The Heart of Heritage: Sociocultural Dimensions of Heritage Language Learning

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 66-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnes Weiyun He
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Mutual Dependency ◽  
Heritage Language Learning ◽  
Constructivist Perspective ◽  
Sociocultural Processes

The very notion of heritage language (HL) is a sociocultural one insofar as it is defined in terms of a group of people who speak it. Heritage languages also have a sociocultural function, both as a means of communication and as a way of identifying and transforming sociocultural groups. This article surveys two broad approaches to research on the sociocultural dimensions of HL learning. While both of these approaches acknowledge the close connection and mutual dependency between HL learning processes and sociocultural processes, they differ in that one of them takes a correlational perspective, and the other a social constructivist perspective. This article reviews a selective body of work conducted from each of the two perspectives and concludes with a discussion of the implications of the sociocultural complexity associated with HL learning for research and practice.

scholarly journals Language Mixings in Heritage Language Education: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-36
Author(s):  
Yizhe Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Heritage Language Education ◽  
Heritage Language Learning ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Language Mixing

The overarching research question for this paper is what work has been done on heritage languages worldwide through a language mixing lens. Given the increasing research interest in this topic and the scarcity of previous secondary studies, a systematic review was conducted on the empirical data at the intersection of language mixing and heritage language education, in and out of schools. Thematic analysis and frequency analysis were carried out on qualified empirical sources gathered from Scopus, Web of Science, and Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA). After sharing backgrounds on heritage language education and language mixing with relative terms and perspectives, the paper presents findings from the review based on 23 peer-reviewed empirical journal articles, focusing specifically on three aspects: (a) the main theoretical approaches and definitions employed for language mixing; (b) the characterization of language mixing for instruction and its impacts on heritage language education; (c) the parent and community language mixing activities for children’s heritage language learning. The limitations of the existing studies and the implications for educators and researchers are later discussed. It is hoped that this article will further our knowledge on this topic and provide pointed implications for future education and research.

Beyond Country of Birth

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Busi Makoni
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
Culture Learning ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
African Languages ◽  
African Identity ◽  
Heritage Language Learning

This article reports the results of an exploratory study on how third-generation American-born Africans (ABAs) (i.e., descendants of African immigrants born and raised in the United States) construct their identities in and through learning African languages as heritage languages. Drawing from qualitative data in the form of in-depth interviews, the article argues that while ABAs contest and negotiate their identities through learning African languages and through other, multimodal semiotic practices such as clothing, there is a prevalent valorization of African identity indexed by proficiency in an African language irrespective of whether this is a heritage language. The impetus for this valorization of heritage identity is a feeling of dislocation and delocalization resulting from erasure of ABAs’ English native-speakerhood and constant misidentification as non-Americans by the dominant culture. Learning heritage languages fosters a sense of belonging and connection with an “imagined” home located “there” as distinct from “here.” Thus, through heritage language learning, ABAs construct an “identity of resistance.” The article concludes by pointing out how positive heritage identity metamorphoses into an awareness of not only the cultural and symbolic value of heritage languages but also the potential of translating proficiency in one’s heritage language(s) into economic capital in the global market.

scholarly journals Rethink about Heritage Language Learning: A Case Study of Children’s Mandarin Chinese learning at a Community Language School in Ontario, Canada

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxiao Du
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Literacy Learning ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Knowledge Mobilization ◽  
Heritage Language Learning ◽  
Children's Literacy ◽  
And Migration

On-going knowledge mobilization and migration take place on a daily basis in the globalized world. Canada is a multilingual and multicultural country with a large number of visitors and immigrants. One in five Canadian speaks a foreign language other than English and French (Postmedia News, 2012). This case study examined six-year-old Chinese children’s heritage language learning in a community school from multiliteracies perspective using observations, interviews, and artefacts to understand children’s literacy learning. The findings indicated that Chinese children’s literacy learning was not in the traditional repetitive way but involved multimodal communication at school. Useful implications are made for heritage language educators regarding ways to support meaningful heritage language teaching and learning.  

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