Multilingual Mexican-Origin Students' Perspectives on Their Indigenous Heritage Language

This article focuses on three Mexican-origin students who attended a Spanish/English dual language program in a southern California school district for their elementary and middle school education. All three students speak Spanish, English, and the indigenous language of Zapoteco. The authors use the framework of Critical Latinx Indigeneities (Blackwell, Boj Lopez & Urrieta, 2017) to examine these students' language use and the connections of language to their identities. The authors conclude that dual language programs enable students to maintain and develop their home languages. These programs support a multilingual approach rather than a transition to English-only instructional approach.