Asian Immigrant Communities' Civic Participation in Cultivating Bilingualism and Biliteracy in the United States

This chapter discusses how Asian immigrant communities in the United States cultivate Asian immigrant children's literacy learning in their heritage languages. Although the United States has historically been a linguistically diverse country, bilingualism has not always been valued and acknowledged. Strong social and institutional expectations for immigrants to acquire the socially dominant language have resulted in language shifts among immigrants. Concerned about their descendants' heritage language loss, Asian immigrant communities make organized efforts to establish community-based heritage language schools. Heritage language schools play an important role in immigrant children's learning of their heritage language and culturally appropriate ways of behaving and communicating. It has also been noted that heritage language schools encounter several challenges in motivating heritage language learners. Heritage language schools should be considered as complementary education for immigrant students because they take critical responsibilities to support immigrant students' language and literacy development in their heritage languages.

Translanguaging as ideology: Responding to social and linguistic diversity in the classroom of Japanese as a heritage language schools in England

This paper investigates how ideological orientations shape the programmes and curriculum of Japanese as a heritage language (JHL) schools in England as well as teachers’ practices and attitudes in response to social diversity in such settings. This paper is a result of a linguistic ethnography which explores subjective perspectives constructed locally by people in JHL schools. Japanese communities overseas tend to be regarded as homogenous. However, in the contemporary world of mobility, connectivity and diversity they exhibit heterogeneity. This paper argues that JHL schools emerged as a response to educational needs arising from heterogeneity amongst Japanese migrants and that further diversification is occurring within JHL schools. Consequently, these schools and their teachers need ways to manage diversity in the classroom. Translanguaging is examined as a strategy for inclusion and also as a positive ideological orientation towards differences.

Understanding the Teaching Strategy of Korean Heritage Language Teachers in Community-Based Heritage Language Schools

The goal in this qualitative study is to contribute to the growing understanding that heritage language (HL) teachers' literacy teaching beliefs and children's home linguistic environment mediate teachers' HL teaching strategies, including the micro-level language policy. Following the brief history of Korean HL schools in the USA, a case study conducted at two community-based Korean HL schools in California is presented. The primary data were collected through multiple teacher interviews and participant-observations in two Korean heritage language schools. The characteristics of two HL teachers' instruction capture their beliefs about literacy teaching and micro-level language policy in the classroom. The challenges of Korean-only instruction and HL education are discussed in relation to students' linguistic home environments and macro-level linguistic policy of the USA. The author concludes with the implications and recommendations for HL teachers, HL schools, and administrators regarding how to support bilingual competences and literacies of young children in minority communities.

Asian Immigrant Communities' Civic Participation in Cultivating Bilingualism and Biliteracy in the United States

This chapter discusses how Asian immigrant communities in the United States cultivate Asian immigrant children's literacy learning in their heritage languages. Although the United States has historically been a linguistically diverse country, bilingualism has not always been valued and acknowledged. Strong social and institutional expectations for immigrants to acquire the socially dominant language have resulted in language shifts among immigrants. Concerned about their descendants' heritage language loss, Asian immigrant communities make organized efforts to establish community-based heritage language schools. Heritage language schools play an important role in immigrant children's learning of their heritage language and culturally appropriate ways of behaving and communicating. It has also been noted that heritage language schools encounter several challenges in motivating heritage language learners. Heritage language schools should be considered as complementary education for immigrant students because they take critical responsibilities to support immigrant students' language and literacy development in their heritage languages.

Chinese Education in the United States: Players and Challenges

Since the turn of the twenty-first century, China has emerged as the second largest economy in the world. In the U.S., Chinese speakers became the second largest non-English-speaking population, and Chinese education obtained unprecedented opportunities in both the K-12 school system and higher education. Various players have contributed to this development, with the major ones being (1) the U.S.-government funded National Security Language Initiatives (NSLI), (2) the long existing Chinese community heritage language schools, and (3) China’s Confucius Institute (CI) program. The NSLI has created a number of meaningful projects such as the Foreign Language Assistance Program, the Teacher Exchange and Summer Language Institutes Youth Exchanges, the Flagship Program, and STARTALK, in which the Chinese language is the focus. The Chinese community heritage language schools have a history of over 150 years in the U.S. and are enrolling 200,000 Chinese students (estimated), more than the U.S. K-12 schools and higher education combined. China’s CI program has established 97 CIs and 357 Confucius classrooms in the U.S., which have reached millions of American people and students. However, the present data show that there lacks a coherent language policy in the U.S. education system. Although the above players have joined forces and made great contributions to the development of U.S. Chinese education, each of them is facing significant challenges. On the one hand, NSLI and Chinese community heritage language schools are both on the sidelines of the American public school system. On the other, with CI’s fast expansion, concerns and criticisms grow regarding its role in the context of U.S. higher education. Some of the concerns have been translated into negative actions and policies.

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

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.

Pedagogical Theories and Approaches to Teach Young Learners of Japanese as a Heritage Language

This paper proposes a theoretical framework for the development of curricula for Japanese heritage language schools. Although these schools provide most of the Japanese heritage language (JHL) instruction available to elementary and secondary school pupils, they have received little attention or support from the academic community. Specifically, they are in need research-based knowledge as well as models for teaching methodology, developing curricula and instructional materials, and providing teacher training. This paper examines recent theories and approaches in the fields of heritage language education, bilingualism, and instruction that is developmentally appropriate to young learners. The paper then proposes a process of curriculum design that integrates and applies these theories and approaches. The curriculum proposed here could also be used in heritage language schools for other languages.