“It’s Not Real, It’s Just A Story to Just Learn Spanish”: Understanding Heritage Language Learner Resistance in a Southwest Charter High School

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 186-206
Author(s):  
Kimberly Adilia Helmer
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Authentic Materials ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Class ◽  
Meaningful Activity

The current critical ethnography examines some causes of “strike-like” behavior observed in a Spanish heritage language class in a Southwest charter high school. Fundamental to student resistance was the lack of meaningful activity and authentic materials that connected curriculum to students’ linguistic strengths, target-culture knowledge, and the communities from which they came. The native Spanish-speaking teacher taught the course as if the Mexican-origin students were foreign language learners without certain native-like language proficiencies and insider cultural knowledge gained from actual experience. In turn, the instructor did not fully access his own linguistic and cultural repertoire, but instead relied on published foreign language materials that failed to engage students and constructed them as linguistic and cultural outsiders. A pueblobased pedagogical framework is proposed to make curriculum more culturally relevant, authentic, and engaging.

Expanding Language and Cultural Competence in Advanced Heritage- and Foreign-Language Learners through Community Engagement and Work with the Arts

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-280
Author(s):  
Maria Luisa Parra
Keyword(s):  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Personal Story ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Latino Community

The purpose of this article is to describe the methodology and pedagogical practices of an advanced language course, Spanish and the Community,that addresses the strengths and needs of both Spanish heritage language learners and foreign language learners in classrooms that contain both populations, i.e., in mixed classrooms. Focused on the Latino experience in the United States, the course’s main goals are to advance translingual competence, transcultural critical thinking, and social consciousness in both groups of students. Three effective and interrelated pedagogical approaches are proposed: (a) community service as a vehicle for social engagement with the Latino community; (b) the multiliteracies approach (New London Group,1996), with emphasis on work with art; and (c) border and critical pedagogy drawn from several authors in the heritage language field (Aparicio, 1997; Correa, 2011; Ducar, 2008; Irwin, 1996; Leeman, 2005; Leeman &Rabin, 2001; Martínez &Schwartz, 2012) and from Henry Giroux and Paulo Freire’s work. The effectiveness of this combined approach is demonstrated in students’ final art projects, in which they: (a) critically reflect on key issues related to the Latino community; (b) integrate knowledge about the Latino experience with their own personal story; (c) become aware of their relationship to the Latino community; and (d) express their ideas about their creative artifact in elaborated written texts in Spanish (the project’s written component).

What We Know about the Acquisition of Russian Aspect as a First, Second, and Heritage Language: State of the Art

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-210
Author(s):  
Anna Mikhaylova
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Russian Aspect ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Common Observation

This paper offers a state of the art review of the available linguistic scholarship on the acquisition of Russian aspect in various acquisition scenarios. While the studies reviewed here differ in their analyses of Russian verbal aspect, specific research questions, acquisition context, and research methodology, a common observation is that Russian aspectual contrasts are not easily acquired and that some may be more difficult to master than others. The review shows that some of these asymmetries are not unique to child grammars or to bilingual acquisition, but hold in all the acquisition contexts and may be determined by the complexity of the category itself, while others reflect developmental trends and effects of context and timing of acquisition. The paper starts with an overview of Russian aspect and the associated learning tasks, which is followed by the review of patterns emerging from studies on the acquisition of aspect by children, adult foreign language learners, and adult heritage speakers of Russian. The paper concludes with a discussion of the way these empirical findings can be connected to classroom contexts.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF THE AFFECTIVE DIMENSION IN SHAPING FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS’ CONCEPTUAL SYSTEM

Neofilolog ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 103-117
Author(s):  
Ariadna Strugielska
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Conceptual System ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Affective Factors ◽  
Foreign Language Learners

The role of affective factors in the process of foreign language learning and teaching is undeniable. Still, despite growing interest in the role of attitudinal variables in foreign language training, the problem has not been much researched from the perspective of multidimensional cognition. Thus, the focus of the article is the architecture of foreign language learners’ cognition situated within a multimodal framework and shaped by particular socio-linguistic experience. It is postulated that the conceptual system of a foreign language learner is unique in being highly susceptible to processing in terms of affective parameters. This hypothesis is corroborated by the results of a pilot study which show that concrete words in the conceptual systems of foreign language learners are associated with affect more than in the case of native speakers.

scholarly journals КУЛЬТУРА У ВИВЧЕННІ ІНОЗЕМНИХ МОВ

2020 ◽  
pp. 124-129
Author(s):  
Charles O. Nwarukweh
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Language Curriculum ◽  
Teaching Culture ◽  
Language Class ◽  
The People ◽  
Target Culture

Language is the bearer of human thoughts and reasoning. Culture should become an integral part of teaching and learning foreign languages. Both society and its culture change over time. The language of this culture is being invigorated by new elements. Effective integration will help the teacher professionally present the content of his lesson by selecting appropriate cultural tools that will facilitate teaching and learning.Language and culture are inseparable, so any change in language threatens culture. Because language is a means of preserving the culture of the people, promoting social interaction and unity of both. Use of language means the transfer of people’s culture. Language expresses, preserves, and transmits the entire set of patterns, behaviors, beliefs, traditions, and customs of the thinking patterns of one group of people different from another.It has been repeatedly found that many students who have studied Russian and have visited Russia have differed significantly from those who did not have the opportunity. A foreign language learner also learns the cultural knowledge and skills necessary to be competent in learning a foreign language. Therefore, it is considered necessary to include culture in a foreign language curriculum, as this helps to avoid the stereotypical notion that language is not part of culture.Teaching culture creates awareness of the geographical environment, the historical or political development of a foreign culture, its customs and the literary achievements of its members. The task of the teacher is to stimulate students’ interest in the target culture and to promote the creation of a foreign language class. Love for one’s language is an aspect of cultural consciousness. Everything that a person thinks is expressed in language and embodied in our lives. The main purpose of teaching culture in a foreign language class is to raise students’ awareness and develop their interest in the target culture on their own.

scholarly journals STRATEGIE UCZENIA SIĘ SŁOWNICTWA – OBCOKRAJOWCY VS. UŻYTKOWNICY JĘZYKA ODZIEDZICZONEGO

Neofilolog ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 95-108
Author(s):  
Anna Seretny
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Heritage Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Vocabulary Learning Strategies ◽  
Class Level ◽  
Polish Language

In an average Polish language intermediate class (level B1/B2) there are two types of learners; namely, heritage language learners (HLLs) and foreign language learners (FLLs). HLLs are of Polish origin and have gained partial knowledge of the language in a natural environment, unlike FLLs who have learnt Polish in a formal institutional setting and have no Polish roots whatsoever.Teachers of Polish as a foreign/second language claim (in anecdotal evidence), that HLLs speak more fluently, particularly when talking about everyday topics, and that their production sounds more native like, as it is more formulaic. HLLs are, however, perceived as poorer vocabulary learners than FLLs. The aim of the research described in this article was to find out if this phenomenon can be ascribed to the different number and/or type of vocabulary learning strategies used by learners from the two groups.

scholarly journals EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY ON THE LEXICAL COMPETENCE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS

2021 ◽  
pp. 204-210
Author(s):  
Юлия Сергеевна Андрюшкина
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
State Anxiety ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Interference ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Lexical Competence

В работе приведены результаты эксперимента по выявлению иноязыковой тревожности (шкала FLCAS) и ситуативной тревожности (вопросник Ч.Д. Спилбергера), а также их влияния на лексическую компетенцию обучающегося билингва. Полученные результаты позволили сделать вывод, что тревожное состояние приводит к снижению концентрации при выполнении задания, так как мысли о потенциальной неудаче и неуверенность в своих знаниях нарушают течение когнитивных процессов, необходимых для выполнения академической задачи. The paper presents the results of an experiment to identify foreign language anxiety (FLCAS scale) and state anxiety (C.D. Spielberger's questionnaire), and their impact on the lexical competence of a foreign language learner. The research results suggest that anxiety causes cognitive interference with performing specific tasks.

Heritage, Identity, and Learning at Stake

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Goulette
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
School Context ◽  
Classroom Community ◽  
Research Report ◽  
Heritage Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Class ◽  
American Schools ◽  
The One

A surge of diverse heritage language learners in American schools has contradicted the longstanding ideology that this population is monolithic. Previous theories about separating foreign language learners (FLLs) and heritage language learners (HLLs) are problematic because they fail to address the diversity of the HLLs that end up in schools today. This research report lends support for the claim that less proficient HLLs are more suitable for a heterogeneous beginning language class than those that are highly proficient. Placing a highly proficient HLL in a beginning level language course can actually be detrimental to both emergent learners' development and the educational outcomes of the entire classroom community. Moreover, the monumental task of teaching a heterogeneous class like the one analyzed here complicates and is complicated by an already-problematic school context. This study exhibits how the classroom talk privileged certain classmates while marginalizing others, halting educational progress.

The Modes of Governmentality in Language Education

2011 ◽  
pp. 149-167
Author(s):  
Neriko Doerr ◽  
Shinji Sato
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Class ◽  
Teacher Student

This chapter discusses the validity of incorporating blog activities in language education classes as an equalizing practice. The authors examine blog activities aimed at providing a way for foreign language learners to communicate in a space free from any teacher-student hierarchy as part of a Japanese-as-a-Foreign-Language class at a university in the United States. The authors show that a teacher-student hierarchy still seeps into the blog space, albeit in a different form. Using Michel Foucault’s notion of modes of governmentality, they analyze how the blog’s postings and readers’ comments define the space of a particular blog by evoking modes of governmentality of schooling and of “native” vs. “non-native” speakers. They suggest the importance of acknowledging the existence of relations of dominance in what was initially perceived to be a power-free online space and encourage educators who use blogs in classes to involve learners in the understanding and transformation of such relations of dominance.

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