Masen Thompson

Reflection on Cultural Competence

For the two sections of the cultural competence portion of my portfolio, I chose two

different research papers that I wrote that I think best showed the development of my skills

and understanding of the Spanish culture, as well as successfully demonstrating the criteria. My

first research paper, which showed the criteria for cultural practices, I believe is an incredible

example of ways that I have grown and developed my cultural competence and how I believe

that I can continue to develop it as time goes on.

This first paper, which I wrote for Spanish 423 (Border Spanish), focused on the way that

Spanish is lost as generations of immigrants live in the United States, from the immigrating

generation, to their kids and children, and so on. This phenomenon is an essential part of

attaining an appreciation and knowledge of cultural practices, as the Spanish culture cannot

have their culture without the ability to speak the Spanish language. I learned that as the

generations continue to live in the United States and become more and more engrossed in the

English culture, which almost always results in the future generations (starting with the third or

fourth generation) losing their ability to speak Spanish, they end up losing or forgetting the

Spanish culture that their family once had. Culture can’t exist without language, and these

immigrant family were losing their Spanish culture in exchange for the English culture. Having

served my mission in San Diego, California, this is a phenomenon that I witnessed first hand

time and time again during my two years there. Many times we would even teach lessons in

English to the children of these immigrants, because they preferred English over Spanish, with

the hope of eventually teaching the whole family in Spanish. However, even though I witnessed
countless examples of this occurrence, it was not until I took Spanish 423 while in the Spanish

major at BYU that I was able to connect what that phenomenon meant to my cultural

competence. In other words, it was my time in this major that made me realize that I had more

cultural competence than I realized. It is very true that my cultural competence also grew as I

learned new things that I hadn’t before, but I also was able to make the necessary connections

to my past experiences to grow my competence even more. This shows me that I can continue

to grow my cultural competence even after my time here at BYU, as I observe other cultural

phenomenon and connect them with the things that I have learned here.

My second paper, a critical analysis of part of La Celestina, an essential part of the

culture of Spain, is a great example of how my understanding for different Spanish culture

products has grown from the Spanish major as well. You can’t have a good competence of a

cultural without a knowledge of the literary works that have come from that culture, and La

Celestina is a great work that increases a person’s understanding of Spanish culture. This paper

shows that I have grasped the underlining messages within that book, and have found ways to

use it to grow my personal competence. I now have a greater desire to study even more

literary works that come from the Spanish culture, and use those reading to deepen my culture

competence even more.

My time in the Spanish major has been incredibly impactful to my own growth and

understanding, and that growth specifically includes my cultural competence. I will use what I

have learned to continue learning and to teach others as I continue going through life.