Early Chinese heritage language learning in Canada: A study of Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking children's receptive vocabulary attainment

System ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 103 ◽  
pp. 102636
Author(s):  
Guofang Li ◽  
Lee Gunderson ◽  
Zhuo Sun ◽  
Zhen Lin
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Heritage Language Learning ◽  
Chinese Heritage Language

Teacher's code-switching and bilingual children's heritage language learning and cognitive switching flexibility

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
He SUN ◽  
Nurul YUSSOF ◽  
Poorani VIJAYAKUMAR ◽  
Gabrielle LAI ◽  
Beth Ann O'BRIEN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Card Sort ◽  
Heritage Language Learning ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cognitive Switching ◽  
Language Output

AbstractTo code-switch or not to code-switch? This is a dilemma for many bilingual language teachers. In this study, the influence of teachers’ CS on bilingual children's language and cognitive development is explored within heritage language (HL) classes in Singapore. Specifically, the relationship between children's language output, vocabulary development, and cognitive flexibility to teachers’ classroom CS behavior, is examined within 20 preschool HL classrooms (10 Mandarin, 6 Malay, and 4 Tamil). Teachers’ and children's utterances were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for CS frequency and type (i.e., inter-sentential, intra-sentential). 173 students were assessed with receptive vocabulary and dimensional card sort tasks, and their vocabulary and cognitive switching scores assessed using correlational and mixed effects analyses. Results show that inter-sentential and intra-sentential CS frequency is positively and significantly related to children's intra-sentential CS frequency. Overall, findings revealed that teachers code-switched habitually more often than for instructional purposes. Neither inter-sentential nor intra-sentential CS was significantly related to children's development in HL vocabulary, and intra-sentential CS was found to positively and significantly relate to children's growth in cognitive flexibility. These findings reveal the multi-faceted impact of teacher's CS on children's early development.

Effect of home background on advanced heritage language learning

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Xiao
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Morphological Marker ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Heritage Language Learning ◽  
Chinese Heritage Language ◽  
Writing Task ◽  
Home Background

AbstractUsing a detection test and an essay writing task, this study investigates the effect of home background on Chinese heritage language (CHL) learning and attainment at the advanced level. By examining the participants' use of target morphological marker le and discourse features, the study shows that, compared with their non-HL counterparts, advanced college CHL learners used the morphological marker le more frequently and more appropriately, and older CHL arrivals performed better than younger arrivals. Results of the essay writing task show that, compared with their non-HL counterparts, the older CHL arrivals did significantly better, while the younger arrivals did marginally better. The data support previous findings that early exposure to a language has undeniable positive effect on subsequent learning and that immigrant HL learners' age of arrival is an important indicator of attainment of competence at the advanced level.

scholarly journals Identity construction in Chinese heritage language classes

Pragmatics ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 14 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 199-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnes Weiyun He
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Anthropological Perspective ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Heritage Language Learning ◽  
Language Classes ◽  
Chinese Heritage Language

From an interactionally enriched linguistic anthropological perspective, this article promotes the view that identity is indexical with specific sets of acts and stances, which in turn are constructed by specific language forms. Based on detailed sequential and grammatical analyses of data from Chinese heritage language classes, it argues that identity is dynamic, constantly unfolding along with interaction, and thus has the potential to shift and mutate. It positions identity as emerging through co-participants’ responses and reactions and thus as an intersubjective and reciprocal entity. It further suggests that identity construction is intricately linked with heritage language learning.

Epistemic stance in Chinese heritage language writing – A developmental view

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Xiao-Desai ◽  
Ka F. Wong
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Pragmatic Development ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Epistemic Stance ◽  
Heritage Language Learning ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Chinese Heritage Language

AbstractDrawing on data from a learner corpus of blogs, this study explores epistemic expressions used in Chinese heritage language (CHL) writing from a developmental perspective, and aims to provide a better understanding of pragmatic development in heritage language learning context. A total of 6,511 blog entries written by 266 heritage learners from four different proficiency levels were analyzed cross-sectionally. The findings revealed three notable developmental patterns in CHL learners’ use of epistemic markers (EMs): 1) a rapid increase in the frequency and diversity of EMs at the beginning of CHL curriculum, 2) a period of stability from the second quarter onward, and 3) a divergence of frequency and diversity at the advanced level, whereby the diversity of EMs increased again, but the overall frequency of EMs remained unchanged. Significant developmental variability was also found between grammatical sub-groups of epistemic markers. Overall, the study shed light on the development of CHL learners’ pragmatic competence, and demonstrated the effectiveness of learner corpora as a research tool for studies of pragmatics learning.

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