Pride and prejuicio

Spanish heritage language (SHL) programmes in post-secondary institutions must continue to redesign their curricula to accommodate the needs of a growing Latino population with a broad range of bilingual competencies. Despite the proliferation of research in heritage languages, pedagogically based research that incorporates students' voices is scarce. Though several studies have attempted to assess student attitudes and preferences at targeted levels within pre-established SHL programmes [see Beaudrie, S., & Ducar, C. (2005). Beginning level university heritage programmes: Creating a space for all heritage language learners. Heritage Language Journal, 3. Retrieved December 15, 2007, from http://www.heritagelanguages.org/; Beckstead, K., & Toribio, A. (2003). Minority perspectives on language: Mexican and Mexican-American adolescents' attitudes toward Spanish and English. In A. Roca & C. Colombi (Eds.), Mi lengua: Spanish as a heritage language in the United States (154–170). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press; Feuerverger, G. (1991). University students' perceptions of heritage language learning and ethnic maintenance. The Canadian Modern Language Review/La revue Candienne des langues vivantes, 47(4), 660–677; Schwarzer, D., & Petrón, M. (2005). Heritage language instruction at the college level: Reality and possibilities. Foreign Language Annals, 38(4), 568–578], this study is the first to assess a complete SHL programme, with a focus on students' identity and culture. The researchers designed a lengthy survey to assess SHL pedagogy from the students' perspective. The survey was carried out on students of all the classes and levels of one of the oldest SHL programmes in the nation. Results attest to the fact that students' voices need to play a more crucial role in programme and curricular decisions. Though the insights provided in this article are specific to one particular SHL programme, it is our contention that surveys similar to this one can and should become a means of incorporating student perspectives to ensure the success of SHL programmes throughout the USA.

The Korean heritage language (HL) speakers exercised their agency to speak Korean HL, and transformed their ambivalent language experiences, caused by the contradictory ideologies of assimilation and racialization operating in the United States, into a conducive “third space” (Bhabha, 1994), where they recreated their ethnic identities anew. Their construction of new ethnic identities was more complex than the continuum model (e.g., Jeon, 2010) because it was dialogically fluid in Bakhtin’s (1981) notion and dialectically hybrid—transcending Americanness and Koreanness—and it was a distinctive new whole in its own existence. Also, mediated through Korean HL, they were engaged with their “possible selves” (Marcus & Nurius, 1986) as bilingual members in their future “imagined communities” (Kanno & Norton, 2003). This study contributes to the nuanced understanding of the fluid construction of the HL speakers’ ethnic identities in the present and future, and emphasizes the critical role played by the HL for it.

The increased number of Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) speakers in American schools has called for the need of new research focused on SHL students, their parents, their teachers, and a profound analysis of best instructional practices for this individualized group of students. The purpose of this thorough analysis of peer-reviewed literature is to evaluate language programs for the growing SHL student population in elementary schools. A careful look into this growing population will help evaluate the educational programs provided to SHL students such as the Dual Language (DL) immersion program and the Transitional Bilingual Education program (TBE). This review addresses why students walk into an elementary classroom as an SHL and English language bilingual and subsequently become monolinguals as they progress in their elementary school years. Recognizing the factors that lead to a student’s language preference can assist parents, teachers, and the education system in developing an academic structure that will promote bilingualism and biliteracy for SHL learners.

During the 2013-2014 school year, approximately 5 million students in U.S. public schools (K-12) were heritage language speakers (HLSs), which represented almost 10% of total enrollment. The HLS population is expected to keep growing for the next decade (National Education Association, 2011). Teachers play a critical role in the learning and teaching process of students. Teachers' beliefs and classroom practices toward children's maintenance of heritage language and culture can have a powerful influence on HLSs' beliefs and their performance. Researchers have found several factors can predict teachers' beliefs about students' heritage language maintenance, including teachers' personal beliefs and education background, years of teaching experiences, English as second language (ESL) training, and ability to speak another language (Szecsi et al., 2015; Pettit, 2011; Lee & Oxelson, 2006; Garca-Nevarez et al., 2005, Byrnes, Kiger, & Manning, 1997). This study used interviews, observations, and a survey to explore elementary teacher's beliefs and classroom practices in supporting students' heritage language and culture. Results showed that teachers believed it was important to maintain HLSs' heritage language. Schools and teachers were also implementing different stategies and practices to incorporate students' heritage language and culture in classrooms. However, schools and teachers all faced challenges in meeting the needs of HLSs. Factors that contibute to teachers' beliefs and classroom practices toward maintaining their students' heritage langauge and culture were also investigated.

Heritage language speakers often feel discouraged from using their heritage language because they are told they do not speak it well. This book offsets such views by investigating heritage language variation and change across generations in eight languages spoken in Toronto. It introduces new methodology to help readers understand and apply variationist sociolinguistic approaches to quantitatively analyze spontaneous speech. This approach, based on a corpus of 400+ speakers, shows that variation and change across the grammar of heritage languages resemble the patterns in hegemonic majority languages, contrasting with the simplification/attrition patterns in experimental heritage language studies. Chapters compare patterns across generations, across languages, across ten variables in Cantonese, and between indexical and non-indexical patterns. Heritage language speakers are quoted, showing that this research increases heritage language usage and pride. Providing a tool for language revitalization, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in learning about and/or conducting research on heritage languages.

In contrast with the field of second language acquisition (SLA), where until recently sociocultural concerns were largely unaddressed (Block, 2007), identity has always been at the core of heritage language (HL) education. The present article highlights this often overlooked history and presents action research centering on a Spanish critical service‐learning program stressing identity and social activism in HL education. The article begins with an examination of the constructs of identity, agency, and advocacy in Spanish HL education and critical pedagogy. Stressing that critical pedagogy seeks not only to promote agency but also to contribute to social justice outside of the classroom, we provide an overview of our critical service‐learning program melding university HL education with community language activism. The program builds upon HL speakers’ classroom‐based learning of critical language awareness by providing community‐based opportunities to enact and strengthen identities as language experts and to contribute to positive social change. Next, we present and analyze qualitative data gathered in order to investigate the emergence of expert and activist identities among program participants who worked to counteract school‐based subordination of Spanish by running an after‐school Spanish class for HL speakers at a local elementary school.

This study investigated the morphosyntax of adjectival concord in case and number and subject-verb person agreement by monolingual and bilingual speakers of Russian. The main focus of the study is on the potential factors that may trigger divergence between Heritage Language (HL) speakers and those speakers who are dominant in that language, be they monolingual or bilingual. We considered the effects of cross-linguistic influence; limited input (as indexed by Age of Onset of Bilingualism, AOB), and working-memory limitations. An auditory offline grammaticality judgment task was performed by 119 adult participants split into four groups: (1) Monolingual Russian-speaking controls (MonoControl), (2) Immigrant Controls, that is, Russian-Hebrew bilinguals with AOB after the age of 13 (IMMControl); (3) bilinguals with AOB between 5–13 (BL-Late); and (4) bilinguals with AOB before the age of 5 (BL-Early). The latter group represents HL speakers. We did not find effects of cross-linguistic influence or extra memory load; at the same time, the effects of AOB were robust. Additionally, HL speakers (BL-Early group) differed from the other groups in poor performance on adjectival concord, but patterned with the others on person agreement, which indicates that the feature [person] is more robust than other agreement/concord features in HL grammars.

This study endeavors to explore the ethnic identity reconstruction through practices implemented in Galyani Vadhana's schools. It aims to explore how cultural knowledge is developed in educational environments using the framework of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP). It seeks to examine the methods used and offer insights into the knowledge and changes occurring within these communities. Employing qualitative methods, the research centers on two primary objectives: first, to examine the impact of CRP on promoting ethnicity identity reconstruction among Karen people including students, teachers and communities in the schools setting in Galyani Vadhana disrruct, Chiang Mai province; and second, to study the participation of Karen ethnic groups in educational institutions in fostering the reconstruction of Karen ethnic identities within schools. The key informants included teachers, students, and community members from a school at the study site. Data were collected through interviews and observations, then analyzed using a phenomenological approach. The research underscores the importance of reconstructing ethnic identity among the Karen people, particularly within the educational context of Galyani Vadhana district. Collaboration between schools and the Karen communities is essential for fostering ethnic identity through a CRP. This approach involves developing a curriculum that aligns with community needs, embeds cultural values, and enhances the self-esteem of Karen students, teachers, and community members. By doing so, it reduces marginalization and preserve local heritage within the Thai education system. Second, active participation of the Karen ethnic group in educational institutions plays a significant role in promoting ethnic pride and identity reconstruction. The research suggests that increasing the representation of local Karen teachers, as opposed to Thai lowlander teachers who frequently relocate, could provide more continuity and cultural relevance in education. However, it is noted that ethnic minority teachers are underrepresented in the schools, partly due to the lack of emphasis on ethnic identity concepts in their teacher training programs. To address this gap, integrating multicultural education into university curricula for student teachers is essential for fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of ethnic identity within educational institutions.

Talking Hip-Hop: When stigmatized language varieties become prestige varieties

While language anxiety (LA) has received much attention in applied linguistics, existing tools for measuring LA are overtly focussed on oral language competence-related anxiety experienced by traditional foreign language learners. To fill this gap, we have developed a Context Inclusive Language Skill Anxiety Scale (CILSAS) to measure LA in reading, writing, listening and speaking in any context in- and outside of the foreign language classroom. Three language learning groups were included: (1) traditional foreign language learners, (2) heritage language speakers and (3) online language learners. The 20 strongest items were selected based on item analysis and principle component analysis and included in the final CILSAS. Results of the CILSAS demonstrated significantly lower LA levels for heritage language (HL) speakers compared to traditional- and online language learners. Differences between online language learners and traditional language learners could also be observed, though only significant for the reading and writing subscales. Our findings suggest that LA levels vary between different language learning groups, both with respect to context and language skills. The CILSAS can be used as a tool to expand our understanding of LA by targeting a diverse group of language learners.

This article focuses on the role of language ideology in four students’ ethnic identity during one stage. I employ Bakhtin’s concepts of ideological becoming, and of authoritative and internally persuasive discourse to explore how the student participants are conscious of language and social worlds, including their heritage language and ethnic group. The data collection in this study took place through semi-structured interviews with four eighth and ninth graders at a Chinese heritage language school in the USA. Based on Tse’s (1998a) ethnic identity development model, three student participants, Arthur, Paul, and Jack, appear to be at Stage 2. However, they express no ideological inheritance: Mandarin Chinese is not my heritage language, which does not fall anywhere along this ‘continuum’ of Stage 2, Ethnic Ambivalence/Evasion, in Tse’s model. Tse (1997) examined the possible links between ethnic identity and language attitude, but Bakhtin’s concepts may provide a more in-depth analysis of the four students’ ethnic identity development. These findings also imply that the Chinese school should provide more opportunities for immigrant students to be exposed to their heritage language and culture, which can help them find connections to the culture and Mandarin Chinese.

Research on ‘heritage/community language education’ (HCLE) has a relatively recent trajectory, but it has generated a large number of scholarly publications, particularly in relation to Spanish in the United States (U.S.) where the growth of Spanish heritage language learners (HLL) has been exponential. However, to date, limited research attention has been given to the intersection between heritage language learning and the development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). This may be attributed to the assumption that, on a daily basis, such learners are required to move and effectively operate between languages and cultures and, therefore, already possess adequate levels of ICC. With the development of ICC, now considered an integral component in language education, the time appears ripe to examine its implications within HCLE. This paper articulates the key similarities and differences in the trajectories of ICC research in relation to university level heritage learners of Spanish in three distinct geographical contexts: Australia, Europe, and the United States.

This narrative case study examines the identity development of two mixed-heritage (Korean/White and Korean/Japanese) university students in relation to Korean as a heritage language (HL) in New Zealand. The narratives of the two participants (Mia and Hannah) revealed that they grew up with different levels of exposure to the HL, which impacted their HL proficiency, and experienced different struggles with identity construction. While Mia’s White appearance helped her explore multiple ethnic/cultural identities, Hannah was deemed completely non-White by White New Zealanders, assigned a minority “Asian” identity, and subjected to racial discrimination. The dominant group’s confusion about intra-race mixedness and perceptions of Hannah as non-mixed complicated her situation. Hannah had little access to a majority heritage (New Zealander) identity, but also found her specific heritage identities occluded by an imposed single (“Asian”) identity. Nonetheless, on entering university both participants showed a strong desire to embrace their Koreanness through HL education or socialization with coethnic peers. HL learning played a crucial role in their construction of mixed-heritage identity; for Mia, the HL was valuable social capital, while for Hannah, the HL was a means of claiming her ethnic identity. This study highlights the complexity and plurality of mixed-heritage identities and offers implications for educators.

Heritage language speakers’ self-perception as native has been recently shown to be linked to various measures of proficiency, including objective measures of lexical and grammatical knowledge. The relationship between age of first exposure, a crucial factor dividing heritage from L2 speakers in the traditional sense, is less clear. This paper, thus, explores the relationship between a heritage and traditional L2 classroom learner’s perception as native and their age of first exposure with the proficiency and grammatical knowledge that they attain. Findings confirm that native perception is intrinsically linked to outcomes measured as formal proficiency, self-rated proficiency, and morphosyntactic knowledge. However, age of exposure is linked to self-rated proficiency but neither formal proficiency nor morphosyntactic knowledge. The latter finding crucially suggests that high proficiency can be attained, despite a late start. Heritage speakers often share some intrinsic properties linked to literacy, language use, or input, which result in grammatical knowledge that is neither L2 nor L1-like, but properly “heritage”-like.

Статья посвящена актуальным вопросам этнической идентичности, языка и культуры кировских марийцев, проживающих в настоящее время в Москве и Московской области. Материалы основаны на результатах социолингвистического обследования, проведенного автором в марийской диаспоре московского региона в 2019–2021 гг. в целях выявления и описания функционирования этнического языка в условиях внутренней диаспоры. Одной из представленных в обследовании этнолокальных групп являются кировские марийцы. В работе изучаются языковые биографии респондентов: языки дошкольного воспитания, языки школьного обучения и преподавания, языки внутрисемейного общения, язык общения с соседями, каналы освоения участниками опроса марийского и русского языков, преподавание марийского языка в системе школьного образования в Кировской области. Кроме того, затрагивается проблема актуального употребления респондентами этнического языка в московском регионе: установлены сферы использования языка, определены функции марийского языка, рассмотрен вопрос новых носителей марийского языка. В статье приводится сопоставительный анализ результатов с данными, полученными автором относительно представителей других этнолокальных групп марийцев в выборке – луговых и горных, а также уральских и башкирских марийцев.