Issues in Applied Linguistics

Varieties of L2 language use are frequently rejected and criticized in the absence of linguistic criteria to sustain such attitudes. In Mexico, indigenous varieties of Spanish, the second language (L2) of diverse populations, has been stigmatized as uneducated Spanish. A majority of elementary school teachers interviewed, who are Spanish first language (L1) speakers, maintain that particular variations in accent and pronunciation as well as some grammatical variations are characteristic of indigenous population that lack school training. I have argued that these L1 language attitudes focus the attention on what these L2 speakers do not master, neglecting all the discursive strategies that they master successfully in their everyday communications with native Spanish speakers. The aim of this paper is to show, from a sociolinguistic point of view, how a group of indigenous women who have acquired Spanish L2 in intense but informal contact with Spanish L1 speakers are able to participate successfully in conversational personal storytelling. The study of language strategies developed in the context of informal social interactions, offers evidence of the sort of L2 competences that may be acquired without formal instruction. These competences do not deserve stigma; rather they may offer ideas to educators for improving those discursive strategies used by students in formal L2 classrooms.