The 8th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language (NSSHL)  

Hosted by ILETC, The Graduate Center, CUNY, on Thursday, May 13, to Saturday, May 15, 2021 

The National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language (NSSHL) is an intellectual forum for the discussion of both the variable linguistic reality of Spanish heritage bilingualism in the United States (and elsewhere), and the diverse pedagogical needs of students of Spanish as a heritage language. Researchers and educators in K–12 and higher education share theoretical and practical approaches to the study of Spanish as a heritage language from perspectives of various disciplines, including heritage language acquisition, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, applied linguistics, and cultural studies, among others. This space allows participants to collaborate towards the implementation of pedagogies that enable heritage learners not only to develop their language proficiency but also to reflect on their own identity formation within a context of validation and empowerment. 

The 8th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language (NSSHL) will be hosted by the Institute for Language Education in Transcultural Context (ILETC) and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, on Thursday, May 13th and Friday, May 14th, 2021, with a workshop on Saturday, May 15th. This year, the symposium will be held virtually through live panels and pre-recorded presentations, allowing for both synchronous and asynchronous participation. The website for the conference is now available here: https://8nsshl2021.commons.gc.cuny.edu/ 

Invited Panels will take place through live video conferences in which the invited panelists engage in discussions on pedagogy, virtual learning, sociolinguistics and formal linguistics. The panels will be organized alongside Q&A sessions with the audience, in order to allow for synchronous interaction and participation from all parties.  

For presentations, accepted papers will be delivered by presenters through narrated PowerPoints that will be available for view through the conference website. Viewers will be able to ask the presenters questions and contribute to ongoing discussions asynchronously, through designated forums that correspond to each presentation.