18th Annual Student Research Conference
Language & Literature
Media Maintenance: Rural Latinos' Use of Spanish and English Media
Natalie D. Fieleke
Dr. Karon Speckman, Faculty Mentor
Latinos are the United States’ largest minority population, a population expected to double over the next 20 years. Previous studies have shown that media play a significant role in populations’ movement across national and regional borders. Little research has been done with Midwestern populations. This research combined observation and semi-structured survey-interviews to aid in discovering the relationships among Latino population’s media usage, acculturation, and motivation to use U.S. media for cultural-linguistic information. The research showed Spanish satellite television is a strong influence of linguistic and cultural maintenance and demonstrated Latinos’ dichotomous desire to selectively acculturate while maintaining native cultural connections.
Keywords: Latinos, acculturate, media usage, motivation
Topic(s):Communication
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 53-4
Location: VH 1304
Time: 4:30