Heritage language maintenance and cultural identity formation: the case of Korean immigrant parents and their children in the USA

Parents play a significant role in fostering Korean-American children’s heritage language learning. This qualitative inquiry investigates Korean immigrant parents’ beliefs and the language practices they engage in to raise their children to speak Korean. Based on questionnaires completed by 40 parents and in-depth, open-ended interviews with 5 parents, this study specifically focuses on Korean parents residing in an area with a low Korean immigrant population and how they perceive, foster, and advocate for their children’s Heritage Language (HL) learning. The findings show that parents play crucial roles as active advocates of their children’s HL learning and positive belief in HL maintenance, making best efforts to help their children see the value of learning. In addition, the findings show that parents serve as HL educators, who create an HL learning environment, instruct HL reading and writing, and incorporate digital tools and popular culture for HL learning.

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Resisting and Reversing Language Shift: Heritage-Language Resilience among U.S. Native Biliterates

Harvard Educational Review ◽

10.17763/haer.71.4.ku752mj536413336 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 71 (4) ◽

pp. 676-709 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

Lucy Tse

Keyword(s):

Cultural Identity ◽

Identity Formation ◽

Heritage Language ◽

Literacy Environment ◽

Language And Culture ◽

Social Nature ◽

The Social ◽

Biliteracy Development ◽

Literacy Environments ◽

Cultural Identity Formation

In this article, Lucy Tse examines the experiences of one group of U.S. native bilinguals who have managed to develop high levels of literacy in both English and their home or "heritage" language (HL). This unique group has defied the typical pattern among U.S. minority language speakers of losing the home language while learning English. The results show that biliteracy development is aided by the coexistence of two sets of factors related to a) language vitality and b) literacy environment and experiences. Participants had high levels of perceived language vitality resulting from parental, institutional, and peer support, which helped in their formation of a social identity inclusive of their heritage language and culture. Having access to HL literacy environments and guidance from more literate adults and peers allowed the participants to observe the use of HL literacy in meaningful and socially important ways. Tse discusses these and other results in terms of social and cultural identity formation, literacy access and practices, and the social nature of literacy development. (pp. 677–709)

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Heritage Language Maintenance and Japanese Identity Formation: What Role Can Schooling and Ethnic Community Contact Play?

Heritage Language Journal ◽

10.46538/hlj.7.2.5 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 237-272 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kaya Oriyama

Keyword(s):

Identity Formation ◽

Heritage Language ◽

Language Maintenance ◽

Ethnic Community ◽

Hybrid Identities ◽

Heritage Language Maintenance ◽

Positive Attitudes ◽

Heritage Language Schools ◽

Community Heritage ◽

Language Schools

This study examines the role of schooling and ethnic community contact in ethnolinguistic and cultural identity construction and heritage language maintenance through the surveys and narratives of three groups of Japanese-English bilingual youths and their parents in Sydney, Australia, as a part of a larger longitudinal study from childhood. The bilingual youths were either born in Australia or immigrated there at a young age, and one or both of their parents are Japanese. All youths attended local Japanese community (heritage) language schools on weekends for varying periods of time while receiving Australian education (one group received some Japanese education as well) during the week. The bilinguals were grouped by types of schooling and community contact. The results show that community schools foster positive Japanese inclusive identity and heritage language development, especially with home, community, and peer support. Contrary to previous studies, positive attitudes toward hybrid identities and Japanese maintenance were found, regardless of the levels of Japanese proficiency. The development of identity and heritage language appear to be influenced not only by schooling and community, but also by wider socio-cultural contexts.

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