Heritage speakers of Chinese languages in Asia: Sociocultural factors that affect their proficiency in Mandarin Chinese discusses several of the reasons that some Asian ethnic Chinese are more proficient at Mandarin Chinese than others. This research was conducted in Taiwan between 2009 and 2011. Research subjects were of Chinese ethnicity, citizens of Asian nations and regions other than the People’s Republic of China or the Republic of China ( Taiwan ), and present in Taiwan as students of Mandarin Chinese and/or various academic subjects. The research question consisted of an overarching question and three sub-questions; the overarching question was: What is the experience of heritage speakers of Chinese languages in Asian countries where Mandarin is not the dominant language?, and the three sub-questions were: 1.) What sociocultural factors result in heritage speakers’ Mandarin learning/development being enhanced?; 2.) What sociocultural factors result in heritage speakers’ Mandarin learning/development being suppressed/not enhanced?; and 3.) Why are ethnic Chinese from non-Chinese nations studying Mandarin in Taiwan ? The researcher also unearthed what is possibly a new paradigm for a “heritage speaker of Mandarin Chinese” in an Asian context. Heritage Mandarin speakers in an Asian context may be a hybrid construct: speakers of a Chinese language with solid skills in the home language, a high degree of contact with Mandarin Chinese in the environment, and the capacity to rapidly acquire Mandarin and enhance one’s skills readily via the advantage of scaffolding at a higher starting point due to already being versed in one or more Chinese language. Some of the salient sociocultural factors which were shown to enhance the Mandarin skills of this population were: similarity of home’s or region’s Chinese language to Mandarin, exposure to Mandarin in the environment, policies favorable to or accepting of this language group and culture, and Mandarin as a medium of classroom instruction. Reasons for studying in Taiwan included its low costs and authentic Chinese environment. It is hoped that this study will inform efforts in the teaching of Mandarin to heritage speakers. It is further hoped that stakeholders who deal with heritage speaker issues consider not only the sociocultural factors explored in this research, but also the importance of considering the effects of language contact between heritage languages and similar languages and dialects. / text

American-born Korean-Americans show one of the highest rates of heritage language attrition among immigrant groups in the United States. This literature review aims to identify factors that influence Korean heritage learners' motivation to maintain or disengage from heritage language learning, particularly focusing on language learning settings, learning opportunities, and learners' experiences and perceptions about the language and learning. First, it reviews research that informs about the current status of Korean mainly as a heritage language in American K-16 schools where learner motivation and language learning are positioned. The second section explores the circumstances of Korean language use and exposure taking place in the Korean community setting. The third section explores the ways in which heritage language maintenance is influenced by Korean heritage learners' diverse experiences in association with the perceived language vitality, ethnic and linguistic identity formation, and individual differences in learning goals and backgrounds. On the basis of the literature review, the last section discusses the argument that the systemic relations of the K-16 education community, the Korean community, and individual learners are critical in understanding Korean heritage learners' involvement in language learning and development. Finally, this Report concludes with recommendations for the enhancement of learning opportunities and motivation for Korean learners and with suggestions for future research in the nascent field of Korean education and research in the United States. / text

Contributing to a more detailed understanding of heritage language (HL) learner levels of Spanish competence, this study examines the first-person singular Spanish pronominal subject expression by 17 HL learners across three levels of proficiency in oral interviews – as rated by modified ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines: intermediate (n = 3), intermediate-advanced (n = 4), and advanced (n = 10). Using a variationist approach, I analyze five conditioning variables (including discourse function and verb class) that have been found to affect pronominal expression in native speaker Spanish (Bentivoglio, 1980; Cameron, 1992, 1994; Cacoullos & Travis, 2010; Otheguy et al, 2007; Silva-Corvalán, 1989, 2001; Travis, 2005, 2007), as well as two additional variables (correct verbal inflection and presence of hesitation phenomena) seen in second language acquisition studies. Following theories of interface vulnerability (cf. Montrul, 2011b; Sorace, 2004, 2005; Sorace & Serratrice 1995), I hypothesized that the incremental development of sensitivity to conditioning variables would be reflective of the complexity of the interface at which the variable is conditioned. Based on previous studies of HL leaners (Montrul, 2004; Montrul & Rodríguez-Louro, 2006) and second language learners (Geeslin & Gudmestad, 2010a, Rothman, 2007a, 2007b, 2009), I predicted that the variables related to the more vulnerable and complex interface of syntax-discourse/pragmatics would be acquired only by the advanced proficiency group. My analysis indicated that HL pronominal expression is in free variation and unconstrained by any of the interface-related variables at the intermediate-advanced proficiency level. Neither the intermediate-advanced nor the advanced proficiency level HL leaners showed native-like sensitivity to variables conditioned at the syntax-discourse/pragmatic interface. Importantly, the only variable that was significant in first-person singular subject expression by HL leaners of all proficiency levels was the presence of hesitation phenomena. These results support the claim (Evans, 1985; Fehringer & Fry, 2007; Kormos, 1999; Riazantseva, 2001; van Hest 1996a, 1996b; Verhoeven, 1989) of a relationship between hesitation phenomena in oral speech and anxiety and increased processing demands while speaking the heritage language. Comparing the results across three proficiency levels, I analyze when and to what degree HL learners show sensitivity to these variables. The findings illustrate the benefits of extending the application of sociolinguistic methodology (specifically the comparative multivariable analysis and the stepwise logistic regression procedure) to HL and second language acquisition studies because it facilitates a fine-grained examination and comparison of leaners across proficiency levels. / text

This dissertation analyzes the language used by 20 adult heritage Welsh speakers now living in London, i.e., bilinguals who shifted to English dominance in childhood, and whose Welsh proficiencies now show divergences from baseline norms as a result of incomplete acquisition and attrition. The grammars of these heavily imbalanced bilinguals are compared with baseline informants (20 Welsh-dominant controls) on a narrative elicitation task, in which the informants tell the story of a children's wordless picture book (Frog, Where Are You? by Mercer Mayer). The samples collected for this project (Appendix II.1) constitute the first corpus of heritage Welsh. / Celtic Languages and Literatures

Grounded in interdisciplinary scholarship to include rhetoric and composition, applied linguistics, and heritage languages, my dissertation, Negotiated Identities of Second-Generation Vietnamese Heritage Speakers: Implications for the Multilingual Composition Classroom, is a qualitative study that explores how Vietnamese heritage speakers negotiate multiple identities in different social contexts. I define heritage speakers as asymmetrical bilinguals who were raised in a non-English speaking household but whose dominant language is now English. While findings from this study reveal that heritage speakers struggle to claim a linguistic identity because of discrimination from members of different Vietnamese communities, they nonetheless—through reflexive and interactive positioning—resist these communities' discriminatory practices by constructing and negotiating multiple identities that enable them to reimagine themselves as legitimate members of an imagined Vietnamese community. By focusing on speakers' negotiated identities, this dissertation departs from the traditional emphasis in heritage language and composition studies that equate language proficiency with cultural identity. Instead, it calls for a more nuanced understanding of identity formation that not only engages speakers' multiple spheres of belonging but also informs current pedagogical practices that seek to incorporate speakers' heritage languages as linguistic resources in the composition classroom.

The resolution of the language question--whether to maintain the mother tongue, shift to the mainstream language, or try to maintain two or more languages in the family--creates a lot of psychological complications and linguistic reflections. The present study explores how external variables and internal controversies affect the choice of language by an individual family member as well as the family as a whole unit, and how this choice, in its turn, impacts the relationships within the family.This study draws on the several theoretical domains of immigration, psychology, and language acquisition. Relying on these theoretical frameworks, the major findings are synthesized, and a paradigm of language choice at the family level is formulated.A mixed-method research design allows a broad outlook on the Russian-speaking immigrants, comparison of immigrants from the former Soviet Union with immigrants of other nationalities, and restricted and concentrated analysis at the family level. The Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) data set helps to address the quantitative part of this dissertation, while the qualitative part is based on in-depth case studies of four immigrant families.Building on the fundamental position that development happens as the result of the resolution of controversies, I suggest that there are four levels of controversy located in the language-choice model: societal, family, personal, and eventual outcomes of these three levels.Four "language choice" profiles, designated as "Amotivational," "Instrumental," "Intrinsic," and "Intrinsic Plus," have emerged out of the theoretical and research findings.The findings show that the crucial characteristics of the families who chose to maintain the mother tongue and foster bi-literacy in their children are the following: (1) a stress on knowing the country of origin and its culture; (2) a declared desire within the family that the children be different from the parents' perception of American children; (3) an emphasis by the parents on the children's "Russianness" and on the formation of that ethnic identity; and (4) an emphasis on a consistently realized, strong language policy at home.

This mixed-method study investigated how and to what extent direct instruction in Spanish-English translation and interpretation affects the acquisition of academic language proficiency in both English and Spanish by Heritage Language Learners of Spanish (HLLS). The subjects of the quantitative part of the study were 24 participants who were from six high schools with a large number of minority students. These high schools were located in Tucson and Nogales, Arizona. The participants in the qualitative part of the study were six case study students, chosen from the whole group. The participants were enrolled in the 2006 annual 3-week Professional Language Development Program (PLDP), held in July at the University of Arizona. The PLDP's additive teaching translation and interpretation model engaged the participants in learning by not only the novelty of practicing real-life, challenging exercises in class, using their unique cultural and linguistic skills, but also by the dynamic collaborative learning environment. The improvement in the participants' academic language proficiency was assessed through individual interviews of six case study participants, their high school teachers, and the two PLDP instructors.The use of translation and interpretation to improve the HLLS's academic English (and Spanish) stands in stark contrast to the subtractive teaching English-as-a-Second-Language model that promotes English fluency at the expense of the heritage language. The study, therefore, expands research on minority HLL's cultural capital that is not utilized in American education, where limiting the use of bilingual education for English language learners is the norm. The success of the program was demonstrated by the students' newfound appreciation for their heritage language and culture, academic learning, motivation for higher education, and statistically significant gains in Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP; Cummins, 2000).

Bereits seit Mitte der 1990er Jahre greift die schulische Sprachförderung im Land Berlin vor allem auf das Merkmal der „nichtdeutschen Herkunftssprache“ (ndH) zurück. Mit der Einführung dieses Merkmals entschied sich der Landesgesetzgeber dafür, die – aus seiner Sicht weiterhin dringend notwendige – Sprachförderung von Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Migrationshintergrund in der Schule nicht mehr an eine ausländische Staatsbürgerschaft, sondern, ungeachtet der Staatsbürgerschaft der Schüler, an das Vorherrschen einer nichtdeutschen Kommunikationssprache in der Familie anzuknüpfen. An diesem Ansatz hat sich auch durch die Novellierung des Berliner Schulgesetzes im Jahre 2004 nichts Grundsätzliches geändert. Neben der Bedeutung des Merkmals ‚ndH‘ für die individuelle Sprachförderung in Schulen kommt diesem Merkmal – zusammen mit dem erst unlängst aufgewerteten weiteren Sprachfördermerkmal „Lernmittelbefreiung“ (LmB) – jedoch nunmehr auch eine zentrale Rolle bei der Zumessung von Sprachfördermitteln und Personalressourcen zu. In der Vergangenheit ist das Merkmal ‚ndH‘ allerdings wegen seiner angeblich diskriminierenden und vermeintlich segregierenden Wirkung mehrfach in die Kritik geraten, die sich, ausgelöst durch einen Vorfall an einer Kreuzberger Grundschule im Jahre 2012, noch einmal verstärkt hat. So wird neben der Tatsache, dass das Merkmal ‚ndH‘ überhaupt erhoben und der Sprachförderung zugrunde gelegt wird, auch die Praxis der Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Wissenschaft, auf den sog. Schulporträts im Internet ‚ndH‘-Quoten zu veröffentlichen, angegriffen und die Abschaffung dieser Praxis gefordert. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Beantwortung der Frage nach der Berechtigung dieser Kritik. Ausgehend von einer Darstellung zur Einführung und Entwicklung des Merkmals ‚ndH‘ unter Berücksichtigung der zuvor geltenden Rechtslage und einer Darstellung der aktuellen rechtlichen Grundlagen der schulischen Sprachförderung im Land Berlin wird dieses Merkmal einer näheren Betrachtung unterzogen. Nach einer Bestimmung des Merkmals ‚ndH‘, einer Erläuterung der einschlägigen Regelungen zur ‚ndH‘-Sprachförderung und einem Vergleich mit dem zusätzlich bestehenden Fördermerkmal ‚LmB‘ im Kontext der aktuellen Bestimmungen wird zunächst ein Überblick über wesentliche Aspekte der schulischen Sprachförderung auf der Grundlage des Merkmals ‚ndH‘ in der Praxis gegeben, in den wiederum das Vergleichsmerkmal ‚LmB‘ einbezogen wird. Daran knüpft die Untersuchung der These an, das Merkmal ‚ndH‘ bzw. zumindest seine Veröffentlichung im Rahmen der Schulporträts der Senatsschulverwaltung habe diskriminierende Wirkung und führe zu einer Segregation der Schülerschaft. Im Anschluss daran wird als zusätzliche Überlegung der Frage nach der tatsächlichen Notwendigkeit einer sich an dem Merkmal ‚ndH‘ und damit einer familiären Kommunikationssprache orientierenden Sprachförderung nachgegangen, die, wenn sie denn bejaht werden könnte, etwaige Diskriminierungs- und Segregationswirkungen rechtfertigte. / Since the mid-1990s, school language training in the state of Berlin has fallen back on the criterion “non-German heritage language” (German: nichtdeutsche Herkunftssprache – ndH). Considering language training as still urgently needed, the state legislator decided by introducing this new criterion to base language training in schools for children and youths with a migration background not on a foreign (i.e. non-German) citizenship anymore, but on the prevailing use of a non-German language of communication in the family, regardless of the students’ citizenship. Little has changed in that regard, even after the amendment of the Law on Schools in Berlin (German: Berliner Schulgesetz) in 2004. Besides the significance of the criterion ‘ndH‘ for individual language training in schools, however, it now also plays a central role when it comes to measuring language training aids and personal resources, alongside with another recently evaluated language training criterion, the so-called ‘Lernmittelbefreiung’ (LmB; exemption from the payment of contributions for learning aids). In the past, the ‘ndH’-criterion was criticized numerous times because of its allegedly discriminatory and supposedly segregating effects, though. In 2012, critics even increased after an incident which had taken place at an elementary school in Kreuzberg (a city district in Berlin with a high proportion of i.a. Turkish migrants). The Criticism is not only directed at the fact that the criterion ‘ndH’ has been brought to the agenda at all and that this criterion serves as a basis for the language training. It is also the practice of Berlin's Senate Department for Education, Youth and Science (German: Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Wissenschaft) to publish ‘ndH’-quotes on the internet within the so-called school portraits that is heavily attacked. In the view of the critics, the abolishment of this practice is already overdue. The objective of this thesis is to reply to the question of whether and to what extent the criticism of the ‘ndH’-criterion and the Senate Department’s practice is justified. Starting with a description of the introduction and development of the ‘ndH‘-criterion in consideration of the previous legal system and a representation of the current legal framework of school language training in the state of Berlin, the criterion ‘ndh’ will be examined more closely. After determining the ‘ndH’-criterion, explaining the relevant regulations relating to ‘ndH‘-language training and drawing a comparison with the (additional) ‘LmB’-criterion in the context of the current legal framework, an overview will be given of the relevant aspects of school language training on the basis of the ‘ndH‘-criterion in practice. This overview will again include a comparison with the criterion ‘LmB’. This will be the point of departure for the analysis of the critics’ assumption that the mere existence of the ‚ndH‘-criterion or at least its publication within the Senate Department’s school portraits has a discriminatory effect and leads to segregation in schools. This analysis will be followed by an additional consideration of the question of a real need for a language training that is oriented to the ‘ndH‘-criterion and consequently to a family language of communication; for if there was such a need indeed, possibly existing discriminatory and segregating effects could be justified by this need. The thesis will finish with a summary of the key findings.

Esta dissertação faz considerações sobre a natureza da interferência derivada da introdução de variantes padrão de línguas imigrantes no currículo do sistema de escolas públicas de comunidades de falantes de dialetos. A pesquisa busca uma maior compreensão da questão por meio da análise de discurso e conteúdo encontrados em artigos de jornal, artigos disponíveis na Internet, mensagens trocadas em comunidades virtuais e quatro entrevistas colhidas de habitantes do município de Angelina em Santa Catarina, onde falantes de dialeto freqüentam escolas públicas onde o inglês é a única oferta de língua estrangeira, apesar da constituição étnica predominantemente germânica da população local. O trabalho ainda examina modelos teóricos de contato lingüístico baseados em teoria dos jogos em termos de sua relevância em um cenário mais complexo onde um dialeto coexista com sua variante padrão e uma língua nacional. / This dissertation prompts considerations about the nature of the interference deriving from the introduction of standard variants of immigrant languages into the curriculum of the public school system in communities of dialect speakers. The investigation seeks a greater understanding of the problem by means of discourse and content analysis of articles published in newspapers, articles available on the internet, forum posts, and four interviews collected from inhabitants of Angelina, a municipality in the State of Santa Catarina where dialect speakers attend public schools where English is the only foreign language option in spite of the predominantly German ethnic make-up of the local population. In addition, existing theoretical models that examine language contact from the perspective of game theory are examined in terms of their relevance in a more complex scenario where a dialect coexists with its corresponding standard variant and a national language.

The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the perceptions of mother tongue teachers regarding the effectiveness of teaching and various factors that may affect the effectiveness based on a phenomenological approach. For this purpose, ten interviews with mother tongue teachers were conducted. The results show that teachers have clear perceptions of what effectiveness is and use different methods to make teaching more effective. Three extensive categories that affect positively effectiveness were identified: personalized education, teacher leadership and motivation. The findings suggest that there are also factors that negatively affect effectiveness. These factors are teaching time and inappropriate scheduling, difficulty in forming reasonably large and homogeneous groups, inappropriate teaching facilities and lack of collegial learning. The results correspond to the latest research in the field. Overall, the results suggest the variety of perceptions about effectiveness and factors that can affect it.