Goals of SNS Instruction Hispanic students participate in SNS courses for a number of reasons. These may include a desire to reactivate the Spanish they have learned in the past and develop it further, to learn more about their language and cultural heritage, to acquire literacy skills in Spanish, to develop or augment academic language skills in Spanish, to enhance career opportunities, or to fulfill a foreign language requirement. The skills that students can acquire range from learning grammar and spelling and developing basic academic vocabulary in Spanish to learning how to critically analyze a text, write poetry, or acquire new information in different academic content areas. This goal is based on the view that Spanish maintenance across generations can be sustained through the formal study of Spanish. Instruction with this goal focuses on grammar, reading and writing instruction, vocabulary development, exposure to the language and culture of Hispanic communities, and consciousness raising activities about Spanish language and identity.
Many bilingual students have uneven development in their two languages.
For example, they may possess the cultural understanding to participate in a particular exchange but be unable to express themselves using the appropriate vocabulary. The goal of expanding the bilingual range moves beyond developing initial expressive and receptive language abilities to cultivating a much broader command of the language. Many students who participate in SNS courses speak what may be interpreted as rural or stigmatized varieties of Spanish. One goal of SNS courses is to teach students the prestige or standard variety. Such instruction involves developing metalinguistic awareness about the differences between the standard and other varieties, teaching traditional grammar, and teaching when it is appropriate to use more or less formal Spanish.