English, Spanish o los dos? Teaching professional writing on the U.S.-Mexico border

• Main Authors: lvalue lvalue, Theresa L. Donovan, Teresa Quezada, Isabel Baca
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universitat Jaume I. Department of English Studies 2020-06-01
• Series: Language Value
• Subjects: Professional Writing Programs; Bilingual Writing in Higher Education; Language for Specific Purposes
• Online Access: http://www.e-revistes.uji.es/index.php/languagevalue/article/view/4725
• ISSN: 1989-7103

Theresa Donovan Teresa Quezada Isabel Baca The University of Texas at El Paso, USA   ABSTRACT In “Spanish for the Professions and Specific Purposes: Curricular Mainstay,” Doyle discusses how SPSP is poised to become an “adaptable signature feature of future Spanish curricula” (2018: 96). For SPSP to become a mainstay, Doyle argues that it requires “greater needs-grounded imagination (…) whose potential SPSP portfolios will vary according to educational missions and contexts” and proposes certificate programs as responsive and adaptable programs to fit diverse curricular contexts (96-97). In this paper, the authors discuss the development of a cross-disciplinary certificate program in Bilingual Professional Writing (Spanish/English) at a public university on the U.S./Mexico border to meet the needs of our unique student body and to better prepare students as globally-minded writing professionals. This model values students’ home languages and echoes Collier and Thomas’ (2004) assertion that a bilingual and dual language approach can be astoundingly effective at the university level.