The Heritage Language Learner Survey:Focus on the Less-Commonly Taught Languages

A Project of the National Heritage Language Resource Center

Research Team:

Maria Carreira, CSU Long Beach (Project co-director);

Kathleen Dillon, UC Davis

Olga Kagan, UCLA (Project co-director)

Research Assistants:

Sonja Tighearnain and Agazit Abate

National Heritage Language Resource Center (NHLRC)

•Created through a Dept. of Education Grant to the UCLA Center for World Languages and the UC Consortium for Language Learning and Teaching (UCCLLT);

• Directors – Olga Kagan, UCLA; Robert Blake UCDavis

Survey overview

• Number of respondents as of April 24, 2008: 1564;• Respondents were heritage language learners (HLLs) enrolled in heritage language classes;• Working definition of the term “heritage language learner”: A student whose home language is different from English. • Number of questions: 45 (2 open-ended);• Languages surveyed: 22 (see next slide);• Areas of inquiry: HL background, usage, abilities, attitudes• Key findings: Significant commonalities to all HLLs and HL learning contexts; Significant differences between languages; Significant differences within the same language.

Languages surveyed

Arabic 1.8% 28

Armenian 3.6% 57

Cantonese 11.1% 174

Hindi/Urdu 1.5% 24

Japanese 1.2% 19

Korean 7.6% 119

Mandarin 17.1% 268

Persian 3.8% 60

Russian 10.7% 167

Spanish 20.1% 314

Tagalog 6.6% 103

Thai 0.7% 11

Vietnamese 7.2% 113

Other (Indonesian, Ilokano, Polish, Portuguese, Amharic…)

Presentation overview

• Commonalities to HLLs and HL learning contexts;

• Inter-linguistic differences (only for languages where n>60);

• Intra-linguistic differences (Arabic, Hindi/Urdu, and Japanese);

• Pedagogical implications

Summary of main findings:

• Background: Most HLLs are US born or early arrivals in the US

and have little or no formal training in the HL; • Usage: Most HLLs have very little exposure to their HL outside of

the home environment. They feel most comfortable using a mix of English and the HL. Many have traveled to their country of origin;

• Linguistic abilities: They are more confident about their receptive skills in the HL than their productive skills and are aware of their limitations in the HL (and in English);

• Attitudes toward the HL: Most value their HL identity, have had mostly positive experiences with their HL; have put his/her knowledge of the HL to good use in academic settings.

Specifics: Background

• 61.5% are US born;• 70% of the foreign-born arrived in the US

before the are of 11;• 58.6% have not attended a community or

religious school in the US;• 74.1% did not attend school in their

country of origin and those who did, did so for a short period of time (1-2 years);

Specifics: Usage

What language do you speak most of the time?

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Us born <2 2 - 5 yrs 6 -10 yrs 11 - 13 yrs 14-18 yrs

Age of arrival

Percent

English

HL

A mix of the two

Specifics: Usage

Language spoken with parents

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Us born <2 2 - 5 yrs 6 -10 yrs 11 - 13 yrs 14-18 yrs

Nativity/age of arrival in the US

Percent

English

HL

A mix of the two

Specifics:Usage

Language spoken with friends

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Us born <2 2 - 5 yrs 6 -10 yrs 11 - 13 yrs 14-18 yrs

Nativity/age of arrival in the US

Percent use

English

HL

A mix of the two

Specifics: Usage

What language did you use most at the following periods in your life?

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

0-5 years old 6-12 years old 13-18 yearsold

18+ years old

English

HL

Both

Specifics: Usage

Time reading in the HL

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

No time <15 min. 15-30 mins. ~ 1 hr 1-2 hrs 2+ hrs.

Percent

US born

<2

2-5 yrs

6-10 yrs

11-13 yrs

14-18 yrs

Specifics: Usage

Time reading in English

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

No time <15 min. 15-30 mins. ~ 1 hr 1-2 hrs 2+ hrs.

Percent

US born

<2

2-5 yrs

6-10 yrs

11-13 yrs

14-18 yrs

Specifics: Usage

Internet use in the HL

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Us born <2 2 - 5 yrs 6 -10 yrs 11 - 13 yrs 14-18 yrs

Nativity/age or arrival

percent

never

rarely

frequently

Specifics: Usage

Specifics: UsageWhy have you enrolled in heritage language

courses?

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800 To fulfill a languagerequirement.

To learn about mycultural and linguisticroots.

To communicate betterwith family and friends inthe U.S.

To communicate betterwith family and friendsabroad.

To prepare for travel inmy country of origin

For a future career orjob.

Because it is easy forme

Other

Specifics: Abilities

Please rate your heritage language abilities

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

none low

intermediate advanced native-like

Listening

Speaking

Reading

Writing

Specifics: Abilities

Rate your HL abilities

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

US born <2 2 yrs. - 5 6 yrs. 10 11 yrs. - 13 14-18

Nativity/age of arrival

Ability level

listening

reading

speaking

writing

Specifics: Abilities

Attitudes

Open-ended questions

1. How has your knowledge of your heritage language affected your experience in school? Can you remember an incident when your heritage language was helpful or caused you problems in school?

2. How has your knowledge of your heritage language affected your experience outside of school, for example in your home, church, or neighborhood? Can you remember an incident when your heritage language was helpful or caused you problems in any of these settings?

Attitudes

I have made more friends

• It has made my experience at school more pleasant. By taking a HL class, I was able to meet more students with my HL. Thus, I have created new friendships with students of the same background as mine. It has never caused a problem for me. (Armenian)

• It has helped me make more friends, because most of my friends that I'm close with now are all Chinese too. If I need to ask or talk to someone privately with people around, I can ask them in Chinese. It never caused problems for me.

• I find my heritage language very useful in school. When I was in high school, it helped me find my very first friends. I was a new transfer student so i didn't know anyone, and this girl came up to me to make friends. And knowing Chinese has helped me to communicate with her in a better way since Chinese is her native language.

I can help others

• Several times the knowledge that I have of my HL has been to the benefit of teachers that had problems because of the language barrier between them and new students that spoke mainly Cantonese. So in the end I ended up sitting next to them, being the big buddy, or whatever it was. In the end, it showed how much I really knew my language, even though it was easier to get the point across if I had explained it, but I still had a long way to go if I wanted to be fluent in Cantonese.

It helps me learn other languages • When I was in elementary school, I made every effort to avoid speaking my heritage language. It made me feel different, and like all children that young, all I wanted was to fit in. It wasn't until I was a sophomore in high school that I realized how important it was for me to be fluent in my HL. Academically, having knowledge of my HL has been nothing but beneficial. In high school I took three years of French, and, my HL being Spanish, I was able to pick up the language very quickly. I received the highest grade in the class each year, and also received the highest AP score of my class.

• When reading Russian literature in translation, I was able to help my class understand the connotation of certain words that were not very clear in the translation. Also, surprisingly, when I studied Latin, I found certain vocabulary to have similar roots. The grammar systems of these two languages is also very similar (at least in contrast to English). Also, there are many Russians involved in my major study of mathematics, so this has been useful at times, though as of yet I do not have a technical vocabulary that would be useful in reading papers in Russian.

Other academic advantages

• As a college student, I realize that knowing a second language can be very helpful, both socially and academically. My major requires me to take a foreign language and because Korean is my second language, it has been easy for me to take the placement test and be placed right into Korean 1C instead of having to go through 1A and 1B. However, it hasn't always been easy growing up with a heritage language. As a young student, I had difficulty in my writing classes.

AP courses, higher GPA, connecting with instructors and others

It offers privacy, intimacy, etc.

• It is very helpful. I met most of my friends because we all knew how to speak Russian and we were all coming from the same place of moving to America when we were little kids. I also find that my heritage language has helped made school more enjoyable. We would always laugh about a joke in Russian or something else that the English students couldn't or wouldn't understand. It made school fun!

• My heritage language at school is at most useful to tell jokes amongst us HL speakers. It's helpful in that we can rant about other things in a language people don't understand and are therefore free to whatever we please. Other than that, we don't talk in our HL much. It's only used for jokes (Cantonese)

Belonging• All my life, I've been around people not of my native heritage. To be in a class with people of the same culture as I am feels inviting and accepting. I am now able to speak to my classmates in a different language whilst making myself feel integrated in my culture (Vietnamese)

• During middle school and high school, I felt that my heritage language was not something that I would consider a valuable skill. I only spoke Tagalog when calling relatives back in the Philippines during holidays and special occasions. I only started to take pride in my knowledge of my heritage language after coming to UCSD and joining Filipino clubs as well as enrolling in classes such as Advanced Filipino.

Expanding horizons

• It has helped me understand people better, and understand the different levels of diversity we have in our university. It has allowed me to understand who I am and how I relate to my school environment. (Chinese)

• I think that my HL is very useful in today's increasing globalizing world. I have used my HL in class presentations, to teach others, and to explain concepts. (Mandarin)

“global citizen”, “a more open-minded person”, “more curious of the other”

Presentation overview

• Commonalities to HLLs and HL learning contexts;

• Inter-linguistic differences (only for languages where n>60);

• Intra-linguistic differences (Arabic, Hindi/Urdu, and Japanese);

• Pedagogical implications

Language-specific findings:Mandarin and Cantonese

Limited exposure:• 93.5% are either US-born or early arrivals;• 58.3% never read in their HL or read for less than 15 min. per week;• 82.2% never access the Internet in this language or access it only rarely; Limited formal training:• 45.8% have never attended a community or religious school in their HL (but 27.9% attended for four or more years); • 84.1% rate their reading skills in the range of low to intermediate. Similarly, 89.7% rate their writing skills within this range;Ambitious linguistic goals:• Cite professional reasons first for studying their HL

Language-specific findings:Russian

Significant exposure:• 75.9% are foreign-born but most arrived in this country before age

10;• 93.6% were read to in their HL by parents or other relatives as

children;• Are the most likely to live with parents during college;Significant formal education: • Of all HLLs, they are the most likely to have attended school in their

country of origin (37.5%), and the least likely to have attended a community or church school in the US (15.8%);

Modest linguistic goals:• Study Russian to learn about their roots and connect with relatives.

Language-specific findings:Korean

Mixed profile• Have the highest rate of participation in a

community or religious school in the US (72.3%);• Have the lowest rate of participation in school in

their country of origin (11%);• Are among the most likely of HLLs to respond

that they never read in their HL (41.9%)• 80.3% were read to by a parent or relative in

their HL.

Language-specific findings:Tagalog

The low end of the exposure scale• Among survey participants, they have the least

exposure to their HL;• Are the only respondents who are more likely to

use English at home than their HL;• Are the least likely of respondents to have been

read to by a parent or relative in the HL (37.3%);• Are the least likely of all respondents to have first

learned to read in their HL (18%);• Have very low participation rates in a community

or religious school (19.1%);

Language-specific findings:Vietnamese and Persian

Vietnamese• Are less likely to read in their HL than the average

respondent;• Are the least likely of all participants to use the Internet in

their HL;• Are the least likely of all participants to have ever visited

their country or origin;Persian• After Japanese, they are the most avid readers - 45.8%

spend an hour or more per week reading in the HL;• Surprisingly, the large majority place themselves in the low

to intermediate range in reading (85%) and writing (88.4%).

Presentation overview

• Commonalities to HLLs and HL learning contexts;

• Inter-linguistic differences (only for languages where n>60);

• Intra-linguistic differences: Classroom profiles (Arabic, Hindi/Urdu, and Japanese);

• Pedagogical implications

Classroom profiles: Arabic 100• The only HL Arabic course in the university;• 10 students: 4 foreign-born (1 late arrival), 6 US-born;• Oral proficiency:

- eight out of ten students consider themselves to have advanced listening and speaking skills;- one student ranks himself as native in these proficiencies;

- one student considers himself to have intermediate speaking skills and advanced listening skills;

• Dialectal diversity: Students come from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.

Classroom profiles: Arabic 100

• Schooling and literacy skills: - one student has 6-8 years of schooling in his

country of birth; considers himself as advanced reader and writer;

- three students have four or more years of community or religious school in the US; they rank themselves as intermediate readers and writers;

- six students have no schooling of any kind in Arabic; two have low reading and writing skills, the rest have no such skills at all.

Classroom profiles: Hindi/Urdu 100

• 2nd in a six-quarter sequence of courses;• 16 HLLs from six different language backgrounds:

Hindi/Urdu (7), Gujarati (4), Punjabi (2), Telugu (2), and Marathi (1);

• Reading and writing:- seven students have no reading or writing skills;- two have low-level skills;- six are have intermediate-level skills;- one has advanced-level skills

Classroom profiles: Japanese 100

• Intermediate-level course for native and non-native speakers;

• Enrollment: 12 HLLs students;• All 12 have advanced or native-level listening and

speaking skills;• Eight have a significant amount of schooling in Japanese

(4+ years) and rate themselves in the range of intermediate to advanced in reading and writing;

• Four have no formal schooling but rate themselves as intermediate readers.

Pedagogical implications

Pedagogical Implications

• HL instruction and program design should be oriented around the student, not the traditional curriculum;

• Curricula and materials should be responsive to the needs and goals of HLLs (learner-centered);

• Curricula and materials should to be highly adaptable for use in the mixed ability classroom;

Pedagogical Implications

What do teachers need to know?

• The commonalities of HL instruction (HL research);

• The particulars of their own language (linguistic, social, historical…issues);

• Their own students (Action research);• How to differentiate instruction (Differentiated

instruction).