This presentation engages with the critical turn in Spanish heritage language (SHL) education, which argues that intergenerational Spanish maintenance is unlikely unless learners develop critical awareness of the language ideologies shaping their bilingual and educational experiences (Beaudrie & Loza, 2022; Beaudrie & Vergara Wilson, 2022). In response to persistent inequities affecting U.S. Latine students, critical language awareness (CLA) has emerged as a central framework for designing instructional spaces that affirm students’ sociolinguistic repertoires and cultivate linguistic pride.
Building on this scholarship and the programmatic framework advanced in Heritage Language Program Direction: Research into Practice (2023), I argue that CLA should be conceptualized not only as a curricular approach but also as a broader philosophy of heritage language program direction and research. To illustrate this perspective, I examine the design and outcomes of an SHL student ambassador program at a large university in the Pacific Northwest. Drawing on interview and focus group data, the findings show how student ambassadors extended CLA beyond the classroom into leadership and community-building spaces. Overall, this presentation demonstrates how a CLA-informed programmatic vision can strengthen SHL education and advance current lines of critical research in the field.