The Influences of Indigenous Heritage Language Education on Students and Families in a Hawaiian Language Immersion Program

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Luning ◽  
Lois Yamauchi
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Hawaiian Language ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Adolescent Students ◽  
Heritage Language Education ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Indigenous Heritage

Papahana Kaiapuni is a K-12 public school program in which the Hawaiian language is the medium of instruction. In 1987, parents and language activists started the program in response to the dwindling number of speakers that resulted from a nearly century-long ban on the indigenous language. This study examined how participation in this indigenous heritage language program influenced students and their families. Data included interviews with 12 adolescent students and their family members. Results suggested that the program promoted students’ learning about and practicing traditional Hawaiian values, and influenced cultural pride among family members. Participation in the program also encouraged youths and their family members to become politically active around Hawaiian cultural issues. Unlike the more typical process in which culture is passed down from the older to the younger generations, participants viewed Kaiapuni students as the carriers of the culture and language, teaching older family members about these topics. Informants also reported that Kaiapuni promoted positive community views about both Hawaiian language and culture revitalization efforts.

Critical Pedagogy beyond the Classroom Walls: Community Service-learning and Spanish Heritage Language Education

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-314
Author(s):  
Jennifer Leeman ◽  
Lisa Rabin ◽  
Esperanza Román-Mendoza
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Elementary School ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
After School ◽  
Community Service Learning ◽  
Heritage Language Education

This article describes a critical service-learning initiative in which college students of Spanish taught in an after-school Spanish class for young heritage language (HL) speakers at a local elementary school. We contextualize the program within broad curricular revisions made to the undergraduate Spanish program in recent years, explaining how critical pedagogy and our students’ experiences motivated the design of the program. After describing the program, we analyze reflections from participants that show how the experience helped them take their critical language agency beyond the classroom walls and integrate university, school and community knowledges, as both the college students and the children they taught came to view their cultural and linguistic heritages to be of educational and public importance.

A Working Model for Assessing Spanish Heritage Language Learners’ Language Proficiency through a Placement Exam

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-138
Author(s):  
Marta Fairclough
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Working Model ◽  
Heritage Language Education ◽  
Content Selection ◽  
Placement Exam ◽  
Clear Idea

Having a clear idea of the knowledge in the heritage language that a student brings to the classroom is essential for a successful language-learning experience; for that reason, research in heritage language education has been focusing increasingly on assessment issues, especially language placement exams. Professionals debate whether assessment procedures should measure what students know and can do with the heritage language, or what deficiencies they have. Ideally, a balance of both will produce a better placement exam. This paper presents a working model of language placement based on current second-language theory and research and on what is known of heritage language learning. It explains the rationale for content selection and the design of effective tasks in a language placement exam for incoming university students and, finally, briefly voices some key logistical considerations.

Heritage-Language Education for Japanese Children Living Abroad and the Impacts on Their Ethnic Identity

2021 ◽  
pp. 154-176
Author(s):  
Akiko Onda
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Japanese Children ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Education Abroad ◽  
Heritage Language Education

With consistently increasing globalization, the number of Japanese children living and receiving education abroad continues to grow. Previous studies have compared the Japanese-language abilities of children studying Japanese abroad to those of children living in Japan. However, the author contends that the backgrounds of children studying Japanese abroad vary greatly, as do their learning goals. The former do not necessarily want to learn the same language skills as children who study in Japan. Japanese-language education for children living overseas requires that students understand what they want to achieve in terms of their language ability. This chapter focuses on children who have lived and been educated in multiple countries other than Japan; it discusses their Japanese-language learning goals and the environment needed to support those goals. It also examines their sense of ethnic identity as Japanese and how this relates to their upbringing and language-learning experiences.

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