Meghann Peace, Ph.D.

Ph.D., University of Minnesota
M.A., University of Massachusetts
M.A., University of Virginia
B.A., Bucknell University

Meghann M. Peace, Ph.D., is excited to share her love of language with St. Mary’s University students. As a lifelong language learner, she knows the benefits that multilingualism brings in terms of both professional opportunities and personal enrichment. She enjoys helping her students develop not just their linguistic skills but also their multicultural understanding in the hopes of helping them become world citizens with a global perspective.

Peace has taught Spanish at the university, high school and middle school levels. At St. Mary’s, she teaches Spanish language and linguistics courses that include sociolinguistics, second language acquisition, and Spanish in the United States.

Her current research reflects her interest in Spanish dialects, contact between dialects in the globalized world, and the language, culture, and identity of her Hispanic students in San Antonio. She enjoys mentoring her students’ original research on questions related to U.S. Spanish and attitudes toward Spanglish in the community.

Outside of the classroom, Peace enjoys any activities that allow her to immerse herself in multicultural and multilingual contexts – traveling the globe, volunteering as a Spanish and Portuguese interpreter at international science conferences, and studying Brazilian capoeira.

Peace, M. M. (2023). “Este artículo describía mi vida”: Heritage speakers, critical language awareness, and writing for the community. Spanish as a Heritage Language, 3(2), 113-139. https://doi.org/10.5744/shl.2023.1962

Peace, M. M. (2023). “A mí no me gusta España mucho” vs. “Yo quiero ir a toda España, me encanta España”: Heritage speakers of Spanish and their receptiveness to Spain and Peninsular Spanish. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education, 8(2), 197-229. https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.21041.pea

Peace, M. M. (2021). “Aquí el español es muy diferente”: Mexican Americans’ linguistic characteristics in social interactions with Spaniards. In R. Pozzi, T. Quan, & C. Escalante (eds.), Heritage speakers of Spanish in study abroad (pp. 51-76). Routledge.

Peace, M. M. (2021). Noticing without negotiation: What L2 Spanish learners report hearing in peer-produced language. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 59(4), 491-515. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2017-0116

Peace, M. M. (2020). L2 Spanish clitic pronouns: A dynamic system. Language, Interaction and Acquisition/Langage, Interaction et Acquisition, 11(1), 99-129. https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.00009.pea

Peace, M. M. (2019). ¿Jugo de durazno o zumo de melocotón?: The socialization of Mexican-American students in service encounters in Spain. In G. L. Thompson & S. M. Alvord (eds.), Contact, community, and connections: Current approaches to Spanish in multilingual populations (pp. 323-352). Vernon Press.

Kentengian, I. M., & Peace, M. M. (2019). “Mi idioma”: Heritage speakers’ language varieties and identity stances in study abroad. In G. L. Thompson & S. M. Alvord (eds.), Contact, community, and connections: Current approaches to Spanish in multilingual populations (pp. 83-108). Vernon Press.

George, A., & Peace, M. M. (2019). Hispanic linguistics as a source of community connections for heritage language learners of Spanish. Revista Signos. Estudios de Lingüística, 52(101), 975-996. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-09342019000300975  

Peace, M. M. (2015). Other-orientation in non-native Spanish and its effects on the direct object. Foreign Language Annals, 48(4), 669-687. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12166

Peace, M. M. (2013). Adult acquisition of Spanish intonation: The effect of romantic relationships. International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest, 32(1), 11-42.

Peace, M. M. (2012). ¿Lo puedo subir o puedo subirlo?: La posición del clítico en el español del oeste de Massachusetts. International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest, 31(1), 131-160.

Selected Presentations

Peace, M. M. (2024, February 7-8). “Este artículo describía mi vida”: Heritage speakers, critical language awareness, and writing for the community [Conference presentation]. II International CROS Conference, Brussels, Belgium.

Peace, M. M. (2023, October 12-14). “I know more Spanish than I thought”: TPRS vs. Textbooks at a Hispanic-Serving Institution [Conference presentation]. The Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference, Winchester, VA, United States.

Mata, M., & Peace, M. M. (2022, November 10-12). “Así se dice!”: Spanish Textbooks’ Hold On Heritage Speakers [Conference presentation]. WILA13: 13^th Workshop on Immigrant Languages in the Americas, Madison, WI, United States.

Peace, M. M. (2022, May 18-20). Heritage Spanish speakers in the news: Understanding, reevaluating, and embracing one’s heritage language on the national stage [Conference presentation]. Heritage Languages Around the World, Lisbon, Portugal.

Mata, M., & Peace, M. M. (2022, February 24-26). El español para hablantes de herencia: No solo para el aula, sino para la comunidad [Conference presentation]. The 9^th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language, Tallahassee, FL, United States.

Peace, M. M. (2021, October 8). El Spanglish de San Antonio en las noticias nacionales [Conference presentation]. Nuestra Lengua, Literatura y Cultura: Lengua e Identidades en el Siglo XXI, San Antonio, TX, United States.

Peace, M. M. (2020, October 2). Understanding, reevaluating, and embracing heritage Spanish on the national stage [Conference presentation]. The Texas Language Education Research 2020 Conference, Online.

Peace, M., Kentengian, I, & George, A. (2020, September 24-26). Exploring difficult topics with SHL peers across North America: Three-way virtual conversation exchanges [Conference presentation]. The 49^th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest, Online.

Bravo, A., & Peace, M. M. (2020, March 20-21). Un análisis en la amplitud de disculpas [Conference presentation]. Calambur: The 7^th Annual Graduate Student Conference of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States. Cancelled due to COVID-19.

Maldonado, A., & Peace, M. M. (2020, March 20-21). Heroes and Villains: A Different Perspective on the Mexican Revolution [Conference presentation] Calambur: The 7^th Annual Graduate Student Conference of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States. Cancelled due to COVID-19.

Peace, M. M. (2019, October 31-November 2). “Aquí el español es muy diferente”: Mexican-Americans’ linguistic accommodation in social interactions with Spanish peers [Conference presentation]. The 48^th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest, Baton Rouge, LA, United States.

Hernández, J., & Peace, M. M. (2019, April 4-6). Watcheame: Societal Judgments of Spanglish in South Texas [Conference presentation]. The 27^th Conference on Spanish in the US and the 12^th Conference on Spanish in Contact with Other Languages, Cleveland, OH, United States.

Medina, V., & Peace, M. M. (2019, March 29-30). Cambio de código y préstamo léxico: The result of social perceptions or bilingual capacity? [Conference presentation]. Calambur: The 6^th Annual Graduate Student Conference of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.

Michimani Leyva, M. G., & Peace, M. M. (2018, February 16-17). Lexical Variation in Spanish Speakers [Conference presentation]. The 3^rd International Conference on Heritage/Community Languages, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Peace, M. M. (2017, April 6-9). “Se habla por la calle, no es como proper Spanish”: Heritage speakers of Spanish and their linguistic insecurity [Conference presentation]. The 26^th Conference on Spanish in the United States and the 11^th Conference on Spanish in Contact with Other Languages, Provo, UT, United States.

Peace, M. M. (2016, November 16-18). Dos lenguas y dos culturas: El bilingüismo y el biculturalismo en Estados Unidos [Conference presentation]. The 3^rd International Conference on Bilingual Education in a Globalized World, Alcalá de Henares, Spain.

Peace, M. M., García, V., Saenz, D., & Dinon, C. (2016, November 4-6). ¿Ligas para el chongo o gomas para la coleta?: Interdialectal service encounters [Conference presentation]. The 3rd International Conference of the American Pragmatics Association, Bloomington, IN, United States.

Peace, M. M., & Michimani Leyva, M. (2016, September 15-17). “Hablamos muy extraño”: Mexican heritage speakers and Peninsular Spanish [Conference presentation]. The 45^th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest, Austin, TX, United States.

Peace, M. M. (2016, March 16-18). Attitudes, awareness and identity: Mexican and Peninsular Spanish in contact [Conference presentation]. DiscourseNet 17, Pamplona, Spain.

Peace, M. M. (2015, May 20-24). “Poner or ponerla?”: Modeling null direct objects in non-native Spanish [Conference presentation]. The 10^th International Symposium on Bilingualism, New Brunswick, NJ, United States.

Peace, M. M. (2015, March 21-24). “Poner or ponerla?”: Modeling null direct objects in non-native Spanish [Conference presentation]. The American Association for Applied Linguistics, Toronto, Canada.

Peace, M. M. (2015, February 5-6). Case and agreement in Spanish clitic pronouns: Evidence from L2 learners [Conference presentation]. Workshop on L2 Acquisition of Alignment Patterns in Typologically Diverse Languages: Case and Agreement, Ghent, Belgium.

Peace, M. M. (2014, September 18-20). “You’re just grabbing at big chunks of comprehension”: What do Spanish learners notice? [Conference presentation]. The 43^rd Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest, San Diego, CA, United States.

Hurtado, F. (2021, February 25). Pero, like, is Spanglish the language of the future? NBC LX. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sgwo2J7eRM

Salinas, A. Z. (2020, July 20). Translating for peace. Gold & Blue Magazine. https://www.stmarytx.edu/2020/translating-for-peace/

Aveleyra, F. (2019, December 9). El ‘Spanglish’ representa la identidad de los latinos en EE.UU. Telemundo: Noticias Telemundo. https://www.telemundo.com/noticias/2019/12/09/el-spanglish-representa-la-identidad-de-los-latinos-en-ee-uu-tmvo3618806

Rojas, P. (2019, December 9). Professor pushes to validate Spanglish dialect in the U.S. Fusion TV. https://fusion.tv/video/598339/professor-pushes-to-validate-spanglish-dialect-in-the-u-s/

Pretto, S. (2019, December 5). Conocimos a la profesora que imparte clases de ‘spanglish’ en una universidad de Texas. Univisión: ¡Despierta América!. https://www.univision.com/shows/despierta-america/conocimos-a-la-profesora-que-imparte-clases-de-spanglish-en-una-universidad-de-texas-video

Rojas, P. (2019, December 4). El “spanglish” alcanza categoría de estudio universitario en Texas. Univisión: Noticiero Univisión. https://www.univision.com/shows/noticiero-univision/el-spanglish-alcanza-categoria-de-estudio-universitario-en-texas-video?fbclid=IwAR347JhPxYDA0baS-18an5zU_Z5sYmVxOtMMEPVj34DhCzcsh3MHytAexM0

Phillips, C. (2019, November 29). These students speak perfect Spanglish – And now they’re learning to own it. National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2019/11/29/775035698/these-students-speak-perfect-spanglish-and-now-theyre-learning-to-own-it

Phillips, C. (2019, October 25). Students challenge negative perceptions of Spanglish. National Public Radio: Morning Edition. https://www.npr.org/2019/10/25/773305492/students-challenge-negative-perceptions-of-spanglish

Phillips, C. (2019, October 25). ¿Qué es una lengua pura? College class challenges negative perceptions of Spanglish. Texas Public Radio. https://www.tpr.org/post/qu-es-una-lengua-pura-college-class-challenges-negative-perceptions-spanglish

Ayala, E. (2019, May 4). Do San Antonians speak a different kind of Spanish? San Antonio Express-News. https://www.expressnews.com/news/news_columnists/elaine_ayala/article/Do-San-Antonians-speak-a-different-kind-of-13818438.php?fbclid=IwAR1ixkEpDZwOnFmvOqg-U-WX8qYQ1-e5iIGRZUIuJMUO3JdRQuZfzpBDfO0

Martínez, N. (2018, November 16). Spanglish in Academia. Texas Public Radio: Fronteras. http://www.tpr.org/post/fronteras-spanglish-academia-revival-alameda-theater