Bilingual teachers' self-identification, attitudes, and motivation, and their relations to the teachers' Spanish fluency

The present study is situated in the area of language policy viewed from both the macro level, where hegemony, ideology, and institutional policies come into play, as well as at the micro level with language socialization comes into play. Overarching these two levels is the ecology of language perspective that ties actions at the various levels together. The study is situated in San Antonio Texas. The first develops and tests an attitude questionnaire, SpanishSi. A Principal Component Analysis indicated that five factors are valid constructs representing: language capital, attitude, motivation, bilingualism and self- identification. Using a mixed methods approach, this study explores how this 5 constructs impact the Spanish level of the bilingual teachers. Through descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression analysis, discourse analysis and the examination of the grammatical structure of short narratives written by the participants it was found that there is a disconnection between the positive feelings and emotions of the bilingual teachers towards their language and culture, and the anticipated needs of bilingual teachers to prepare students in academic Spanish. The short narratives reflect a lack of knowledge of academic written Spanish a key component that is needed because to learn and teach academic Spanish is a pedagogical decision that can allow bilingual teachers to exercise language policy in their favor.