Summary on "Spanglish as Alternative Discourse"

As a professor at UTEP, Magelsdorf studies how often students use Spanglish as their common language. She states that linguistic containment, which is the segregation of students writing classes according to their language, has affected them and their perspective on what a standard language is. The consequence of linguistic containment is that people make assumptions about languages having standards rather than realizing the complexity of a language. Most Spanish speakers associate English as a standard language and become too focused on making sure everything is correct rather than acknowledging the actual language itself. The consequences of this are that people feel obligated to get everything right in the language and making sure they avoid the "wrongs" of the standard language.


Mangelsdorf described code-switching as the action of using two different languages in one sentences with one language as a base. This is obviously being spoken about how students use both languages that were learned together. Students living near the border have a variety of feelings about speaking Spanglish. Some students feel it defines them and makes them unique, others think that it is very improper because you end up not being fluent in either language, and some use it because certain words in either language are suited better for certain topics or feelings. 


Magelsdorf creates assignments to get a feeling about Spanglish and also invites her students to write certain assignments in Spanglish. Magelsdorf does this because she wants to get to know her students more, but she also studies the Spanglish language as well. She does not want students to feel pressured to use a standard language, which she considers both English and Spanish. Magelsdorf realizes that the mix of English and Spanish comes from learning both languages and using them unknowingly;  many students have been exposed and accustomed to Spanglish, therefore they use it quite often.Magelsdorf says that Spanglish resists the permanence of written text. This means that Spanglish is mainly a spoken language because it is more often used this way rather than in written language. Some students may feel discouraged to write in Spanglish because of the standards of a language. 


Ultimately, Magelsdorf believes that people should stop assuming these standards in language and just embrace what you already know. The barrier that standards causes discourages students to write how they would regularly write. Magelsdorf knows the languages are changing due to technological advances and believes people should accept Spanglish as it's own language in the twenty first century