Ana Sánchez-Muñoz, PhD

Research: 

My research lies in the broader area of sociolinguistics and includes the investigation of bilingual situations, heritage languages in minority or minoritized communities, language ideologies, and the linguistics of migration and human mobility. My fieldwork on language contact has taken me all over the American Continent, Europe, and Asia.

 

My research in the U.S. has focused on the study of Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL), especially the dynamics of English–Spanish contact and its effects on linguistic development, identity formation, and intergenerational transmission. A significant portion of my work examines how heritage speakers negotiate linguistic legitimacy and identity within contexts marked by language discrimination, racialization, and social inequities. My scholarship foregrounds the linguistic experiences of U.S. Latinx communities, documenting the ways Spanish‑speaking populations confront and resist discrimination in educational, institutional, and everyday settings. My work highlights how ideologies surrounding “standard” or “correct” Spanish often marginalize U.S. heritage speakers and undermine their linguistic confidence.

 

 

Current and/or ongoing research projects:

​​

• Language and Migration: As part of the interdisciplinary team of MigraMedios Uruguay, I co-lead the area of Language and Education in Uruguay with Dr. Mónica Da Silva. This line of research examines social and media discourses around education and migration; particularly analyzing the role of language variation in the educational experience of migrant students in Uruguay (in progress, awarded 2022 and funded through 2027).

• Sociolinguistics Justice en Comunidad: A Community Engagement Project co-lead with Dr. Laura Ruth-Hirrel (CSUN) that aims to promote sociolinguistic knowledge in local high schools and increase awareness about linguistic justice among minoritized communities (in progress, established 2022 and funded through 2026).

• Sociolinguistics of Multilingualism in NE India: This research project examines the linguistic landscape of one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the world (Northeast India). A five month fieldwork study was conducted to examine language choice in public settings in Shillong, Meghalaya (July-December, 2025). 

• Spanish Heritage Language and Latinx Academic Success: A multi-geographical research team conducting a longitudinal study—quantitative and qualitative—to determine the impact of Heritage Language courses on retention, completion and career/professional formation to help close the Latinx Achievement Gap (in progress, data collection began in 2023 and is projected through 2028).

​​

​

Teaching

These are the courses I teach/have taught at CSUN:

Chicana/o Studies Department

Chicana/o Culture

Spanish for Heritage Speakers I & II

Academic Writing

Language and Society: Chicanas/os and Other Language Minorities

Language Acquisition of the Chicana/o and other ESL Speakers

Senior Seminar (Emphasis on Educational Linguistics)

Graduate Seminar on Language in Chicanx Communities

​

Linguistics/TESL Department

Language, Gender, and Identity

Bilingualism

Sociolinguistics (undergraduate and graduate)

Languages in Contact

Comprehensive Exam Course

Thesis Course