Raising awareness about heritage language learners in the L2 Spanish classroom: teacher beliefs and attitudes

Many studies have demonstrated the benefits of learner-learner interactions in the second language classroom; however, despite the growing number of heritage language learners (HLLs) that enroll in language courses, only recently have researchers begun to examine interactions among second language learners and HLLs. Still, HLL-HLL interactions go unexamined. The present study fills this gap in the literature by analyzing HLL-HLL interactions during collaborative writing activities in a Spanish classroom. Results indicate that learners resolve lexical, grammatical, and orthographic issues accurately in most cases. It also shows that learners rely heavily on their strengths in Spanish and thus, utilize their implicit knowledge of the language. Their intuition enables them to critically assess the appropriateness of certain words and structures according to their needs and intentions; however, it also means that they tend to not fully utilize the resources at their disposal. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

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Assessing the Language Proficiency of Tribal Heritage Language Learners: Issues and Concerns for American Indian Pueblo Languages

Current Issues in Language Planning ◽

10.2167/cilp139.0 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 327

Author(s):

Christine Sims

Keyword(s):

American Indian ◽

Language Learners ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Heritage Language ◽

Heritage Language Learners

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College‐level placement for heritage language learners

Foreign Language Annals ◽

10.1111/flan.12523 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jingjing Ji

Keyword(s):

Language Learners ◽

Heritage Language ◽

Heritage Language Learners ◽

College Level

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"There is no space for being German": Portraits of Willing and Reluctant Heritage Language Learners of German

Heritage Language Journal ◽

10.46538/hlj.7.2.2 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 162-182 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Roswita Dressler

Keyword(s):

Case Studies ◽

Language Learners ◽

Heritage Language ◽

Secondary Level ◽

Significant Part ◽

Heritage Language Learners ◽

Post Secondary ◽

Language Identity ◽

German Speaking ◽

German Speaking Country

Some heritage language learners (HLLs) are comfortable identifying themselves as such, while others are decidedly reluctant to adopt this term (Piño & Piño, 2000). HLLs in this paper are defined as those students having a parent or grandparent who speaks German or those who have spent a significant part of their childhood in a German-speaking country (as suggested in Beaudrie & Ducar, 2005, p. 13). This paper highlights case studies of six HLLs of German at the post-secondary level who are participants in a motivation study (Dressler, 2008). Three students are ‘willing’ HLLs. The additional three case studies are of students that I will call ‘reluctant’ HLLs of German, and this paper explores the reasons behind their reluctance and the components of self-identification, which include language identity (Block, 2007; Pierce, 1995); language expertise; affiliation and inheritance (Leung, Harris, & Rampton, 1997); cultural artifacts (Bartlett, 2007) and positioning (Block, 2007).

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