The American Southwest and Northern Mexico, an expansive zone of biculturalism unparalleled elsewhere in the Hemisphere by virtue of the dynamics of its demography, are two geo-political regions which have given rise to the study of several new disciplines and sub-disciplines. Among the narrower fields being considered by scholars, convinced of its significance in relation to the socio-linguistic fabric of the Borderlands, is the study of English dominant, Spanish-speaking students whose career plans or daily activities require the further development of Spanish-speaking capability.

The debate is certainly not focused on the usefulness of two languages in the Borderlands, but more so on the efficacy of various approaches to teaching either Standard Dialectal Spanish, or the "oral language" spoken within forty or fifty miles of the U.S.- Mexican Border. In fact, there is on-going discussion of whether formal teaching of the oral language is either desirable or possible, inasmuch as simple assimilation in day-to day transactions seems the most popular and feasible approach to acquisition.

However, at major universities throughout the American Southwest, relatively modest, but nonetheless effective programs exist to enhance the Spanish-language capabilities of English dominant Chicano or Hispanic students whose plans involve reassimilation into Hispanic Culture in the Borderlands. In the 1970s, such programs were few and far between; however, as cultural awareness programs, affirmative action and minority rights campaigns increased in number, geographic dissemination and intensity, Chicano Studies course-offerings, in addition to curricula at primary and secondary levels, proliferated.

The present analysis intends to concentrate on the socio-pedagogical recommendations and observations of two widely recognized theorists in the field of bilingual education and biculturalism. It will touch heavily on the realistic Spanish-language needs of English dominant Chicano and Hispanic students within the theoretical framework of Guadalupe Valdes, whose research has contributed substantively to the issues of dialectal orientation of lesson content, and Geraldo Kaprosy, who has written extensively on the socio-cultural aspects of bilingualism in Border society.

Through comparative and contrastive analysis, it should be feasible to envisage a tentative model for the design of a viable strategy for strengthening Spanish-language skills among Chicanos and others of Hispanic descent, and to discuss an initial approach toward preparation of course curricula, coordinated from early primary school through university, in the American Southwest, with tangential, but minimal, possibilities for Northern Mexico, account being taken of overriding socio-political and fiscal realities on both sides of the border.

The objective of achieving near-perfect fluency in two languages is difficult to attain; often more than 20 years of intensive exposure, use and study, in formal and informal settings, are required to appear fluent in the eyes of native speakers. However, levels in Spanish, approximating those in use by a broad cross-section of professional Latin Americans, can be achieved among Chicanos, or other Hispanics who are English dominant, through application of some of the principles set forth by Valdes in her study entitled "Language Development versus the Teaching of the Standard Language" (St. Clair, Valdes, Ornstein-Galicia, 1981: 46-62) .

Primary among her findings is the notion that standard dialectal Spanish, taught traditionally on the basis of grammar, syntax and vocabulary acquisition, may not prove the most efficacious or desirable approach to promoting near-native Spanish fluency among selected English dominant Chicanos, or other Hispanics whose strengths lie in English. She reasons that it is illogical to attempt reinforcement of limited skills, many of which are predicated on faulty notions, without establishing an entirely new foundation in basic structural concepts, resulting in enhanced comprehension, writing and assimilation (St. Clair et al., 1981: 49).

Going beyond this fairly elementary observation, however, Valdes suggests that Spanish curricula should be geared to emphasize aspects of language which English dominant Hispanics have not mastered in Spanish, for example, certain subtle nuances of the verbs "ser" and "estar." What seems to be suggested is a semi-customized curriculum, syllabus and series of lesson plans to meet the needs of these special groups who may or may not have been diagnostically tested.

There have been attempts to teach Standard Dialectal Spanish as a Second Dialect, the first being "border Spanish." Indeed, Foreign Language Departments are still continuing their time-honored practice of reintroducing formal Spanish to border speakers, whose English had become dominant. The feeling is that these students should be able to switch, at will, among English, their native dialect and the language of Madrilenos. For students who will spend their professional lives in the Borderlands, however, this approach would seem superfluous and tantamount to pedantry. Debate, for several decades, revolved, and is revolving, around this issue, which essentially reveals the presence of major class-oriented "socio-economic and political" issues of an underlying nature.

At this point, the thoughts of the second theorist under consideration, Geraldo Kaprosy of the University of Texas at El Paso, come into play, principally by virtue of their influencing the intrinsic orientation and purpose of teaching Spanish to English dominant Chicanos.

Not only must tailored instruction be offered to English dominant Chicano and Hispanic students desirous of acquiring professional competency in Spanish, but this must be accomplished effectively, according to Kaprosy, in the interest of serving the corporations and industries which utilize linguistically versatile individuals. All instructional strategies, he points out in his article, co-authored with Robert St. Clair, bearing the title "Order Versus Conflict Societies: The Dilemma of Bicultural Education", must conform to the notion of "social expectation" (St. Clair et al., 1981:123). If educational systems serve purposes which run counter to the needs of society, they will wither, die or be actively suppressed.

Thus, the scope and viability of English-Dominant Chicano Spanish-language programs, we can infer, are dependent on social needs, particularly in the Borderlands, but also in the overseas corporate sector where bilingual expertise might be brought to bear favorably on American investments.

Kaprosy raises compelling arguments which suggest that the role of Spanish-language educators might be to legitimize the Chicanos' status in American society by removing the "falsely accused minority label" and replacing it with the "conforming" categorization. In so doing, the Chicano achieves new credibility and status within society, appropriately serving the needs of business and industry. Without this educational validation process, both Valdes and Kaprosy seem to assert, any infringement of social rules -- considered a natural component of human behavior -- would be punished as social deviancy. Otherwise, the contributing member of society is protected from this stigma and seen merely as a "secret deviant" whose anti-social behavior, when or if it occurs, is subject to a far more lenient system of simple reprimands, extending surprisingly to even mild approval.

In a curious reversal of what Anglophones may assume is the case, the English-dominant Hispanic "purchases" legitimacy and acceptability by improving his command of either Border or Standard Dialectal Spanish , and placing his services at the disposal of American or, by extension, Mexican industry. In an atmosphere of severe pressure from English-only advocates based in the Industrial Northeast and Upper Midwest, there is some irony in this growing linguistic reality, a reality in which bilingualism is implicitly rewarded.

While Valdes does not underscore the socio-political aspects of second language assimilation, preferring to address the issues of methodology and strategy, she does acknowledge the "social position" of speakers and is sensitive to the status of Hispanics in U.S. society. Her emphasis is on the enhancement of language skills, certainly, but with a view toward the contribution such versatility can make to industrial and post-industrial society.

Whereas Kaprosy and St.Clair express concern in the generic sense for the professional status of Hispanic students in the Southwest, pointing out the mechanisms whereby a negatively perceived status label can be reversed in the student's favor, Valdes turns her attention toward the need to capitalize on the English dominant Chicano student's "core" knowledge of oral Spanish, perfecting and honing it to commercially acceptable levels (St.Claire et al., 1981: 58). She acknowledges that this may or may not be the ideal approach toward total assimilation of either oral or Standard Dialectal Spanish; nonetheless, she feels that, with respect to continued minority language viability in the United States,

". . . applied linguists have found ways to increase the effectiveness of language training programs for non-speakers. If they have been able to produce competent communicating personnel for various functions, certainly it is not beyond us to produce qualified bilingual teachers who can in fact bring about minority language maintenance in this country." (St. Claire et al., 1981: 60)

The objective for Valdes, therefore, is perfection of a custom-designed classroom strategy for ensuring effective Spanish-language assimilation by English dominant students, thus bolstering the bilingual pool of professionally competent minority employees throughout the Southwest. Speaking from the perspective of the early 1980s, she argues, quite convincingly, that new methods must be instituted to provide this upwardly mobile "vehicle" for Chicano and Hispanic young people.

In the last 15 years, since Valdez and Kaprosy have spoken out on both the linguistic and social implications of reinforcing Spanish competency, New Mexico State University (Las Cruces) and University of Texas (El Paso) have instituted, and sustained, Spanish language courses for native speakers which are emphasizing enrichment of vocabulary, essay organization, syntactical accuracy and other critical elements of Standard Dialectal Spanish. At local Texas and New Mexico high schools, however, the classic Spanish course work of decades past is still being offered (at the upper levels, Garcia Lorca, Cervantes and even Unamuno) to non-native speakers, whilst native speakers are tracked differently, but not always in conformity with the curriculum approach advocated in the 1980s by Valdes, and to a lesser degree by Kaprosy.

There are clear problems of uniformity of course work and methodology in the 1990s; however, measurable strides have been made on the basis of the theoretical and empirical findings of these two specialists. It would seem advisable to rekindle interest among educators in the usefulness of identifying university-bound English dominant Hispanics and tracking them throughout their high school studies with a view toward reinforcing Spanish-language skills in preparation for post-university insertion into the professional bilingual sector.

Because there are millions of English-dominant Hispanic children throughout the Southwest, with implications for Southern Florida and the Urban North, many of whom meet the criteria for university admission, the benefits which would accrue to American society, and international commerce, from properly planned bilingual instruction from an early age could prove enormous.

South of the U.S. -Mexican border, understandably, there would seem to be fewer English dominant Spanish-speaking students. The reverse phenomenon, i.e. Spanish dominant English-speaking students in Mexico, by all accounts represents an infinitesimal minority. These students, perhaps children of American business personnel whose families have been in Mexico or Latin America for decades, are generally receiving schooling under private or diplomatic conditions and are sheltered from the phenomenon of discrimination and exclusion to which many Hispanics in the United States have been subjected. The sampling of students in Latin America, therefore, to whom the theories of Valdes and Kaprosy might apply appears statistically inadequate for valid analysis.

Both Valdes and Kaprosy, the latter more than the former, recognize that language instructors do far more than inculcate grammar and syntax; they enforce social values embodied in the languages or cultures taught, and reinforce political values, whether consciously or subconsciously. Implicit in Valdes' orientation away from the standard teaching of rote phrases and morphological structures seems to be her recognition that the assimilation of language, and hence culture, is far more complex than might be initially suspected. Kaprosy, on the other hand, has elaborately described this phenomenon, going so far as to suggest that, if teachers dare to design their own class materials, they could endanger their employment if these innovative lessons jeopardize the status quo (St. Clair et al., 1981:136). On balance, the focus of Guadalupe Valdes would appear more conservative, than that of her colleagues, from a socio-political standpoint, and yet is broadly drawn from an instructional perspective.

The juncture at which innovation in language teaching crosses socially permissible boundaries has been described by Kaprosy in some depth. It is crucial to note, nonetheless, that Spanish-language acquisition seems tacitly approved throughout the United States, in spite of the English-only lobby's efforts to discredit it at intervals. Efforts underway to offer intense course work in Standard Dialectal Spanish, aimed specifically at English dominant Spanish-language students, must be continued to ensure an adequate flow of gifted, proficient bilingual students for American technological and industrial growth. There is a distinct mutuality of interest in furthering the Spanish-language skills of Chicano and Hispanic students who have thus far been channeled virtually exclusively toward Anglophonic values and socio-linguistic models.

Kaprosy, Geraldo "Order versus Conflict Societies: The Dilemma of Bicultural Education", Social and Educational Issues in Bilingualism and Biculturalism, edited by Robert St. Clair, Guadalupe Valdez, Jacob Ornstein-Galicia, University Press of America, Washington, D.C., 1981.

Valdes, Guadalupe "Language Development versus the Teaching of the Standard Language", Social and Educational Issues in Bilingualism and Biculturalism, edited by Robert St. Clair, Guadalupe Valdez and Ornstein-Galicia, University Press of America, Washington, D.C., 1981.