“For them, i see that i am too much this… or too much that”: identidad híbrida y barreras sociolingüísticas en jóvenes bilingües en Nueva York

Abstract

This research study was conducted by two students from the Master’s Program in Bilingual Learning Environments (MABA) at Universidad Santo Tomás. Its objective was analyzing the sociolinguistic barriers faced by bilingual youth who are children of immigrants in the construction of their cultural identity in the state of New York. Through the researchers’ frequent interactions with Latino youth born in the United States, questions and concerns emerged regarding their linguistic and cultural identity, their bilingualism, and the experiences they have had in learning Spanish and English within a socioculturally diverse context. These reflections served as motivation for the development of this study. The methodological approach adopted for this research was qualitative, using a descriptive–interpretative design based on the frameworks proposed by Hernández Sampieri (2010) and Guevara Albán (2020). Data were collected through an online survey and a semi-structured interview conducted via two focus groups with a sample of four participants, who described, both in written and oral forms, their experiences related to bilingualism across social, family, and educational contexts. The findings revealed experiences involving translanguaging as a communicative practice, interlinguistic interference, as well as participants’ emotions and attitudes toward each language.