Hispania (journal)

Hispania is a peer-reviewed academic journal and the official journal of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. It is published quarterly by the AATSP and covers Spanish and Portuguese literature, linguistics, and pedagogy. Hispania contains three major sections: literature, linguistics, and pedagogy, with a fourth section devoted solely to book and media reviews, which are subdivided into Pan-Hispanic/Luso-Brazilian Literary and Cultural Studies, linguistics, language, media, and fiction and film.

The first publication of Hispania dates to the earliest days of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese and the first issue featured a summation of the possibilities of the new organization, written by Lawrence Wilkins, as well as an outline of future plans for the journal written by its founding editor in chief, Aurelio M. Espinosa (Stanford University). In the outline, Espinosa defined the journal's chief aim as "the betterment of the teaching of Spanish in our schools and colleges". Accordingly, Hispania's original subtitle was "A Journal Devoted to the Interests of Teachers of Spanish," which reflected the earnest pedagogic tone and content of its first volumes. In keeping with his vision of the journal's purpose, Espinosa published more pedagogical material than any of his successors: fully 64 percent of the articles in the nine volumes he edited were pedagogical in nature.

Alfred Coester succeeded Espinosa as editor, a position he held for the next 14 years. During his tenure the journal grew significantly in scope and readership, adding new sections, such as the "Professional Literature" section devoted to reviewing pedagogical articles and books. In 1941, a report of the Committee on General Policies led to a revision of Hispania's scope by recommending among others that its "contents should strike a balance between material of interest to secondary teachers and articles primarily of interest to university members". Further revisions called for more articles on Spanish in elementary schools, on relations with Hispanic America, and on attitudes of personal educators toward the teaching of Spanish and Portuguese.