Texas Language Center Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies The University of Texas at Austin Saturday April 9 th 2011 Teaching Heritage Speakers in the Foreign Language Classroom ID: 543814
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Slide1
Teaching the Speakers: Heritage Language Learners and the Classroom
Texas Language Center
Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
The University of Texas at Austin
Saturday, April 9
th
, 2011Slide2
Teaching Heritage Speakers in the Foreign Language Classroom –
Focusing on t
he Least Commonly Taught Languages
Maggie Harrison, Ph.D.
Slide3
Presentation Topics
Definition of a Heritage Language
Who are Heritage
Speakers
– Definitions of a Heritage Language Learner
Characteristics of Typical Heritage Language Learners
Heritage Language Speakers: Big and Small Minority Groups – how it translates into language course availability at the university level
Heritage Language Speakers in University Foreign Language CoursesSlide4
Presentation Topics – Cont.
Heritage Language Speakers and Their Impact on Classroom Instruction in a Foreign Language Classroom
Disadvantages
Advantages
What’s Next? – Proposed Solutions:
Ideal Scenario
Making the Best of What We Have
The Importance of Collaboration Slide5
What is Heritage Language?
Broad sense: the
term ‘
heritage language
’ can describe linguistic acquisition
in many
different
contexts;
Importance of
social circumstances
as in variables
differentiating heritage speakers from other naturalistic
bilinguals;
Naturalistic exposure to
the heritage language; however, this language is by definition a
nonhegemonic minority
language
within a majority-language
environment;
Heritage language is
the family
language used
and heard in restricted
environments
;
(Rothman, 2007)
Heritage
language
learner
need not be a fluent speaker
of the heritage
language; however,
it
is assumed
that a heritage speaker has, to a greater or lesser degree, acquired some
level of proficiency.
(Valdés, 2001
)
Slide6
Who are Heritage Speakers?
Definitions:
“Individuals
who speak their first language, which is not English, in the home, or are
foreign-born”
– this definition
links individuals to their home language and includes both native and foreign born
. /
Campbell & Peyton, 1998,
p. 38
/
“…
someone who
has
had exposure to a non-English language outside the formal education system. It most often refers to someone with a home background in the language, but may refer to anyone who has had in-depth exposure to another language. Other terms used to describe this
population
include
‘native
speaker
,’ ‘bilingual,’
and
‘home
background
.’
While these terms are often used interchangeably, they can have very different
interpretations
.”
/Draper
and
Hicks, 2000, p. 19/
Individuals
having historical or personal connection to a language such as an endangered indigenous language or immigrant language that is not normally taught in school;
Individuals
who appear in a foreign language classroom, who are raised in homes where a non-English language is spoken, speak or merely understand the HL, and are to some degree bilingual in English and the
HL.
/Valdés, 2001,
p. 37-38
/Slide7
Definitions – Cont.
1)
Simultaneous
bilinguals who speak a family and a societal majority languages well as adults (maybe even better
)
2)
Simultaneous
bilinguals who are clearly dominant in the majority language, but have some (maybe good) knowledge of the family
language
3)
Simultaneous / early
sequential bilinguals who speak a minority community
language
(not from their family) to some degree (perhaps well) and are natives of the majority
languageSlide8
4 )
Sequential
bilinguals who acquire the majority language L2 as young children, retaining their L1 well and speaking the L2 well
5)
Sequential
bilinguals who acquire the majority language L2 as young children, losing most of their L1 (perhaps entirely), but speak the L2 well
6)
Sequential
bilinguals who acquire the majority language L2 as adolescent/young adults, retaining their L1 well and speaking the L2 well
7)
Sequential
bilinguals who acquire the majority language L2 as adolescent/young adults, retaining their L1 well and speaking their L2 okay
8)
Sequential
bilinguals who acquire the majority language L2 as adolescent/young adults, losing some proficiency in their L1 and speaking the L2 wellSlide9
9)
Monolingual child acquirers
of the majority language who have parents or grandparents who are speakers of a heritage language and they have strong cultural/emotional ties to the family language, but do not speak the family language at all
10)
Monolingual child acquirers
of the majority language who have parents or grandparents who are speakers of a heritage language, but they have little (perhaps no) overt connections to the heritage language/culture
/Rothman, 2009/Slide10
Two Main Types of HL
Given the heterogeneous nature of the HL speaker population and the resulting difficulty
establishing one clear definition for heritage language, a simple
dichotomous
comparison of HL
versus FL students is not appropriate for comparing the language use and skills of these
learners.
Therefore, the primary purpose of Kondo-Brown’s (2005) study was to explore which subgroups
within the HL population demonstrated language behaviors that are distinctively different from
any of the remaining groups. Results of the study suggested that only students with at least one
parent speaking the HL were significantly different from any of the remaining groups.
Competent
(parent group)
Identity
(grandparent and descent group)
FL
/Kondo-Brown, 2005/ Slide11
Characteristics of Typical Heritage Language Learners
(Competent HLL)
HL students have acquired
nearly 90% of the
phonological system
of a prestige dialect of their ancestral language
.
They have acquired
80% to 90% of the
grammatical rules
that govern word, phrase, sentence, and discourse production and
recognition.
They
have acquired extensive
vocabularies
; however, the semantic range of their vocabulary is limited to just a few socio-cultural
domains.
They
have typically acquired
sociolinguistic rules
that govern the choice of registers appropriate for verbal interaction with different members of their families and others with whom they converse
.Slide12
5) They have learned and adopted many of the
customs
,
values
, and
traditions
(collectively “culture”) that define the ethnolinguistic community into which they were born.
6) They
rarely have opportunities
– Saturday and after-school programs notwithstanding – to gain
literacy skills
in their ancestral languages.
7) They present
a wide range of reasons for wanting to study their ancestral languages
.
/Campbell & Rosenthal, 2000, p. 167-168
/Slide13
Heritage Language Speakers:
Big and Small Minority Groups
commonly-taught languages (i.e. Spanish
)
less commonly taught languages (i.e. Russian
)
truly less commonly taught languages (the least commonly taught languages) (i.e. Polish)Slide14
Heritage Language Speakers:
To Teach or To Facilitate?
Classification of Heritage Learners According to Language Proficiency
Addressing the Needs of the Heritage Language Learners
Availability of Appropriate Courses, Curriculum Design, Teaching MaterialsSlide15
Disadvantages:
Mixing learning needs of HL students with those of FL students – unequal initial levels
Neither of the groups get full benefit of the learning experience
HL students’ presence can be/often is intimidating for FL students and raises learning filters
Challenge for instructors: HL students may use dialects, slangs, fossilized forms of inappropriate grammar, syntax, etc., frequent use of code switching, frequent interruption for clarification
Need to identify their gaps (resulting from incomplete acquisition or attrition)
Heritage Language Speakers
Their Impact on Classroom Instruction in a Foreign Language ClassroomSlide16
Heritage Language Speakers
Their Impact on Classroom Instruction in a Foreign Language Classroom
Advantages:
HL students are representatives of the language and culture of TL thereby helping to remove the aura of abstractness from a new and less common language
HL students can be a wonderful resource of cultural information
HL students are often conduits to ethnic communities, the presence of which can further function as an extended linguistic community
HL students in a FL classroom provide opportunities to implement ‘less common pedagogies’: explore sociolinguistic principles, raise learners’ consciousness about issues of identity and language, and provide class work that expands linguistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic competence.
/Valdés, 1995/Slide17
What’s Next? – Proposed Solutions
Ideal Scenario:
Separate courses for HL and FL students
Different levels of heritage language courses addressing HL speakers’ needs
Appropriate placement tests
Individualized Instruction Courses (I. I.)Slide18
Making the Best of What We Have & How to Go About It:
Know Thy Student!
Understand each population/group of students in a given course – ask students to write down their reasons for taking the course, provide information about other FLs studied or spoken
Identify the HL speakers in the group and their specific language needs and expectations
Acknowledge the nature of the class and its mixed HL and FL population (in a FL classroom)Slide19
Build a Community in Your Classroom
Create classroom atmosphere conducive not only to learning but to interacting and making connections with other students (in small groups if possible)
Organize classroom (if possible) to facilitate interaction on group level (setting up chairs, tables, teaching aids, etc.) – feeling of a community
Encourage work in pairs and in groups (assign activities which require work in pairs, small groups, and class collaboration)
Communicate with students who may have difficulties in interacting and encourage them to join in
Respect in-class support system (work pairs and groups)Slide20
Always Work With Context
Build grammar and vocabulary introductions around a clear context
Use visual aids whenever possible
Incorporate each of the four language components into your class whenever possible (listening, speaking, reading, writing)
Use Communicative Method of Teaching TL
Use Authentic Materials in ClassSlide21
Do Not Rely on Final Course Evaluations to Tell You How Successful the Course Is/Was
‘Take pulse’ in class regularly
Suggestion box (typed comments)
‘Venting Forum’ (provide an open forum for all students to share their frustration with the learning process and its challenges, especially grammatical challenges, ask all students to contribute by offering their suggestions on overcoming the difficulties or simply by presenting their weak points
Always address issues as they appear (discouraged students, test results, comments on class content and level of difficulty, types of assignments, clarity and usefulness of textbooks, workbooks, teaching aids, handouts, etc.)Slide22
Present TL Culture Aspects
Involve HL students and allow them to share their own perception of culture and speak about their own identity
Encourage class discussion about culture and traditions and allow HL students take lead; compare and contrast cultures and traditions Slide23
How do these suggestions translate into helping HL Speakers?
The four components help all students work on all aspects of language and present HL speakers with an opportunity to practice their skills further without leaving them disinterested.
Using TL in class provides an opportunity for FL and HL students to hear the language in its academic use.
By working together in pairs and groups, HL and FL students collaborate on language tasks and can help one another in furthering their skills by negotiating meaning.
(Blake
and
Zyzik, 2003
)
Slide24
In peer tutoring heritage language speakers assist their native English speaking peers.
(Quintanar-Sarellana, Huebner and Jensen, 1993)
In reciprocal tutoring heritage learners share their expertise and non-native learners, in turn, help with grammatical terminology.
(Potowski, 2002)
Teaching Bottom-Up and Top-Down helps HL students to approach language both from its basic and from a more advanced level.
HL students in class can be helpful in modeling exercises and activities.Slide25
The Importance of Collaboration Among Instructors Teaching Heritage Language Speakers
Sharing challenges of teaching in a mixed HL/FL classroom
Talking about the benefits of a mixed HL/FL classroom
Exchanging ideas about optimal teaching methodologies, activities, exercises, teaching aids
Collaborating on design and development of teaching materials and aids, possibly textbooks
Collaborating with researchers on studies in order to measure the effect of HL speakers’ presence in a FL classroom and FL students and usefulness of FL classroom instruction to HL speakersSlide26
References:
Blake, R.J. & Zyzik, E.C. (2003). Who’s Helping Whom? Learner/Heritage Speakers’ Networked Discussion in Spanish.
Applied Linguistics,
24. 519-544.
Campbell, R. & Peyton, J.K. (1998). Heritage language students: A valuable language resource.
The ERIC Review,
6(1), 38- 39.
Campbell, R.N. & Rosenthal, J.W. (2000). Heritage Languages. In J.W. Rosenthal (Ed.),
Handbook of Undergraduate Second Language Education.
Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. 165-183.
Draper, J.B. & Hicks, J.H. (2000). Where we’ve been; what we’ve learned. In J.B. Webb & B.L. Miller (Eds.),
Teaching heritage language learners: Voices from the classroom.
Yonkers, NY: American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages. 15-35.
Kondo-Brown, K. (2005). Differences in Language Skills: Heritage Language Learner Subgroups and Foreign Language Learners.
Modern Language Journal
, 89 (4), 563-581.
Potowski, K.(2002). Experiences of Spanish Heritage Speakers in University Foreign-Language Courses and Implications for Teacher Training.
ADFL Bulletin
33, 35-42.
Quintanar-Sarellana, R., Huebner, T. & Jensen, A. (1993). Tapping a Natural Resource: Language Minority Learners as Foreign Language Tutors. In B.J. Merino, H.T. Trueba, & F.A. Samaniego (Eds.),
Language and Culture in Learning: Teaching Spanish to Native Speakers of Spanish.
London: Falmer. 208-221.
Rothman, J. (2009). Child Bilingual Acquisition with Non-Target Competence: Attrition, Incomplete Acquisition and/or Something Else? The
Ohio State University Workshop Series on Selected Topics in Second Language Acquisition
.
Rothman, J. (2007). Heritage speaker competence differences, language change and input type: Inflected infinitives in heritage Brazilian Portuguese.
International Journal of Bilingualism,
11 (4), 359-389.
Valdés, G. (2001). Heritage Language Students: Profiles and possibilities. In J.K. Peyton, D.A. Ranard & S. McGinnis (Eds.),
Heritage languages in America: Preserving a national resource
. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics/Delta Systems. 37-77.
Valdés, G. (1995). The Teaching of Minority Languages as Academic Subjects: Pedagogical and Theoretical Challenges.
Modern Language Journal,
79 (3), 299-328.