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The Connection Between Linguistic Insecurity and Cultural Identity in Spanish Heritage Language Learners

The United States is a host to several ethnicities that bring both their own languages and their own culture to an already large mixing pot. The children of the immigrants who grow up learning both English and their families' heritage language are called heritage language learners (HLLs). The first objective of the study was to find out whether foreign language anxiety had a relationship with reading and writing in Spanish for HLLs in high school. The second was to ascertain whether perception of ethnic identity also had a relationship with reading and writing in Spanish for heritage language learners in high school. Most studies have found that both foreign language anxiety and perception of ethnic identity has a connection with reading and writing in their heritage language (HL). A majority of the research, however, focuses on these students and their challenges while at the university level. As studies concerning high school students are rare, it is important to focus on a younger group of participants in order to understand their unique cultural and linguistic needs and implement strategies to help Spanish HLLs succeed. For this particular set of students, it is possible that ethnic identity and writing have a positive relationship. However, ethnic identity did not have a strong relationship with reading. Foreign language anxiety did not have much of a connection between either reading or writing.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BGMYU2/oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-11076
Date15 August 2023
CreatorsGardner, Sara Nicole
PublisherBYU ScholarsArchive
Source SetsBrigham Young University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceTheses and Dissertations
Rightshttps://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

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