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Assoc., Inc., Publishers

Erickson, Joan (1988) Wisdom and the Senses: The way of creativity. New York, NY:
W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.

McLeod, S. (2009) Jean Piaget. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

Sangha, Soni (2016) U.S. Latinos struggle to keep the next generation speaking Spanish at home.
Retrieved from http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2016/05/23/us-latinos-struggle-
to-keep-next-generation-speaking-spanish-at-home/

Terrell, E., Klein, S. & Jewett, J. (1998) "When Teachers Reflect: Journeys towards effective,
inclusive practice." Washington, DC: NAEYC