The Availability of Spanish Heritage

Language Materials in Public and School

Libraries
Dawn Lambson
1270 E. Campus Dr., Tempe, Arizona, USA

Based on the premise that heritage language (HL) materials are important for support-
ing first-language literacy, both as a foundation for English-language learning and as a
vital part of maintaining and developing heritage languages, this study attempts to
determine how much HL material is available for language minority students in the
libraries of a large elementary school district in Phoenix, Arizona. It also attempts to
determine whether there is any relationship between a school’s instructional approach
for its English-language learners and the quantity of heritage language reading mate-
rial offered. Seven school and two public libraries were examined to determine the
availability of books in languages other than English. Although all of the schools had
large second-language populations representing many different language back-
grounds, the findings reveal only a very limited number of books in languages other
than English available in the libraries and the majority of these were in Spanish. The
study also found only a weak relationship between the type of language programmes
offered by the schools and the number of heritage language books available. The study
highlights the growing issue of equity and fairness in the distribution of resources for
language minority students.

Introduction
Census 2000 results have documented explosive growth in minority popula-
tions in the United States over the last decade. US Census Bureau figures show
that the population of the United States is becoming proportionally less White
and more African-American, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino. While the total popu-
lation increased 13% over the last ten years, the Hispanic/Latino population
increased 58%, with the population of non-Hispanic/Latino African-Americans
increasing 21% (Census 2000). Analysts attribute this unexpected increase in
minority populations, in part, to higher-than-expected rates of immigration.
From an educational perspective, the growing number of immigrants has very
real and significant implications for our schools, educational programmes, and
policies, particularly around issues of bilingual education and English-language
learning. In particular, the distribution of resources for immigrant populations is
becoming an important focus of discussions around equity and fairness for
language minority (LM) students (Tse, 2001).
How to best educate children from diverse language backgrounds is a contin-
uing concern. The various programmes and policies can be viewed as a contin-
uum of the amount and function of L1 (primary language) use in the classroom.
Programmes range from Two-way Bilingual programmes that integrate
language minority and English-speaking students, teaching language and
content in both the L1 and L2 (often referred to as developmental bilingual
education), to English Immersion programmes where only the L2 (English) is
1367-0050/02/04 0233-11 $20.00/0 ©2002 D. Lambson
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism Vol. 5, No. 4, 2002

233

Spanish Heritage Language Materials

234 Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

used in the classroom. No doubt the recent data from Census 2000 will further
fuel the debate over which programmes and policies are most effective for
educating the growing numbers of English-language learners in the US.

Literacy Issues Involved in Bilingual/ESL Education

Many studies have examined the connection between literacy in the first or
heritage language (L1) and in the second language (L2). Collier (1992) reviewed a
group of studies that examined the levels of school achievement among immi-
grant students who had received some schooling in their native country before
emigrating. The studies found that immigrants who received two to three years
of home language instruction before emigration did better in L2 schooling than
those who received all their schooling in L2.
Other studies have examined the role that L1 literacy plays in
second-language learning. A study by Dufva and Voeten (1999: 342) looked
specifically at the effect of native-language literacy on learning English as a
foreign language. They found that both native-language literacy (word recogni-
tion skills and comprehension skills) and phonological memory had positive
effects on English learning for 160 Finnish school children. Specifically they state,
‘these three skills explained as much as 58% of the variance in the beginning stage
of English proficiency’. A number of studies have focused on cross-language
transfer of literacy skills (Buriel & Cardoza, 1988; Cummins, 1991; Durgunoglu &
Hancin, 1992; Mortensen, 1984). The studies have shown that the literacy skills
developed and strategies used in L1 can be transferred to L2 learning.
Specifically, both lower-level literacy skills (morphological, phonological,
syntactic skills), as well as higher-level skills (text-processing strategies,
metacognitive skills), can transfer to second-language reading.
Citing strong evidence of the positive effects of L1 literacy development for
English-language learners, Krashen (1996: 20) states, ‘We learn to read by read-
ing…. If we learn to read by reading, it will be much easier to learn to read in a
language we already understand…. Once we can read, we can read. The ability to
read transfers across languages, even when the systems are different’. According
to Krashen, an extremely effective way to help limited English-proficient (LEP)
children become literate in English is to build literacy in the student’s primary
language by providing native-language books and print environments.
L1 literacy development is equally important for supporting and maintaining
heritage languages. A review of studies by Krashen (1998) showed that heritage
languages often become the victims of the powerful forces of language shift that
favour the languages of the country over the languages of the family. It is increas-
ingly difficult in the dominant society to retain and preserve the use of minority
languages, particularly among young people. A report by Veltman (1988)
showed that the shift to English dominance in the US was increasing among
Spanish speakers. He noted that the group was fast approaching a two-genera-
tion pattern of language loss as compared to a three-generation model typical of
immigrant groups of the past. Other minority languages are facing a similar
demise. Once the Navajo language was vibrant and strong within the Native
American community; today the rate of Navajo language loss among the young
is ‘rapid and troubling’ (Crawford, 1999: 189).
Spanish Heritage Language Materials 235

A principal challenge to heritage language (HL) maintenance and develop-

ment is the problem of limited access to HL materials at home, in school, and in
the community (McQuillan, 1998a). McQuillan states that in order to meet this
challenge we must provide students with easy access to interesting, comprehen-
sible heritage language texts in low-risk environments. His review of seven
research studies showed that programmes that increased access to HL texts and
promoted free voluntary reading among HL students were successful and effec-
tive. Whereas resisting social and/or political factors leading to language loss
and language shift may prove more difficult, providing greater access to free
heritage language reading materials and opportunities for self-selected reading
may be a more immediate and achievable goal for helping language minority
students maintain and further develop their home languages.
Numerous studies have shown in the past that more reading leads to better
reading achievement, but only more recently have researchers considered the
importance of book access on reading achievement (Koskinen et al., 2000;
Krashen, 1995; McQuillan, 1998b; Morrow & Weinstein, 1986; Neuman, 1999;
Neuman & Celano, 2001). These studies have found that increasing access to
books is associated with increased reading behaviour and greater reading profi-
ciency. Krashen (1988: 287) reviewed many studies supporting this notion and
concluded that the first step in encouraging free reading is to be sure books and
other reading materials are available: ‘It has been shown that more reading takes
place when readers have more access to reading material, whether at home or in
school’.
The availability of books is as important for L2 learners as for their monolin-
gual peers, and because of the increased language demands, perhaps even more
so. Several studies have looked at the effects of book access on English-language
learners. Elley (1991) evaluated the effects of nine EFL (English as a foreign
language) programmes around the world that exposed young L2 learners to
large quantities of high-interest picture books. The study found that the use of
book floods (exposure to large numbers of high-interest, illustrated books
combined with related literacy activities that actively involve the learner in
processing the texts) resulted in learning the target language more quickly and
developing positive attitudes towards books. A few other studies have looked at
the availability of primary-language books for ESL learners. A study by Schon et
al. (1982: 20) investigated the question of whether providing a large variety of
Spanish books and sixty minutes a week of free reading time would affect the
reading abilities and attitudes of 7–9-year-old Hispanic students attending a
bilingual programme. The results showed that students gained significantly in
Spanish reading skills and in improved reading attitudes. In addition, the major-
ity of beginning-level students, who had never received any formal
English-reading instruction, made large gains in their English-reading scores. It
was concluded that improvement in reading in English increased as a ‘side-effect
consequence of Spanish reading instruction’. The authors suggest that it is ‘rea-
sonable that the initial reading skills of Spanish dominant children should be in
Spanish. Their reading skills can improve concurrently with their increased
knowledge of English’.
Providing primary-language books appears to aid both L1 and L2 literacy, but
how available are such books for English-language learners (ELL)? Pucci (1994)
236 Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

looked at selected elementary schools and public libraries in the Los Angeles area
in order to describe and understand the issues that affect book availability in
languages other than English. In the schools she examined, Spanish-speaking
students made up from 30% to 98% of the total school population. Her study
found that even though some school districts recommended that the number of
books in languages other than English be equal in proportion to the number of
children receiving reading instruction in that language, all of the libraries exam-
ined provided only a limited number of Spanish books. The total library collec-
tions of Spanish-language books in these schools ranged from 82 to 1300 books.
The number of books per Spanish-speaking child ranged from 0.04 to 5.5
compared to English-language holdings of 2.2 to 25.4 per child. Pucci maintains
that the low priority placed by school libraries in acquiring sufficient levels of
primary-language books continues to perpetuate the existing inequalities in the
education of language minority children.
The current study attempts to replicate parts of Pucci’s study by examining
the availability of books in languages other than English in a number of elemen-
tary school libraries and public libraries in the Phoenix, Arizona, area. It also
seeks to determine whether the type of English-language learning programmes
provided by the school, i.e. Bilingual, Dual Language, ESL, has any effect on the
numbers of these books available in the schools’ libraries. The specific research
questions addressed are:
(1) How much combined English and heritage language reading material is
available to students attending schools with high populations of
English-language learners?
(2) How much heritage language reading material is available to students in
schools with high English-language learning populations?
(3) Is there a relationship between a school’s instructional approach for its
English language learners and the quantity of heritage language reading
material?

Method
Setting
Phoenix is a growing city of the south-west United States and results from
Census 2000 show that, as with other cities around the country, minority popula-
tions are increasing tremendously. Census records show that 34.1% of Phoenix is
now Hispanic/Latino. A large number of these are immigrants from Mexico,
Central or South American countries and speak Spanish as a native language. In
addition, there are smaller numbers of immigrants from western and eastern
European, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries as well as representatives of
many Native American Indian tribes. Public schools in the Phoenix area respond
to the needs of English-language-learning children by offering a variety of
language programmes. These programmes teach English while utilising varying
amounts of Spanish, the most prominent minority language in use in the state, or
Navajo which is mainly used in reservation schools. In ESL (English as a second
language) programmes, students attend classes with their English-speaking
peers while being given specific English-language instruction designed to teach
Spanish Heritage Language Materials 237

English proficiency as soon as possible. In these classes neither Spanish nor

Navajo is used for instruction. In Bilingual classes, instruction is provided in the
native language (Spanish or Navajo) while English is being gradually acquired;
over time English becomes the predominant mode of instruction and the native
language is discontinued. In Dual Language classes, English-speaking students
are combined with Spanish-speaking students and both languages are used
equally for instruction with the idea that all students will eventually become
proficient in both languages. Each type of programme varies in the amount and
focus of native language use and in specific objectives for language learning.

Data collection
The study involved collecting and analysing data from seven elementary and
middle schools located in a large elementary district in the Phoenix area. These
seven schools comprise the highest percentages of LEP (limited English profi-
cient) students in the district. Data on school demographics and library informa-
tion were collected from interviews of school librarians, ESL/Bilingual
coordinators/instructors, and school administrators. A list of set questions
regarding school enrolment, LEP enrolment, English-language learning
programmes, home languages of students, library holdings, and books in
languages other than English was composed and asked of each contact at the
school during either a telephone or personal interview. All data were collected
within a six-week period in the spring of 2001. School librarians were also ques-
tioned about the availability of books and school policy for selecting books in
languages other than English for the library. In addition, librarians from the two
public library branches within the school district that serve the participating
seven schools were interviewed with like questions in order to gather similar
information about the libraries’ holdings.

Findings
Seven schools from this district report an LEP enrolment from 18% to 62%. A
majority of these English-language learners are native Spanish speakers. Other
languages spoken, in varying amounts at each school, include Bosnian, Roma-
nian, Serbian/Croatian, French, Italian, Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, Vietnam-
ese, Filipino, Swahili, Hopi, Apache, Navajo, and many others. In all, the schools
reported 31 languages other than English spoken as first languages. Table 1 pres-
ents the enrolment data from each of the seven schools shown as total enroll-
ment, percentage LEP enrolment, percentage of Spanish LEP enrolment, and
percentage of LEP speakers of languages other than Spanish. The percentage
other LEP includes a large number of Serbian/Croatian speakers who make up
the second largest language-minority group in the district. Pseudonyms are used
to refer to the schools in the study.
It should be noted that throughout this study, the percentage of Spanish and
other language speakers refers only to the LEP students enrolled in
English-language learning programmes. A large number of students with first
languages other than English are enrolled in these schools, who, because of
higher English proficiency, do not attend English learning classes. The study
looks only at those students enrolled as LEP students, although the implications
238 Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Table 1 Enrolment, percentage LEP, and percentage LEP Spanish-speaking for

participating schools
School Total Enrolment % LEP % Spanish LEP % Other LEP
Hillside 1185 62% 42% 20%
Elementary
Sundale 900 48% 31% 17%
Elementary
Green 700 48% 47% 1%
Valley
Elementary
Cactus View 1250 41% 30% 11%
Elementary
Willard 1088 28% 23% 5%
Elementary
Palmdale 1237 27% 21% 6%
Middle
Sky View 1275 18% 11% 7%
Middle

for heritage language development for non-LEP students should not be

overlooked.
The English-language programmes offered at the schools varied. Four schools
reported offering only ESL classes. One offered only Dual Language, and one
offered ESL, Bilingual, and Dual Language. Table 2 identifies the language
programmes provided along with the percentage of LEP students enroled.
Schools with lower numbers of English learners tend to provide only ESL classes.
The schools with the highest numbers of LEP students offer bilingual and/or
dual language programmes utilising Spanish, which is the predominant minor-
ity language in the district.

Table 2 Language programmes offered for LEP students at participating schools

School Language programmes % LEP
Hillside Elementary Dual Language 62%
Sundale Elementary ESL, Bilingual, Dual Language 48%
Green Valley Elementary ESL 48%
Cactus View Elementary ESL 41%
Willard Elementary ESL 28%
Palmdale Middle ESL 27%
Sky View Middle ESL 18%

Librarians and media specialists at the seven schools were contacted to deter-
mine the extent of the schools’ library collections of books in English and in
languages other than English. The findings show that there is a very limited
number of books in languages other than English available at each of the schools.
All of the non-English books available were Spanish-language books with the
exception of one library that reported having a few French dictionaries. Table 3
shows the holdings of library books at each of the seven schools.
Table 4 gives a comparison of the percentage of LEP students with L1 Spanish
Spanish Heritage Language Materials 239

Table 3 School library holdings

School Total holdings Books in Spanish % Spanish books
Hillside Elementary 15,000 328 2.1%
Sundale Elementary 18,606 1760 9.4%
Green Valley Elementary 9,528 107 1.1%
Cactus View Elementary 13,000 600 4.6%
Willard Elementary 15,000 300 2%
Palmdale Middle 16,500 1000 6%
Skyview Middle 7,439 20 0.2%

and the percentage of Spanish books available in the school library. The large
disparity between the two is very evident.
In order to show the disparity more clearly, Table 4 also breaks down the total
library holdings (Table 3) into total books per child and Spanish books per Span-
ish L1 student. Again this percentage refers only to Spanish L1 students enrolled
in LEP programmes. The actual percentages of native Spanish-speaking students
in these schools is much higher, some as high as 76% of the total enrolment. It can
clearly be seen that the availability of Spanish-language books for Span-
ish-speaking children is extremely lacking.

Table 4 Percentage of Spanish books and the number of books per child
School % Spanish % Spanish Total Spanish books/L1
L1 speakers books books/child Spanish LEP child
Hillside Elementary 42% 2.1% 12.6 0.66
Sundale Elementary 31% 9.4% 20.6 6.2
Green Valley Elementary 47% 1.1% 13.6 0.32
Cactus View Elementary 30% 4.6% 10.4 1.6
Willard Elementary 23% 2.0% 13.8 1.2
Palmdale Middle 21% 6.0% 13.3 4.0
Sky View Middle 11% 0.2% 5.8 0.14

In addition to school information, the two public library branches that service
students within this district were contacted to determine their holdings of books.
The smaller of the two branches reported total holdings of 58,000 books. Of these,
approximately 3000 are Spanish-language books, that is, 5% of the books are in
Spanish. Of these, approximately 400–500 are classified as children’s fiction. The
librarian at the branch stated that recently the budget for the purchase of Span-
ish-language books had increased. The second branch reported 160,000 total
items but was unable to provide a specific number of books available in
languages other than English. The librarian indicated that the number of Span-
ish-language books is quite small and stated that the library has only a small
clientele of Spanish speakers. She seemed to indicate that this was the reason for
the small number of books available. A count of shelved books in the children’s
section of the library revealed approximately 600 Spanish-language books and
the librarian estimated that probably 100 more might be checked out. The total
240 Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

number of Spanish language children’s books at both libraries, approximately

1100–1200, is considerably less than the 2100+ Spanish LEP students in the
schools serviced by these libraries.

Discussion
The findings of the study show, similarly to Pucci’s groundbreaking study,
that school libraries in the district are seriously lacking in primary-language
reading materials for LEP students. Whereas Spanish-speaking LEP students
make up from 11% to 42% of students in these schools, the Spanish books avail-
able comprise only 0.2% to 9.4% of the libraries’ holdings. This breaks down to
0.14 to 6.2 Spanish books per student compared to 5.8 to 20.6 total books per
student. As this study did not consider total Spanish-speaking students enrolled
in the schools, the disparity of heritage language materials in these libraries is
significantly understated by the data. In addition, none of the libraries reported
books in any languages other than Spanish, even though the schools’ student
bodies come from many different language backgrounds.
One of the purposes of the current study was to determine whether the type of
language programmes offered at a school might have an effect on the availability
of non-English books. Would schools which support Bilingual and/or Dual
language programmes where Spanish is used for instruction have a higher avail-
ability of Spanish-language books in their libraries? The findings show only
weak support for this. Hillside Elementary School, which offers a Dual language
programme where instruction is provided in both English and Spanish with the
goal being that children will achieve proficiency in both languages, actually had
one of the lowest counts of Spanish books in the library. When questioned about
this, the bilingual coordinator explained that even though there were few such
books in the library, the bilingual classrooms were full of Spanish-language
books to support the children’s literacy development. While this is admirable,
the fact that the library does not put equal emphasis on providing for the needs of
Spanish-language students at the school is disappointing. Not only does it fail to
offer books for English- and Spanish-speaking children who are developing liter-
acy in Spanish, it may actually be undermining the goals of the school’s Dual
Language Programme. What kind of message is being sent when the classroom
emphasises learning in Spanish, but the school library fails to offer adequate
Spanish language materials to support these students’ learning and the only
place the children can find interesting reading material is in their own
classrooms?
Sundale Elementary, which provides ESL, Bilingual, and Dual Language
programmes had the largest total holdings of any of the libraries and had the
largest percentage of Spanish-language books as well (9.4%). Even so, the
numbers are far from proportional to the number of Spanish-speaking LEP
students in the school (31%). Pucci’s study (1994) found that the large metropoli-
tan district she studied in California had extensive guidelines recommending
that the number of books in languages other than English be equal in proportion
to the number of children receiving reading instruction in that language. With no
such policy in this Phoenix district, the disparity of Spanish and other heritage
language materials is significant.
Spanish Heritage Language Materials 241

So why is there such a disparity in the availability of books for

English-language learners in their primary languages? Perhaps the answer can
be understood from various comments of librarians who were contacted in the
study. Several library/media specialists stated that there was no school or
district-wide policy for purchasing books in languages other than English. Some
apologetically said they realised the library was lacking in such books and
expressed the desire and intention to acquire more. Some seemed to indicate that
the resources for finding books were quite limited.
Comments from the public library administrator seemed to indicate that
availability was dependent on clientele. Perhaps if Spanish speakers used the
library more, she suggested, there would be a greater attempt to provide books
for them. Paradoxically, one may wonder why language minority patrons would
visit a library that does not already hold books and materials they can use.

Conclusion
Language minority literacy involves many complex issues, including access
to heritage language materials, the type and frequency of use of such materials,
and the varying literacy practices of language minority communities. While
providing greater access to materials is not a one-size-fits-all solution and does
not, in itself, guarantee improvement in literacy levels of students, it is one
important element in encouraging reading and literate activity in children,
adults, and families. By providing easy access to books in a child’s primary
language along with an emphasis on activities which encourage literate behav-
iours, we not only encourage literacy growth in that language but also provide
the foundation for increased growth in English literacy as well. Conversely, a
lack of availability of interesting heritage language materials may jeopardise
first-language literacy development and prohibit or limit the maintenance of
heritage languages.
As Pucci (1994) noted, school libraries must take greater responsibility in the
literacy development of language minority children and make a strong commit-
ment to providing adequate resources for these children. Without a commitment
and school or district policy that reflects the needs of the growing number of chil-
dren who speak languages other than English, our libraries will continue to
reflect the inequities of the past. In 1983, Dyer and Robertson-Kozan (1983: 29)
discussed the need for libraries to respond to the growing number of Hispan-
ics/Latinos in the US. They suggested that librarians must meet the growing
need to service Spanish-speaking children by augmenting ‘woefully inadequate
Spanish-language collections with excellent books and non-print materials in
Spanish, and with English materials about Hispanic children’. They further
admonished,
While it is possible to select only the best in English literature for children
and assume that they have access to a broad range of materials either at the
library or the local book store, this assumption is inappropriate in the case
of Hispanic children, whose access may be limited to what the library has
on hand.
Twenty years later, it appears our resources continue to be ‘woefully inadequate’
242 Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

while the need continues to grow not only for Spanish-speaking students, but for
other language minority groups as well.

Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Jeff McQuillan, PhD, Associate Professor of Education at
California State University, Fullerton, for his assistance in preparation of this
manuscript.

Correspondence
Any correspondence should be directed to Dawn Lambson, 1270 E.Campus
Dr., Tempe, Arizona 85282, USA (Dlambson@aol.com).

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