Jennifer Leeman

Associate Professor

Spanish in the US; language and identity, heritage language education; census; language policy; second language education

Jennifer Leeman’s research focuses on the sociopolitics of language, with particular attention to multilingualism, Spanish in the US, and the teaching of Spanish as a heritage language. Her work is interdisciplinary and employs the theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches of critical applied linguistics and sociolinguistics while also engaging the fields of education, Latinx studies, language policy, and linguistic anthropology.

Leeman’s scholarship encompasses both theoretically-oriented research as well as studies applying theoretical insights to specific policy concerns and practical problems, including heritage language curriculum and pedagogy; multilingual survey design and administration; and census language questions. She has published extensively on the interplay of ideologies of language, race and nation in the US, the role of Spanish in Latinx identity, multilingual language policy and politics, and critical pedagogical approaches to teaching Spanish.

In addition to her faculty position at Mason, Leeman holds a Special Appointment to the US Census in the Center for Survey Measurement’s Language and Intercultural Research Group.

Current Research

Leeman's current projects include:

Speaking Spanish in the US, a book under contract at Multilingual Matters (with Janet Fuller),
a comparative analysis of census language questions, ideologies and policy in the US and Canada, and
an examination of student ideologies in mixed L2/HL classes (with Ellen Serafini).

Selected Publications

Leeman, J. (Forthcoming-2018). It’s all about English: The interplay of monolingual ideologies, language policy and the US Census Bureau’s statistics on multilingualism. The International Journal of the Sociology of Language special issue on Census and Language, edited by Alexandre Duchêne and Philippe Humbert.

Leeman, J. (Forthcoming - 2017). Questioning the language questions: Federal policy and the evaluation of the U.S. Census Bureau’s statistics on language. International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest.

Leeman, J. (Forthcoming - 2017). Critical language awareness in SHL: Challenging the linguistic subordination of US Latinxs. In K. Potowski (Ed.) Handbook of Spanish as a Minority/Heritage Language. New York: Routledge.

Leeman, J. & Serafini, E. (2016). Sociolinguistics and heritage language education: A model for promoting critical translingual competence. In Marta Fairclough and Sara Beaudrie (Ed.s) Innovative Strategies for Heritage Language Teaching. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press. 56-79.

Leeman, J. (2015). Identity and heritage language education in the United States. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. 35. 100–119.

Leeman, J. (2013). Categorizing Latinos in the history of the US Census: The official racialization of Spanish. In J. Del Valle (Ed.) A Political History of Spanish: The Making of a Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 305-324.

Leeman, J. & Modan, G. (2009). Commodified language in Chinatown: A contextualized approach to linguistic landscape. The Journal of Sociolinguistics 13(3), 333-363.

Expanded Publication List

Leeman, J. (Forthcoming - 2018). It’s all about English: The interplay of monolingual ideologies, language policy and the US Census Bureau’s statistics on multilingualism. The International Journal of the Sociology of Language special issue on Census and Language, edited by Alexandre Duchêne and Philippe Humbert.

Leeman, J. (Forthcoming - 2017). Critical language awareness in Spanish as a heritage language: Challenging the linguistic subordination of US Latinxs. In K. Potowski (Ed.) Handbook of Spanish as a Minority/Heritage Language. New York: Routledge.

Leeman, J. (2017). Censuses and Large-Scale Surveys in Language Research. In K. A. King, Y.-J. Lai, & S. May (Eds.), Research Methods in Language and Education. Cham: Springer International Publishing. 83–97.

Leeman, J. (2016) La clasificación de los latinos y latinas en la historia del censo de los Estados Unidos: la racialización oficial de la lengua española. In José Del Valle (ed.) La historia política del español. Madrid: Editorial Aluvión

Leeman, J. (2015). Identity and heritage language education in the United States. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. 35. 100–119.

Leeman, J. (2015). Cognitive Testing of the American Community Survey Language Questions in Spanish. Research and Methodology Directorate, Center for Survey Measurement Study Series (Survey Methodology #2015-02). U.S. Census Bureau. Available online at <https://www.census.gov/srd/papers/pdf/ssm2015-02.pdf>.

Rabin, L. & Leeman, J. (2015) Critical service-learning and literary study in Spanish. In L. Grobman and R. Rosenberg (Eds.) Service Learning and Literary Studies in English. (New York: Modern Language Association). 128-137.

Leeman, J. & King, K. (2015). Heritage language education: Minority language speakers, second language instruction, and monolingual schooling. In M Bigelow & J. Ennser-Kananen (Ed.s) The Handbook of Educational Linguistics. New York: Routledge. 210-223.

Leeman, J. (2014) Critical approaches to the teaching of Spanish as a local-foreign language. In M. Lacorte (Ed.) The Handbook of Hispanic Applied Linguistics. Routledge. 275-292.

Pan, Y., Fond, M., Leeman, J., (2014) Expert Review of the Spanish 2014 Census Test. Research and Methodology Directorate, Center for Survey Measurement Study Series. U.S. Census Bureau.

Pan, Y., Leeman, J., Fond, M., and Goerman, P. (2014). Multilingual Survey Design and Fielding: Research Perspectives from the U.S. Census Bureau. Center for Statistical Research & Methodology Research Report Series (Survey Methodology #2014-01). U.S. Census Bureau.

Pan, Y., Leeman, J., Fond, M. (2013) Development of Census Bureau Survey Interpretation Guidelines. Research and Methodology Directorate, Center for Survey Measurement Study Series (Survey Methodology #2013-27). U.S. Census Bureau.

Leeman, J. (2012). Investigating language ideologies in Spanish as a heritage language. In S. Beaudrie and M. Fairclough (Ed.s), Spanish as a Heritage Language in the US: State of the Science. (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press). 43-59.

Leeman, J. (2012). Illegal accents: Qualifications, discrimination and distraction in Arizona's monitoring of teachers. In O. Santa Ana and C. Bustamante (Eds.) Arizona Firestorm. (Lanham, MI: Rowman & Littlefield). 145-166.

Leeman, J., Rabin, L., & Román-Mendoza, E. (2011). Identity and social activism in heritage language education. Modern Language Journal (95)4, 481–495.

Leeman, J., Rabin, L., & Román-Mendoza, E. (2011). Critical pedagogy beyond the classroom walls: Community service-learning and Spanish heritage language education. Heritage Language Journal 8(3) 1-21.

Leeman, J., Rabin, L. & Román-Mendoza, E. (2011). La web 2.0 al servicio de la comunidad en un programa de español como lengua de herencia en Estados Unidos (Using web 2.0 tools in a community-based service-learning program with Spanish heritage speakers in the United States). Revista Teoría de la Educación: Educación y Cultura en la Sociedad de la Información. 12(3), 118-140.

Leeman, J. (2011). Standards, commodification, and critical service learning in minority language communities. Modern Language Journal (95)4, 10-13.

Leeman, J. & Modan, G. (2010). Selling the City: Language, ethnicity and commodified space. In E. Shohamy, E. Ben-Rafael and M. Barni (Eds.) Linguistic Landscape in the City. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. 182-197.

Leeman, J. (2010). The sociopolitics of heritage language education. In S. Rivera-Mills & D. Villa (Ed.s) Spanish of the US Southwest: A Language in Transition. Madrid: Iberoamericana. 309-317.

Leeman, J. & Modan, G. (2010). Trajectories of language: Orders of indexical meaning in Washington, DC’s Chinatown. In M. Guggenheim & O. Söderstrom (Ed.s) Re-Shaping Cities: How Global Mobility Transforms Architecture and Urban Form. London: Routledge. 167-188.

Lacorte, M. & Leeman, J. (Eds). (2009). Español en Estados Unidos y otros contextos de contacto: Sociolingüística, ideología y pedagogía / Spanish in the US and other contact environments: Sociolinguistics, ideology and pedagogy. Madrid: Iberoamericana.

Leeman, J. & Modan, G. (2009). Commodified language in Chinatown: A contextualized approach to linguistic landscape. The Journal of Sociolinguistics 13(3), 333-363. Blackwell. Republished in: The Journal of Sociolinguistics Virtual Issue: Language and the City. June 2012.

Leeman, J. (2007). Feedback in L2 learning: Responding to errors during practice. In R. DeKeyser (Ed.) Practice in a Second Language: Perspectives From Linguistics and Psychology, Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 111-137.

Leeman, J. & Martínez, G. (2007) From identity to commodity: Discourses of Spanish in heritage language textbooks. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 4(1), 35-65. Lawrence Erlbaum.

Leeman, J. & Rabin, L. (2007). Reading language: Critical perspectives for the literature classroom. Hispania. 90 (2) 304-315. American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.

Leeman, J. (2006/07). The value of Spanish: Shifting ideologies in US language teaching. ADFL Bulletin 38 (1-2) 32-39. Modern Language Association.

Leeman J. (2005). Engaging critical pedagogy: Spanish for native speakers. Foreign Language Annals. 38 (1) 35-45. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

Leeman, J. (2004). Racializing language: A history of linguistic ideologies in the US Census. The Journal of Language and Politics, 3 (3) 507-534. John Benjamins.

Leeman, J. (2003). Recasts and L2 development: Beyond negative evidence. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 25 (1) 37-63. Cambridge University Press.

Mackey, A., Oliver, R. & Leeman, J. (2003). Interactional input and the incorporation of feedback: An exploration of NS-NNS and NNS-NNS adult and child dyads. Language Learning, 53 (1) 35-56. Blackwell.

Leeman, J., Arteagoitia, I., Fridman, B. & Doughty, C. (1995). Integrating attention to form with meaning: Focus on form in content-based Spanish instruction. In R. Schmidt (Ed.), Attention and awareness in foreign language learning and teaching. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 217-258.

Courses Taught

ANTH 399 The Sociopolitics of Language
FRLN 385 Multilingualism, Identity, and Power
FRLN 551 Heritage Language Education
HNRS 121Reading Cultural Signs

SPAN 109 Intensive Spanish

SPAN 301 Spanish Grammar and Syntax
SPAN 305 Spanish in Context
SPAN 315 Spanish for Heritage Speakers
SPAN 385 Introduction to Spanish Linguistics
SPAN 430 Spanish in the US
SPAN 476 Teaching Spanish in the US
SPAN 500 History of Spanish
SPAN 502 Hispanic Sociolinguistics
SPAN 551 Spanish Teaching Materials & Methods
SPAN 551 Teaching Spanish as a Heritage Language
SPAN 551 Language Ideologies and Spanish

SPAN 551 Language Policies & Politics

Education

BA (Spanish) University of Pennsylvania
MA (Hispanic Civilization) New York University
MAT (TESOL & Bilingual Education) Georgetown University
PhD (Hispanic Linguistics) Georgetown University

Recent Presentations

It’s all about English: The melding of ideology, policy and measurement the US Census Bureau’s statistics on multilingualism. The Graduate Center, City University of New York, May 2017.

Identities and ideologies in Spanish as a heritage language education. Spanish in the US and Spanish in Contact with Other Languages Conference, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, April 2017. (Plenary address)

The melding of ideology, policy and measurement: English hegemony in the US Census Bureau’s statistics on language. Forging Linguistic Identities Conference, Towson University, Towson, MD. March 2017. (Keynote address)

Challenging linguistic hierarchies: A critical sociolinguistic approach to heritage language education. Columbia University, New York, NY. December 2016

Language variation, legitimacy and power in heritage language education: A critical sociolinguistic approach. Center for Language Study, Yale University, New Haven, CT. December, 2016.

English hegemony in policy & measurement: The US Census Bureau’s questions on multilingualism. Institute of Multilingualism, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland. October 2016

It’s not fair: HL and L2 student perceptions of ‘mixed’ classes. Invited colloquium on heritage language learning, Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, Washington, DC, October 2016 (with Ellen Serafini).

Both a problem and a right: Language-as-disability orientations in US language policy. Sociolinguistics Symposium 21 (SS21). Murcia, Spain. June 2016.

Beyond the ‘legitimacy’ of all varieties: Critical approaches to teaching linguistic variation. Language Education for Global Citizenship Conference, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. April 2016. (Invited)

A critical view of SHL: Speaking back to the neoliberal university. Third Annual National Symposium of Spanish as a Heritage Language, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, February 2016. (Plenary address)

The racialization of Spanish in the discursive representation of US Latin@s. 26th Annual Graduate and Professional Spanish and Portuguese Symposium, University of Arizona, Tucson, February 2016. (Keynote address)