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Heritage Language Learners: Research Data and Discussion

Heritage Language Learners: Research Data and Discussion. Olga Kagan, Director, National Heritage Language Resource Center STARTALK Chicago, October 18, 2009. A heritage language learner: a working definition.

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Heritage Language Learners: Research Data and Discussion

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  1. Heritage Language Learners: Research Data and Discussion Olga Kagan, Director, National Heritage Language Resource Center STARTALK Chicago, October 18, 2009

  2. A heritage language learner: a working definition Broad definition: those who have a strong cultural connection to a particular language, usually through family interaction (Fishman 2001; Van Deusen-Scholl 2003). NO MEASURABLE PROFICIENCIES Narrow definition: those who 1) were exposed to a family language in childhood, 2) switched to another language that became dominant but 3) still some competency in the home language. MEASURABLE PROFICIENCIES Source: Polinsky and Kagan 2007

  3. NHLRC Survey of Heritage Language Learners An on-line survey 1,700 responses 22 languages College level HL learners Survey Report http://www.nhlrc.ucla.edu http://www.international.ucla.edu/languages/nhlrc/

  4. 77% U.S.-born + arrivals before age of 5

  5. To salvage heritage languages … there should be regular and active use of the language beyond the preschool years. T. Au (2007)

  6. HLL VS. NS 9

  7. HLL VS. FLL

  8. Becoming A Native Speaker “In becoming a native speaker of a given language, the child learns to attend to particular aspects of experience and to relate them verbally in ways that are characteristic of that language.” Berman and Slobin, p. 611

  9. HL and Personal History • Variation across heritage speakers • Correlating language level and personal history • Commonalities and differences across HLs • Related to the pattern of immigration and community/family practices

  10. Russian Heritage Learners: Grouping GROUP 1: completed/almost completed high schoolin the former S.U. GROUP 2: attended/completed junior high GROUP 3: attended/completedelem.school GROUP 4: emigrated at apre-school ageorborn outsideof the former S.U. How would you group speakers of your HL?

  11. What are the main features of the HL? • Limited vocabulary • Incomplete morphology • Impoverished syntax • Spotty socio-cultural knowledge • Not fully developed register: • Interpersonal (informal) • Presentational • Interpretive

  12. For all the imperfections… • “The glass is ¾ full” (Polinsky 2007) • HLLs have some real life language competencies

  13. 16

  14. A typical (?) HLL’s Profile • Access to language since age 0; • Output interrupted at age 5; • Continued exposure to the HL • at home • in the community • through some HL media Is this true of your HLLs?

  15. MOTIVATIONS

  16. How important is it for you to accomplish the following goals in your HL class?1- unimportant; 5 - very important

  17. Research on Vocabulary Vocabulary is emerging as the best indicator of HLLs’ overall proficiency Polinsky (1995, 1997, 2000) - Russian Kanno et al.( 2008) - Japanese Increasing vocabulary may emerge as the primary goal of HLL instruction

  18. Research on Grammar incomplete L1 acquisition in heritage speakers is …selective and localized. some areas of grammatical knowledge appear to be more susceptible to incomplete development than others. Montrul et al. (2008)

  19. Curriculum Development Increase vocabulary Target certain areas of grammar Focus on register and culture What instructional strategies would you suggest?

  20. Macro-Approach Using aural/oral proficiency as a point of departure Taking into account existing (if not explicitly understood) linguistic competencies Clarifying and systematizing what they know Not teaching what students know already Using large volumes of written/aural texts Source: O.Kagan & K.Dillon, A new Perspective on Teaching Russian: Focus on the Heritage Learners. SEEJ, Vol.45, #3 (2001): pp. 507-518

  21. What needs to be done? agree upon the goals of HL instruction describe the range of HL proficiencies formulate objectives and outcomes develop teaching materials or formulate an approach to developing teaching materials

  22. PROPOSED MATRIX: a Program for Heritage Learners ·   Proper placement ·    Time on task ·    Programmatic rigor ·    HL specific instructional materials ·    An uninterrupted, comprehensive curriculum ·    Instructors trained in heritage language acquisition ·    A multi-year sequence ·    Awareness of home/community native speaker environment ·    Metalinguistic framework: raising awareness of importance of grammatical accuracy and register Source: O.Kagan & K.Dillon Heritage Speakers' Potential for High-Level Language Proficiency Advanced Foreign Language Learning: A Challenge to College Programs. H.Byrnes & H.Maxim, Editors. AAUSC Series Issues in Language Program Direction. BostonHeinle, 2004.

  23. References Au, T. K-f Salvaging Heritage Languages in Heritage Language Education: A New Field Emerging, ed. Brinton, Kagan, Bauckus He A. W. (2006) Toward an Identity Theory of the Development of Chinese as a Heritage Language. Heritage Language Journal, Volume 4, Number 1 Kagan, O. & Dillon, K. (in press) Bridging Contexts, Making Connections: Selected Proceedings from the Fifth International Conference on Language Teacher Education.  Minneapolis, MN: Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota. Kagan, O. & Dillon, K. (2001) A New Perspective on Teaching Russian: Focus on the Heritage Learner . Slavic and East European Journal 45.3 (2001): 507-18. Reprinted in Heritage Language Journal Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 2003 Kagan, O. (2005) “In Support of a Proficiency-based Definition of Heritage Language Learners: The Case of Russian. International Journal of Bilingual Educationand Bilingualism,8, 213-221. Kagan, O., & Friedman. D. (2004). Using the OPI to place heritage speakers of Russian. Foreign Language Annals 36(4), 536-545. Kanno, K., Hasegawa,T., Ikeda,K.,Ito Y.and Long M. Prior Language-learning Experience and Variation in the Linguistic Profiles of Advanced English-speaking Learners of Japanese. In Brinton, D., Kagan, O., and Bauckus, S. ed. Heritage Language Education: A New Field Emerging. Pp. 165-180 Kondo-Brown, K. (2002) “Family and School Factors Influencing Academic Performance of Bilingual Shin Nisei Students in Hawaii.” Asian and Pacific Islander American Education: Social, Cultural, and Historical Contexts. Ed. Eileen Tamura, Virgie Chattergy, and Russell Endo. South EL Monte, CA: Pacific Asia Press, 2002. 149-74. Kondo-Brown, K. (2005). Differences in language skills: Heritage language learner subgroups and foreign language learners. The Modern Language Journal, 89(iv), 563-581.

  24. References He A. W. (2006) Toward an Identity Theory of the Development of Chinese as a Heritage Language. Heritage Language Journal, Volume 4, Number 1 Kagan, O. & Dillon, K. (2009) Bridging Contexts, Making Connections: Selected Proceedings from the Fifth International Conference on Language Teacher Education.  Minneapolis, MN: Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota. Kagan, O. & Dillon, K. (2001) A New Perspective on Teaching Russian: Focus on the Heritage Learner . Slavic and East European Journal 45.3 (2001): 507-18. Reprinted in Heritage Language Journal Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 2003 Kagan, O. (2005) “In Support of a Proficiency-based Definition of Heritage Language Learners: The Case of Russian. International Journal of Bilingual Educationand Bilingualism,8, 213-221. Kagan, O., & Friedman. D. (2004). Using the OPI to place heritage speakers of Russian. Foreign Language Annals 36(4), 536-545. Kanno, K., Hasegawa,T., Ikeda,K.,Ito Y.and Long M. Prior Language-learning Experience and Variation in the Linguistic Profiles of Advanced English-speaking Learners of Japanese. In Brinton, D., Kagan, O., and Bauckus, S. ed. Heritage Language Education: A New Field Emerging. Pp. 165-180 Kondo-Brown, K. (2002) “Family and School Factors Influencing Academic Performance of Bilingual Shin Nisei Students in Hawaii.” Asian and Pacific Islander American Education: Social, Cultural, and Historical Contexts. Ed. Eileen Tamura, Virgie Chattergy, and Russell Endo. South EL Monte, CA: Pacific Asia Press, 2002. 149-74. Kondo-Brown, K. (2005). Differences in language skills: Heritage language learner subgroups and foreign language learners. The Modern Language Journal, 89(iv), 563-581.

  25. Montrul, S. (2004). Subject and object expression in Spanish heritage speakers: A case of morpho-syntactic convergence. Bilingualism, Language and Cognition 7,125–142. Montrul, S. (2008). Incomplete acquisition in bilingualism: Re-examining the age factor. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Polinsky, Maria. 1995. Cross-linguistic parallels in language loss. Southwest Journal of Linguistics 14. 87-124. Polinsky, Maria. 1997. American Russian: Language loss meets language acquisition. In Wayles Browne et al. (eds.). Annual Workshop on Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics: The Cornell Meeting (1995), 370-406. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Slavic Publishers. Polinsky, Maria. 2000. A composite linguistic profile of a speaker of Russian in the USA. In Olga Kagan and Benjamin Rifkin, eds. The learning and teaching of Slavic languages and cultures. Bloomington, IN: Slavica. Polinsky, M. (2006). Incomplete acquisition: American Russian. Journal of Slavic Linguistics 14, 191–262. Polinsky, M. (2007). Russian gender under incomplete acquisition. The Heritage Language Journal 7. Polinsky, M. & Kagan, O. (2007). Heritage Languages: in the “wild” and in the classroom. Compass of Language and Linguistics, (http://www.blackwell-compass.com/home_linco_compass)

  26. References Rothman, J. (2007) Heritage speaker competence differences, language change, and input type: Inflected infinitives in Heritage Brazilian Portuguese. The International Journal of Bilingualism ‘International Journal of Bilingualism’ • Volume 11 • Number 4 • 2007, 359 – 389 Sohn, S-O., & Shin, S-K. (2007). True beginners, false beginners, and fake beginners: Placement strategies for Korean heritage learners. Foreign Language Annals, 40.3, 353-364. Schwartz, Ann M. 2001. Preparing teachers to work with heritage language learners. In J.K.Peyton, D.A. Ranard, S. McGinnis, eds. Heritage Languages in America: Preserving a National Resource, 229-252. McHenry, Il: Center for Applied Linguistics and Delta Systems Co. Valdés, Guadelupe. 2000. The teaching of heritage languages: An introduction for Slavic-teaching professionals. In O. Kagan and B. Rifkin, eds. Teaching and Learning Slavic Languages and Cultures, 375-403. Bloomington, IN: Slavica.

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